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Diancie
Given how long we had to wait for this set I was hoping it would be a sizeable improvement from Daisy. I can't say I'm disappointed, the moveset starts on a very high note with the Specials. The dancing blade-style projectiles create a very fascinating web of interactions and play really well of Diancie's laser, and give the set a huge amount of substance by itself. Its admittedly all a bit self contained, though I still feel like the set had room to take advantage of this later. Truth be told though, I was rather underwhelmed by the direction the set took after that, while the melee game is well structured it did not really do as good of a job as I'd have hoped of taking the great first couple Specials into account. Sure, there is some amount of flow, and the Specials are handled in such a way that any decent melee game can work off them, so its not exactly enough to truly disappoint me.
All the same, I feel it was a pretty big mistake to make two entire post-Specials movesets. Generally, if you're adding extra inputs to a moveset, there should probably be a very good reason why. I'd much rather have one set that's more strongly centered on the playstyle you've already provided than two that end up rather disjointed and unrelated to each other. I do like the super armor as incentive to switch, and the super armor provides a bit of extra substance to the later parts of the set. It still could be a lot better if you just made one moveset as opposed to most of two sets. All the same though, I can't say I didn't like Diancie, because as much as I nitpicked it the melee game was never bad, just kind of bland, and the setup in the specials is cool enough and never really detracted from that it overall did appeal to me.
Togekiss
I actually do see some good things in Togekiss, at least on a basic level. The set has some concept of flow and works off its core concepts in a few unique ways. The problem is that, unfortunately, the core concepts are actually kind of terrible. Focusing on random chance is really an awkward thing to be doing, it makes the end result of how the set plays disturbingly dependant on RNG, and not actually the skill of the player a lot of the time. The reason why the set chooses to focus on this is basically just a series of buffs, one to your random chances and then another group of buffs you get off random chance. The awkward thing about said buffs is a lot of the time they're not even strictly an improvement. At the very least there's nothing that will terribly screw you over in such a way that it still isn't a fairly skill dependant character to play, so it avoids being truly obnoxious for both parties.
Still, as the only real point of flow it becomes very boring once you ignore the elements that I think are more likely to annoy tha anything else, and honestly the set seems a bit heavy on the stun. I doubt it could really infinite people, but it sure as hell sounds frustrating to play against between the prone, minor stuns, healing, and random chance.
Anub'Arak
The primary problems with Anub'Arak really just lie with balance, as the set does actually has a few things that try to be substantial with the racking poison damage and tank-like playstyle. I do feel there's no much connection between the DoT effects other than that it means you have to stall a bit to get your opponents to the high percents you want. That said, Anub'Arak has no shortage of stalling, he's actually rather godlike at it. The set contains several stuns, starting with one that has a reasonable condition to be five or more seconds long(taking away someone's control for one second is considered pretty bad in current MYM without a very good reason), and then stacks more and more afterward. I see absolutely no reason this character can't easily infinite, therefore removing any challenge from properly utilizing his DoT effects.
What makes the problem worse is the fact that Anub'Arak heals. An infinite by itself is one thing, but there's no reason for me to believe Anub'Arak can't just heal himself during the infinite with the multiple healing tools he has and eventual ridiculously long individual stuns. Not only will Anub'Arak casually rack up as much damage as he could ever want on the opponent, he will be at 0% once he finally finishes them off after god knows how much time in stun. That actually stacks with another balance problem introduced in the set, the Side Special which allows Anub'Arak to cancel into any move in his set with zero startup lag. With absolutely no ability to predict his stuns, Anub'Arak will be able to get his infinites going every time. This leads to a character who will casually infinite the opponent if he gets one of his stuns off, will heal to 0% once he does, is nearly impossible to avoid and cower from because of his approach which gives him zero start up lag on every move in his set. The set is the kind of balance nightmare that's really impossible to overlook.
O'Neill
This is honestly one of the most fun pure projectile sets I can think of in recent memory. One of the big reasons it appeals to me is something very basic on the surface but honestly kind of important, I like that he doesn't take self damage from his explosives. It allows him a lot more freedom with his chain reactions than a lot of characters of that type historically have, making him seem vastly more fun to play. The real highlight for me though is the giant, rideable missile, which comes across as a more balanced than the rideable ground chunks we've seen in the past. At the same time, its way more fun than any other form of riding projectiles too, because of how firing things in the same or opposite direction as the missile actually changes their properties, which sounds incredibly fun to mess with. That's not to say there isn't a ton of other good stuff in the set too. The other explosives all have a ton of variety and uses in conjunction with each other and the missile, I particularly am fond of the giant barrrel, which you can leak the contents of all over the stage. There's also some other great interactions, like embedding knives in your explosives to send flying when they blow up. Even in the later segments the simple manipulations of the missile and the explosives rarely get tiring because of how fun the base playstyle is that any modification feels great really, its a set that kind of writes itself in some ways. Its a great effort, and my current favorite moveset of the contest.
After all this time I've finally worked up the motivation to make a moveset, expect one by the end of this week
Edit: Well crap, some stuff came up and seriously made it so I couldn't have assess to the notepad file my moveset is on, I'll definitely finish the moveset but it's likely not by the end of this week.
Well this has been a rather depressing hiatus. Let's fix that shall we? Can't promise how soon my next set will be out, but I can at least give some feedback on stuff I've been behind on.
Piplup
I apologize for how late I am in commenting this set, especially because honestly its not that bad. I don't really think its as interesting as Link 2.0, as it mostly just amounts to momentum mechanics without a ton of payoff to those momentum mechanics, but at least there's some modification on those attacks to make it a bit more fun than just another momentum set. I kind of like the ice mechanic as a way to mess with and enhance puddles, though I don't really see Piplup making as heavy use of ice as it does here as very in character despite it being a penguin, its not an ice type. The most criminal move in that regard is probably just the ability for Piplup to create Hail, I find Rain Dance a little silly on most water type pokemon so giving Piplup hail is stretching it way too thin for me. For that matter, using the icy ground to grab by stomping on it is way too heavyweight-ish for a tiny little pokemon like Piplup, I don't even know if I could fully excuse its fully evolved form doing that. Still, characterization issues aside its a pretty functional momentum set, although not a very exciting one.
Soul
I can see why this set ended up as bland as it is, given the character's design feels like its meant to evoke a very generic protagonist. The buffs are very reminiscent of Smash 4 Shulk's as the main selling point of the set, and in some regard I honestly find them blander than Shulk's similar buffs. The main reason why is Shulk picks either damage or knockback while Soul just gets both, and they're much quicker to expire so its harder to get the same level of mileage out of them. I can see the appeal though, messing around with combinations of these to tank as many hits or land as many quick ones as possible to get back to Limit Break faster, but there isn't really much flow in that regard. The cycling elemental spells mostly just feel there for flash and character relevance than anything particularly fun, which is a bit disappointing compared to the mass elemental stuff in some of the bigger Mugen Souls sets you've done. In the very least, the set is mostly just bland, it doesn't really commit any egregious errors. Can't say I approve of the joke bikini mechanic at the start of the set though.
Tsukika
I actually am a little impressed by the balancing act you try to pull with this set, as giving a character both massive speed and strength is obviously not an easy thing to handle. Tsukika's downside is being rather uncontrolled and having a difficult time hitting her strongest hitboxes, as well as having extremely poor weight, and the result is definitely a pretty unique fighter. I'm not sure I'm totally sold on this playstyle though, it certainly fits her and its rewarding when it works, but there's a certain awkwardness to actually landing her most powerful hits on account of them being follow ups. I didn't really see much flow between the individual moves too which only makes the set more awkward to utilize, resulting in a set that doesn't really reward skill as much as something with this kind of payoff should. At least the ice mechanic on Up Special gives her something to work off though, and it is an interesting balancing act so I can't say I dislike the set, but it doesn't do enough to make me like it either.
Shirogane
This is a little more my style than the first two sets, even if it does suffer from a similar kind of blandness to Soul. Shiroganes mountains aren't exactly unprecedented, but it does give the set a fair amount of material to work off both with slopes and something to smash with his powerful hitboxes a much larger but still powerful hitbox. I wouldn't say the set takes full advantage of it, the slopes are mostly just used to alter projectiles or create some oddly angled walls while the giant hitboxes are pretty much just that, and it gets a little redundant to have multiple of that type of move. I kind of wish the set had gotten a bit more ambitious in how it utilized the mountain-breaking, or did a little more with the slopes because these kinds of concepts have certainly been used better before. I can't say the prospect of making a multi-layered mountain and then smashing it a few times over for some super powerful hitboxes doesn't sound fun or rewarding though, its mostly just not very original.
Elka
Its a bit of a shame the set is intentionally balanced poorly, because I actually had any fun reading this set compared to some of the others. Elka's narcissism and flamboyant nature are pretty enjoyable to read about, and I actually thought the exploding spear was a pretty decent basis to set up for his otherwise horrible melee game. The problem comes from that said melee game is unfortunately a little too awful for its own good, as you make the hitboxes so insanely awful Elka's not going to accomplish much of anything without perfect spear usage. Even if he does manage it, his damage output is pretty average anyway and he's severely lacking KO power. I will say the set has some more flow into said spear than Soul, but some of it is very questionable, primarily the Down Special mindgames that run into the typical guessing game problems that this kind of obscuring effect creates. The reason its there aside from characterization(though it honestly feels almost a bit too tacky really) seems mostly just to confuse the opponent about when the spears will explode, which in the grand scheme of things is a pretty underwhelming reward for having that bizarre attack in there. Lastly, I really have a distaste for gender specific attacks and was kind of glad they died out, I never liked certain attacks being more or less effective based on the character's element/gender/body type. It doesn't seem like you were taking this set remotely seriously though, which I can certainly understand but it bothers me as the set has a certain charm to it that the first 3 sets in this movement don't really have.
Marina
This set is easily my favorite of the Mugen Souls movement, probably because its a solid take on one of my favorite genres of moveset, projectile storage. Marina can create some pretty crazy spell combinations that for the most part come across as relatively intuitive to use and leave plenty of room to experiment with mid-match. The aerials in particular allow her to do some rather crazy things... which honestly don't feel very suited to aerials, truth be told. That said, barring the terrible invisibility Dair you had the decency to remove the effects actually are really fun, I'm partial to the time mechanics of slowing down/speeding up or rewinding projectile strings for some fairly insane results. I guess my main issue with the set is that while the base mechanics and a lot of effects are good, the input placement and usability of a lot of moves is messy. The aforementioned aerial problem exists, but turning opponents giant on Up Smash and dealing self damage at certain FSmash angles certainly hurts a lot of her usability, and makes me wonder how viable she'd really be when she's reliant on all this setup. There are also a few redundant storing mechanisms though barring the Dash Attack I didn't really find the set to have much of any filler. Its one of those cases that I think if you wanted to take time out to revamp the set by swapping around some inputs, spicing up the grab game a little, and generally making the set a little bit more comfortable to use it could easily be one of the higher end sets this contest. And its still a good one, mind you, its a take on projcctile storage that has a lot of its own unique charms that ultimately can pay off in some very exciting ways.
Seriously though that Dash Attack feels so wrong in this set to me. She doesn't come across as especially competent sure, but she seems like she's working on a more complex level than everyone else in the movement and then in the dash she's suddenly reduced to a low brow boob joke. Then again I'm pretty sure her character is mostly boob jokes given what I know about this series and company so I guess its not incorrect, but sometimes characters get to make a name for themselves in a moveset that they can't really in the series.
Welsh
I like Welsh's mechanics with the fruit and trees a fair bit more than most of her counterparts in this movement. Its a bit more creative than Shirogane's mountains and generally less redundant to play with, as her variety of tricks with using the vines and trying to get the falling fruits as powerful as possible is a fair bit more varied. I like the idea of tying the fruits to the trees on a vine to create a somewhat threatening pendulum, as leaping through the air after your projectiles and throwing them right back. It feels pretty fun to play, though it gets to the point where a lot of the set is mostly just fairly filler after a while, there's not really much in the way of things that expand her playstyle past the specials. Sure the specials are a fine basis and the standards at least tend to tie into them at all, its mostly in just very standard ways of batting around items or giving some slight mobility benefits in the context of a tree. It just strikes me as a set that runs out of inspiration very fast, which is a shame because the start is a good basis and I could've seen it go some interesting places in say, the Smashes.
Pseudo-Vorgis
Let's not mince words, this set is a trainwreck, it starts immediately on a four second stun in a set that's apparently supposed to be playable in 1v1. Its most certainly not when you consider how powerful the minions are, the gigantic size and power of Pseudo-Vorgis' hitboxes while he's surprisingly capable of hiding himself, and the massive amount of stun between the alternate stage and devour mechanics. The Death Spider and Energy Breaker in particular just feel ridiculous, as the death spider can multiply to ridiculous numbers at which point Pseudo-Vorgis can devour them to give himself godlike speed. The Energy Breaker meanwhile is absurdly powerful and solid, making it extremely hard for foes to deal with in combination with Vorgis' own massive hitboxes and presumably the insufferable hoard of Death Spiders on the stage. On top of that, you have nonsense like him being able to heal 94% with his jab, and it quickly becomes questionable if he's possible to deal with in 3v1 when he's got a hell of a lot of stalling measures. Honestly the multiplication mechanics in the set get to the point I wonder if Pseudo-Vorgis wouldn't just outright break the game sometimes, as if he eats a horde of Death Spiders I could see him get so fast he can no longer really control himself and just fly offstage to his death from from trying to move a bit.
What's weird about the set is aside from the incredibly wacky minions, its surprisingly not trying all that hard to be exciting. The standards feel like really straightforward attempts to use this comically ridiculous body type to try to get anything accomplished, and a lot of the animations, hitboxes, and mechanics come across as absurdly awkward. That said, despite all the obvious balance problems I can at least sort of appreciate what the set was trying to accomplish, the devouring of minions for stats as well as the attempted synergies between them is something that could've been pretty cool if it was executed differently. Unfortunately, the set is so incredibly messy and poorly balanced its hard to call it anything other than terrible, but its just the right kind of terrible that makes it enjoyable to read and possible to salvage for ideas later. So despite the fact that both of us clearly dislike this set, I can't say it wasn't a good addition to the contest regardless.
Esty Dee
I'm not sure what my least favorite thing about this set is, that abominable pun of a name she has or the writing style. The set gets really, really caught up in the small details of how her mobility works and creating weirdly executed followups to all her attacks and honestly, I'm not sure what the payoff is supposed to be. It mostly seems like all the invulnerable mobility she has would make her kind of broken if she abused it properly, and at the very minimum it'd be extremely frustrating to play against someone who knows how to spam it. It seems like the main payoff is meant to be in the backstab and knife mechanics, and while I actually found the knife stuff kind of interesting its not played off a lot, and getting behind an opponent with fast movements to backstab them is an okay mechanic but nothing we haven't seen before. For the most part though, its just a huge chore to read for what I found to be not much payoff, and I kept feeling like I had to be missing something while I was reading it. Maybe I actually was, but I'm not ready to try and reread it unless someone else can spot it.
Ekko
I liked this set quite a bit when it came out, but to be honest it soured a lot for me over time, as Warlord brought up what I consider to be some very valid negatives. The primary one is that the rewind mechanic honestly is pretty poorly executed, as it removes a key part of his combo game when used for the purpose of I guess getting another shot at an ideal situation, which rarely seems worth it when a lot of his power comes from that duplicate anyway. The main use of it is undoing character's setups or repeating a gimping attempt which honestly sounds incredibly frustrating to deal with, especially in the former case. Thinking on it too, I'm not really that sold on the afterimage comboing, its basically just knocking your opponent into a trap a lot of the time and not really anything more than that. Its more interesting to play off something active like what Youmu had with Myon, the set you compared this too in creation, than just a predictable afterimage like this set has. It also feels weird in terms of translating Ekko's character, the duplicate does nothing but indicate where his ult's hitbox will be when he uses it.
I think aside from that though, the set has fine execution at least. The chronofields actually feel really fun to use and reward a skilled Ekko player for making use of them and the rewind properly, and the afterimage comboing, while a little bland, at least is flowed into well with the rather creative angles and repositioning Ekko can do mid-attack to create an interesting basis for future combos. I also think the Z-Drive Resonance stuff was actually pretty cool, the stacking knockback and jump refresh benefits on some aerials are the kind of thing I wish the set did a little more of, as the actual hitboxes on some of the inputs could maybe have a bit more to them. It has enough good material to make up for the fairly large mistakes at the start and I still overall like the set, but the time travel stuff is just poorly executed if you ask me.
Gluth
The way Gluth plays with his Zombie Chows is actually really unique, creating a playstyle based around stealing kills on your own minions that I don't think we've ever really seen done before. Gluth has some good material for that too, thanks to his grab and Pikachu-esque Up Special. While this basis is really unique, I feel the set abandons it rather quickly to focus more on Gluth's terraforming/pits, which honestly aren't nearly as exciting. Certainly, they're functional but it just feels like the most basic use of those concepts, limiting opponents space or using it to beef up a couple of your attacks. It does give Gluth something to do when actually fighting the foe that isn't totally boring though, which is pretty important to the set, but I can't help but wish there was a bit more to the kill-stealing element that makes it pretty unique. Also, while I obviously don't expect Gluth to be much of a minion commander, I'd figure you would've at least done something with the infected wounds the chows make, but they're pretty much thrown away after being initially demonstrated. I think the set certainly could have been very strong, but the blandness of the terraforming and the focus being way too heavy on it makes the set end up coming across as more of an average terraformer than something with a unique premise, which docks some points for me.
Gaige
I like that you went for the same approach here you did with Zer0, what with basing the set heavily around a multiplier mechanic that heavily rewards player skill. The anarchy mechanic is a fair bit less fun than Zer0's material though, as its simply landing the same projectile over and over rather than trying to create your own sweetspots and link moves in unique ways to power up further. The end results don't feel nearly as rewarding either, though for what its worth the set does try to make up for that with the implementation of Deathtrap. To some degree I like what Deathtrap does, primarily the little combination attack he can make with Gaige by using their projectiles together and how much more threatening he gets with more anarchy, but it feels rather shallow as there's not a whole lot you can do to control him or synergize with his attacks aside from that. Also, the mechanics sadly don't feel as connected either, with everything feeling like it branches off from the anarchy mechanics rather than flowing back into it like Zer0, eventually ending in some very underwhelming material like the shock storms. I still kinda like how Deathtrap is executed, and there are some fun ways to play off the anarchy mechanic, but it pales in comparison to your previous Borderlands set.
Zomom
Considering I liked Atlantis plenty, I'm impressed you managed to outdo it in your next effort fairly handily, as Zomom is a really good moveset. The food being simultaneously usable as weapons and as actual food gives a shocking amount of depth to it, particularly when you consider the ways you can combine or break apart food items for more powerful effects, like putting mustard on other pieces of food or creating the sharpened turkey bone to use as a weapon. The material hardly ends past the Neutral Special either, there's a lot to be said for the burrowing mechanics, onion rings, and ground chunks/boulders that add several more layers of depth to the set. I honestly wasn't sure how much mileage you could really get out of Zomom building up speed from being near food but with stuff like the burrowing and dash attack it actually does feel actually somewhat rewarding to my surprise.
The set keeps up with the good material even past the strong core mechanics, doing some more simple things like setting the food on fire to make it more enjoyable to Zomom and less usable for the opponent but now on a tighter time limit. Or of course, there's the item manipulation with bouncing the food off his stomach or trying to snag it away from the opponent, which makes for another important part of the set, there's a decent amount of counterplay in that opponents can just snag your food away and start gaining some massive healing for themselves. They don't have as many options as Zomom in regards to abusing the healing, but it requires him to play as smart as could reasonably expected of this character if he doesn't want to be the one starving. There's even some cool payoff in Bair and Up Special, though I can't say I like Bair's animation at all. I do feel that while having the two grab games is fine, I found the throw effects to generally be one of the weakest parts of the set on a whole and I'm not really sure if having two whole sections of them was necessary. Still, this is a really strong moveset and most of my complaints are nitpicking, very solid work here.
Magneto
The main thing I think that should be taken away from this set when improving your next one, AlRex, is that seconds in Smash are a long time. A Warlock Punch is only a little over a second long and its absurdly laggy, so some of the stun and lag times in this set are pretty lopsided in terms of being extremely over or underpowered. Primarily it seems to be underpowered, with attacks that take a full second to two seconds dealing like 4%-10% and making Magneto generally come across as very laggy and ineffectual. I also really think this character could do a bit more on his specials, surely Magneto can do more with projectiles than simply block them. What if he could spin them in a circle with his magnetic power, or crash them into the ground for a big explosion or something, wouldn't that be more fun than just blocking them. It'd also be a hell of a lot more fun for the opponent than just putting them in a stun like the Neutral Special does. Either way, the numbers complaints come first, but this is a character who I think a lot more could be done with than you managed to accomplish here.
Sans
This set is kind of jarring to me, as the quality of gifs is actually really good and you seem to have made them yourself. Congrats on that, but the actual moves themselves need some serious work. Sans makes some use of his genocide route combat tools in this set, which I think would logically be how Sans would choose to fight in the context of a battle to the death like Smash is. But then he starts pulling out all manner of comical material past the specials, such as using ketchup or a trombone to attack, or even smacking the opponent with a hotdog. I feel like the bone based attacks from the genocide route are enough to work with that the comedy stuff comes across as not belonging, especially because it feels either too weak or too strong for what it is. The hotdog, for example, is a horrible move with an absolutely laughable amount of power while for whatever reason Sans playing a trombone is one of his best KO moves. The set in general is weirdly balancd with no consideration for previously used numbers either, making how powerful he is swing wildly from attack to attack. It never really gets very overpowered, moreso he just has a number of absurdly weak attacks he'd never use, to make him rather predictable.
I reread my Geno. I stand by the choice of numbers. To assess the other minutiae I ask "Does it execute the vision?" One goal was to introduce the move list in a suspenseful way, and also a mnemonic way. I did not agitate myself enough to deliver on the first point. Allowing external criticism then, it was my vision which failed in the case of the Down Special.
I believe in the doctrine where circumspect textual description can stand in for numbers. Where those numbers are not offered it is my belief that the imagination of the reader is preferable to what impression any further words from me could give. I have fully abandoned my document style and taken up the "Craft an Experience" school in reaction to this.
As well, arduous scholars of my memetic history will recall that I once stood against the sensibility of "The Playstyle" section: in context of my document approach, it was only so much guesswork, I accused. You can see that I met the MYM community half-way on The Playstyle Standard, a sort of capstone to every entry since, what, MYM3? - wherein this section performs the ultimate in textual description doctrine. In my received view of the MYM standard, The Playstyle is the moveset. In it, every foregoing word, chart, and graphic is summed up in an end-run for complete mechanical comprehension. This text makes or breaks the submission, and the lead-up is so-much effort toward making that summary believable (in addition to its self-contained value as a presentation), or perhaps the term is 'plausible'.
It is humbling to recall this is only my second submission ever, and guidance to improvement is forever welcome. I will assert, though, that I will always be a maverick in style to some degree... that when the character is done it is because it feels right, and by no other test. Sometimes Marth just needs to swing his sword.
I reread my Geno. I stand by the choice of numbers. To assess the other minutiae I ask "Does it execute the vision?" One goal was to introduce the move list in a suspenseful way, and also a mnemonic way. I did not agitate myself enough to deliver on the first point. Allowing external criticism then, it was my vision which failed in the case of the Down Special.
I believe in the doctrine where circumspect textual description can stand in for numbers. Where those numbers are not offered it is my belief that the imagination of the reader is preferable to what impression any further words from me could give. I have fully abandoned my document style and taken up the "Craft an Experience" school in reaction to this.
As well, arduous scholars of my memetic history will recall that I once stood against the sensibility of "The Playstyle" section: in context of my document approach, it was only so much guesswork, I accused. You can see that I met the MYM community half-way on The Playstyle Standard, a sort of capstone to every entry since, what, MYM3? - wherein this section performs the ultimate in textual description doctrine. In my received view of the MYM standard, The Playstyle is the moveset. In it, every foregoing word, chart, and graphic is summed up in an end-run for complete mechanical comprehension. This text makes or breaks the submission, and the lead-up is so-much effort toward making that summary believable (in addition to its self-contained value as a presentation), or perhaps the term is 'plausible'.
It is humbling to recall this is only my second submission ever, and guidance to improvement is forever welcome. I will assert, though, that I will always be a maverick in style to some degree... that when the character is done it is because it feels right, and by no other test. Sometimes Marth just needs to swing his sword.
Wrote this moveset a few months ago, based on Elma from Xenoblade Chronicles X. Any productive criticism is appreciated.
Elma Moveset
Index:
1). Jab & Dash
2). Tilts
3). Smashes
4). Aerials
5). Specials
6). Grab & Throws
7). Final Smash
Summary
Just like in her game, Elma is all about combos, approaches, and racking up damage. Think Bayonetta, but more aggressive.
Just like Shulk, Elma stands with her weapons worn over her back, and only holds them when attacking. After slashing or shooting, Elma will hold her blades/guns for a brief moment before putting them away. She also moves very similarly to how she does in her game, so anyone whom is good with Elma in Xenoblade Chronicles X will naturally have an advantage.
Elma's main gimmick is her Tension Points (TP) gauge, which she can fill by landing attacks and stringing together combos--the latter of which will fill the gauge faster. Once Elma's TP gauge is filled, a metallic chime is heard, and a small black circle with blue gears will start to glow above her damage percent. When this happens, Elma will be able to activate Overdrive.
1). Jab & Dash:
Jab 1: Elma performs a swift descending slash of her right-hand blade. Jab 2: Elma follows up with a descending slash of her left-hand blade. Jab 3: Elma finishes the combo by slashing both blades downward at a diagonal, parallel angle.
Rapid Jab (Hundred Shells): Elma deals a barrage of slashes, all the while her swords glow red. At the end of the rapid jab, Elma sends the opponent away by slashing her blades in an "X" formation. (Author's Note: In her game, this move unleashes red blade projectiles, but in this moveset, it only deals sword slashes. I considered making this her side-special, but in the end I thought it would serve better as her rapid jab, since I wanted her playstyle to focus more on offense rather than zoning.)
Dash Attack (Sliding Slinger): Elma slides along the ground like a baseball player, guns blazing. Her bullets do non-flinch damage, while anyone she collides with is knocked backward. If the player holds down the attack button, at the end of the move Elma will perform a flip-kick that knocks the opponent in the air--afterwards, she can follow up with Sky High. Similar to Bayonetta's side-special on the ground, but much faster.
2). Tilts:
Forward Tilt (Side Slash): Elma thrusts both blades slightly downward at a diagonal angle. If the blow connects, Elma will be able to follow up by spreading her arms, tearing through the opponent. Instant startup. Great for short enemies.
Upward Tilt: In a calm, graceful motion, Elma steps around in a full circle whist dealing three consecutive slashes above her, the last of which sends the opponent flying upwards. Similar to Pit's Up-Smash, but weaker and has longer range.
Downward Tilt: Elma pulls out one sword and sweeps it along the ground with great force. The slash sends the opponent flying upward, after which Elma can follow up with a N-Air, F-Air, or a short-hop Shadow Strike. Instant startup.
3). Smashes:
Forward Smash (Stream Edge): Elma performs up to four powerful slashes whilst advancing forward, the last of which sends the opponent flying--all the while her blades glow a bright yellow. Just like Marth's Dancing Blade and Link's f-smash, this move is all about timing. Quick startup. Can kill at higher percentages, especially when Overdrive is in effect. (Author's Note: Originally, I planned for this to be Electric Surge, but in the end I thought this would be more unique than the typical one-hit smash.)
Upward Smash (Seventh Edge): Elma hops in the air a short distance whilst spinning around, blades held outwards. The blades deal multiple hits before sending the opponent(s) flying horizontally. Very slightly slow startup. Wide horizontal range, and great for punishing dodge-rolls. Can kill near the ledge of the stage at high percentages. (Author's Note: In Xenoblade Chronicles X, this move is only usable by a playable character named Murderess, and can be learnt by the Avatar after completing a certain sidestory, but since Murderess is a Dual Blade wielder just like Elma, I decided to incorporate this move, since I thought it would be more unique than a derivative of Pit's up-smash.)
Downward Smash (Violent Streak): Elma faces the screen and ducks, arms spread, then fires a barrage of bright-yellow bullets on either side of her. The shots deal multiple hits before sending the opponent(s) flying a short distance. Quick startup, and great for punishing dodge-rolls. Does little knockback, but loads of damage. Roughly the same range as Mii Gunner's F-Smash. (Author's Note: For this move, I originally thought of a generic slash-in-front-and-behind move, but since there are a ton of those already among the sword users in Smash, I wanted something more unique. After using Elma in Xenoblade Chronicles X and watching her animations when performing Violent Streak, I thought this would be very cool as her down-smash.)
4). Aerials:
Neutral Aerial: Elma faces the screen, points one gun straight upward and the other straight downward, then opens fire in a full circle; the upper gun descending in front of her and the lower gun ascending behind her. The bullets travel roughly the same distance of Mii Gunner's up-air. They do little knockback, but lots of damage, and have high hitstun (allowing for fast-fall combos). Quick startup. (Author's Note: I considered doing something similar to Marth or Corrin's neutral-air, but in the end wanted to go for something more original.)
Forward Aerial: Elma sweeps both blades in front of her in a descending slash. Like Shulk's forward-air, this move has a wide reach, but it is slightly shorter in range than Shulk's and packs more of a punch. Instant startup. Can kill off-stage. (Author's Note: I considered incorporating Zero Zero in this move, in which Elma would fire a powerful shot that propelled her backward, but since I was aiming for a more aggressive playstyle than a zoning playstyle, I found it to be impractical.)
Upward Aerial: A two-hit move. Elma faces the screen, thrusts both blades above her, then pulls them apart in an arcing slash. The first hit traps the opponent, while the second hit sends them flying upward. The strongest hitbox is at the centre of the arc--afterwards, the hitboxes will be weaker as the blades sweep outward. Instant startup. Great horizontal and vertical range. (Author's Note: Great way to finish someone? Up-Air, Up-Air, Supercharged Sky High.)
Backward Aerial: Elma draws both blades and thrusts them behind her. The blades jab slightly upward. Similar to Pit's back-air, except it's more powerful and has a longer range. Slightly slow startup. Can kill off-stage.
Downward Aerial: A two-hit move. Elma faces the screen, flips upside-down, and thrusts both blades below her, then pulls them apart in an arcing slash. The first hit traps the opponent, while the second hit spikes them, provided it is sweetspotted at the centre--otherwise, the opponent will only have hitstun with mild knockback. The strongest hitbox is at the centre of the arc--afterwards, the hitboxes will be weaker as the blades sweep outward. Instant startup. (Author's Note: I considered incorporating Backslash in this move as a stall-then-fall, but since I wanted Elma to be combo-based, in the end thought this would be more useful. I also thought about having her shoot downward, but in the end thought that would be too similar to Mii Gunner's down-air.)
5). Specials:
Standard Special (Executioner): A chargable move. Elma points both guns forward, arms crossed, then unloads a short spray of bullets that damage opponents whilst pushing them away. If the player presses the special button again in time, Elma will follow up with a second spray of bullets. If used immediately, Elma's bullets will be weak and barely visible. If fully charged, Elma's bullets will be bright yellow, and obviously, more powerful. If Supercharge is in effect, this move will automatically fire fully-charged. Very similar to Bayonetta's Bullet Climax, only it fires in a straight line, and doesn't fire continuously. Quick startup. Great for killing opponents off-stage.
Forward Special (Shadow Strike): Elma leaps forward, twirling on her side, then deals a powerful sword slash that sends the opponent flying--all the while a dark aura surrounds her, leaving behind a trail of shadow-Elmas. Just like Shulk's side-special, Backslash, this move deals more damage and knockback from behind. But unlike Shulk's side-special, Elma doesn't plummet if she uses Shadow Strike in the air--which makes this move useful for horizontal recovery. Shadow Strike is also much faster; roughly the same speed as Sheik's down-special, Bouncing Fish. Instant startup. (Author's Note: In Xenoblade Chronicles X, this is Elma's signature move. In her game, this move's animation is very long, but in this moveset, it is much quicker.)
Upward Special (Sky High): With both guns in hand, Elma leaps into the air feet first and, while twirling around, deals five powerful kicks, the first of which covers her front, the last of which sends the opponent flying upward at a diagonal angle. Afterwards, Elma will enter helpless frames. Instant startup, and great for Star-KOs. (Author's Note: In Xenoblade Chronicles X, this move is only usable by a character named Phog, and can be learnt by the Avatar after completing a certain side-quest, but since Phog is a Dual Blade/Gun wielder just like Elma, I decided to incorporate this move. Plus, it looks cool. At first, I thought about using Tornado Blade or Seventh Edge, but in the end found those to be far too similar to Link, Toon Link, and Mii Sword's up-special.)
Downward Special (Supercharge/Overdrive): Elma's down-special consists of two moves: Supercharge and Overdrive. By default, Elma's down-special is Supercharge. When her TP gauge is full, it becomes Overdrive. Initiating Overdrive will empty the TP gauge.
When Elma uses Supercharge, orange-yellow circles will expand around her before disappearing, and she will be given a power-up that will double the damage and knockback of the next special attack she uses (except down-special). While Supercharge is in effect, Elma will have a faint blinking aura. To prevent abuse, there is a thirty-second interval at which Supercharge cannot be used again. This power-up only works once, but the trick is knowing when to use it.
When Elma uses Overdrive, a spherical aura made of gear-shaped circles will surround her, and the song "Wir Fliegen" will begin to play. For a brief time, all of Elma's normal attacks will do more damage, her smashes will have more knockback, and all her special attacks will have unlimited Supercharges. Chaining combos will slighly increase the Overdrive timer, and not landing hits at all will make it run out faster. This power-up only lasts a short time, but again, the trick is knowing when to use it. (Author's Note: I considered making Overdrive resettable just like in Xenoblade X, but in the end thought that would be broken.)
6). Grab & Throws:
Grab: Elma grabs the opponent with both hands. Very quick, and has a long reach.
Pummel: Elma knees the opponent. About as fast as Pit's pummel, but slightly stronger.
Forward Throw (Backslash): Elma shoves the opponent, disorienting them, pulls out both blades, does a front flip, then as she descends brings both blades down on the opponent, sending them flying at an upward diagonal angle. Can kill near the ledge at high percentages.
Backward Throw: With a reverse-grip stab of one blade, Elma sends the opponent flying in a straight line behind her. Afterwards, she can follow up with Sliding Slinger or Executioner.
Upward Throw: Elma hauls the opponent high in the air, draws both guns, then with crossed arms fires at the opponent. Good for setting up air juggles, though no guaranteed follow-ups.
Downward Throw: Elma drops the opponent on the ground, pulls out one gun, then fires a full load on the opponent. The opponent flies upward a short distance--after which Elma can follow up with Up-Tilt or Seventh Edge.
7). Final Smash (Skell): Elma leaps into the air, off the screen--at the same time, she says, "One blow to end it all!" She then reappears in her Skell, which coveres roughly as much space as Fox's Landmaster. For a limited amount of time, Elma is able to attack opponents in her Skell. This move functions very similarly to Super Dragon and Mega Charizard X in which Elma is able to fly freely. In her Skell, Elma is able to perform three methods of attack: sword, rifle, and charge. By pressing the normal attack button, Elma will deal a devastating blow with a giant sword that is all but guaranteed to kill. By pressing the special attack button, Elma will conjure a giant assault rifle and unleash a barrage of bullets that deal little knockback, but loads of damage. Lastly, simply by colliding with opponents, Elma's Skell will deal damage and knockback--the amount of which is dictated by how much force the control stick is pressed.
Shadow Teddie is an antagonist from Persona 4. He is the shadow of Teddie, a happy-go-lucky bear mascot who largely plays a comic relief role until near the end of the story. Shadow Teddie appears when Teddie intervenes in the fight against Shadow Rise, weakening her enough that she can be defeated by the party, but as a result of his physical and emotional exhaustion inadvertently summons Shadow Teddie, a much greater threat. As an inversion of Teddie's personality, Shadow Teddie is bleak, serious and fatalistic, telling the party that their pursuit of the truth is futile and will end in failure. Shadow Teddie first is shown to be a much larger version of Teddie, but for his boss fight transforms into a giant that is half obscured by the ground he's wedged in. This form shows off some of the symbolism of the character, with holes in his face and claws to infer the "emptiness" of Teddie and allude to his true nature that is a big plot point in the later plot.
Shadow Teddie is playable in Persona 4 Ultimax as a palette swap of Teddie, the sequel to Persona 4 Arena. Shadow Teddie is shown to be able to do everything Teddie can go and then some, even able to summon his boss form out of the ground for a super. In the plot, Shadow Teddie is simply used as a vessel by the big bad, the Malevolent Entity, before he finds a more suitable host in Sho Minazuki. Shadow Teddie is made to conceal his signs of being a shadow by changing his appearance to match Teddie's, but does go as far as to have his yellow eyes when he's not acting as Teddie. When Shadow Teddie is dispossessed by the villain of the game, he returns to being his own character unlike other shadows because of the Malevolent Entity being in control. Though it is odd to see Shadow Teddie downscaled and being a palette swap for Teddie's very wacky moveset, it is at least explained by having to pretend to be Teddie to bring together all the other characters and shows off how Shadow Teddie can fight perfectly well in his regular, non-boss form.
During his Persona 4 appearance, it's clear that Shadow Teddie is fully or partially under the control of the final boss of the game, Ameno-sagiri due to sharing the same voice actor and having a similar personality. The same voice actor is used when Adachi is possessed by Ameno-sagiri before the final boss, and the boss fight of Shadow Teddie bears many resemblances to the final boss as a giant coming out of the ground. This makes a good argument for Shadow Teddie being sort of a precursor to Ameno-sagiri as a boss and character, helping to flesh out a fairly dry final boss when this is considered. As the direct opposite of Teddie, it makes sense for Ameno-sagiri to be as hateful and fearful of humanity as he is, ultimately reasoning that humans would be happier as mindless shadows that are numb to all feelings. Strangely Shadow Teddie is shown to be the Moon arcana rather than a reversed Star, Teddie's arcana, as all other shadows are simply a reverse of the original person's arcana. This may be a further clue towards his true nature as the Moon arcana can represent evil and treacherous characters.
STATS
Size: Koopalings Weight: Samus Ground Speed: Ike Air Speed: Donkey Kong Fall Speed: Bowser
Shadow Teddie comes into Smash as a mix between his appearance seen in the Persona 4 scene prior to his boss fight, where he's shown to be a bigger version of Teddie, and his playable appearance in Ultimax. He's got the physical appearance of Persona 4 but some animations are borrowed from Ultimax, just not with that design as it's only a palette swap and using his own enlarged claws rather than a weapon. Teddie is shown to be around the size of teenager, as he is larger than that Shadow Teddie is about the size of a Koopaling in the clown car. Imagine it turned upside down with the round bottom of the clown car as Shadow Teddie's head and the full body touching the ground rather than floating in the air. He's got typically heavyweight stats, though is not quite a super heavyweight, having a slow and confident set of animations. He's not too slow in the air and falls moderately fast, but not enough to be an issue, though he is a big target and generally comparable to a smaller version of Bowser.
SPECIALS
Down Special: Television
Shadow Teddie drops a television onto the ground, the television set is a symmetrical square the size of Kirby during his down special when he is a Thwomp and falls at the same speed as Kirby's down special when created in the air, as well as having an identical hitbox and lag. The television will remain if it lands on stage unless it is dealt 50HP and then explodes in a hitbox 1.4x its size, dealing 17% damage and radial knockback that can KO at 120%. This is after a brief second of flashing to allow for the attacker to get away and is just as vulnerable to Shadow Teddie's attacks, but its explosion will not damage him. A television can also be knocked around by attacks with the same weight as Mario at 0%. After being created, the television largely seems harmless, but is a solid object that acts as a low wall, characters can stand on the set and other televisions can be placed on top of each other to create structures.
In the world of Persona 4, televisions can act as portals to another world, in Smash they instead act simply as portals to one another. A second portal will link to the first, creating a link between the two. Any sized character can use the portal simply by walking towards its face or being knocked into it, which default is set to face away from Shadow Teddie when he creates one. A portal will appear on the outside of the television to signify the character has teleported, and a corresponding portal will appear from the second television. There are 8 frames of lag as they teleport. A character may even teleport using the television in the middle of a move, appearing at the other television at the same moment and finishing the move at that end. As long as the move is performed toward the screen side of the television, it won't take damage from this kind of attack, but can be attacked with moves that don’t move the character towards the screen side of the TV. This can allow Shadow Teddie to do some gimps if he drops a television off stage and counters a move like Quick Draw to make Ike appear off stage, especially if charged for too long to be predictable. Shadow Teddie himself can use the portals in this way, and has plenty of moves to launch him into one. Moves do not naturally poke through the portals, but projectiles can pass as well as opponents who move at the screen during their attacks. Characters who are shielding and pushed up against a portal will still go through. Projectiles do not share the same lag as characters do when going through the portal, coming out instantly.
Televisions can be set in different directions during the start up of the move, as with other reversible down special, but here actually has a profound impact. The television screen will be turned to face backward towards Shadow Teddie, upwards or downwards. If a character is teleported to another television facing the floor or another solid object, such as a television set, they will be launched out of the television they entered instead. This also happens if just one television exists, giving a great usage for the television with just one out. Shadow Teddie can charge the move slightly when making a new television to scroll through any spare televisions where the one linked to has been destroyed to instead link it and the new one together. He can also do this with a new television to make a one-way connection and make it a portal to a television already paired up, but that one will continue its original loop. A character who performs a move that can't be used in the air but is popped out of a portal in the air while performing it will have the move cancelled but retains all the knockback/movement but rotated upwards or downwards in midair. A foe will have their knockback rotated if they're shot out of a different facing television, enabling Shadow Teddie to Star KO off of horizontal knockback dealing attacks and vice versa. He can even score a KO by hitting the foe towards the stage away from the ledge, then shoot them back out towards the blastzone. The television can also not be dropped off stage unless in the air to prevent obvious gimp abuses.
Neutral Special: Nihil Hand
Shadow Teddie raises one hand above and charges up a giant fireball. The fireball is then thrown forwards and deals comparable damage to the Charge Shot. This skips the first four "stages" of Charge Shot to immediately deal 14% and can deal up to 30% damage at max, able to KO at 110%. Over time, the fireball can be charged from its original size of a midway charged Charge Shot to 1.3x the size of a maxed out Charge Shot. As it stands in place above Shadow Teddie it also acts as a weak hitbox, dealing the same damage as the Aura Sphere when charging only above Shadow Teddie, dealing rapid hits and forcing an opponent to DI out, acting as a good disjointed anti-air. This is a storable special like the Charge Shot, but has much greater start lag, taking 35 frames to create the lowest sized fireball and then taking as long as Samus' neutral special to fully charge. This makes it a lot more punishable and laggy, but at its max size, will make up for it by having a much greater size and being a defensive hitbox above Shadow Teddie As a reference to the boss fight, it deals slightly reduced 0.9x damage to shields, making it a good target to shield.
Nihil Hand travels at a comparable speed to Charge Shot. When the fireball is thrown, it does not go straight forward, but will dip quickly and is affected by gravity. Its speed will build up to go up to twice the speed of Charge Shot as it falls over a second of falling down. If it hits the ground or a solid object, it will explode creating a wide hitbox across the surface dealing its damage in a fiery shockwave. This ranges from half a battlefield platform in size to a full platform depending on the charge of the fireball. This can just hit the ground, or it can hit the side of a solid wall, like the television, to create a sideward shockwave. This shockwave will deal hitstun to the foe as they're pushed away by it, giving comparable follow up potential to Robin's Arcthunder, around 0.8-1.2x the hitstun depending again on charge. Thrown off stage, the usefulness of this varies, as it will be more effective against foes recovering underneath the stage and can punish multiple ledge options depending on where it is thrown, making it a good mix up. This also makes the fireball very hard to reflect back at Shadow Teddie, as the reflect will just reverse its direction, but it will still dip back to the ground making it hard to punish unless at mid or close range.
The fireball can be thrown into Shadow Teddie's television screens and will be teleported out of the other end, allowing for it to be manipulated into different patterns. It can be used to hit dodging opponents, if the screen's portal is broken, being shot back out of the same television. It can be shot at a higher location to take advantage of its trajectory. The fireball will continue to dip more and more with gravity, but this can be manipulated as well. When a fireball enters a television facing up, it will be rotated to come out of the other end at a 90 degree angle, shooting it straight forward. It will accelerate as it falls in midair and when shot out of a television, can build up enough falling speed to be shot out horizontally for two battlefield platforms in distance, refreshing the distance it can travel and then some. The fireball can even be shot into a television then teleported into a television facing up, this will shoot it up 1-2 Ganondorfs before it slows down, stops and falls back down, potentially hitting the same television screen to be sent back through the original portal in the opposite direction.
When hit by the fireball itself, not the shockwave, a foe will be given a "Dizzy" status effect, where orange spirals appear over their head, lasting for 5-10 seconds based on charge. The foe will have their turn rate and traction severely nerfed, making it easier to accidentally slip into televisions. On top of that, when the foe is launched into a television or goes into one, they are launched out of the opposite side as if shot out at a straight angle, as if shot out of a Barrel Cannon, unable to DI until they've taken the full set knockback. This makes it much easier to punish them out of the portal and also makes the televisions practically unusable for a foe under the status effect. If a foe with the Dizzy effect is hit by Nihil Hand's fireball, it will deal 1.5x the damage and knockback, mimicking the game where a dizzied party member hit by this move is KO'd if hit by Nihil Hand a second time. The same bonus is given to the shockwave created by the fireball when it lands on anything solid. This has no effect on shields, and if the foe is dizzied and sees another fireball coming, they should naturally want to shield it to avoid both the fireball itself and the shockwave that may hit them as they come out of a dodge or roll.
Side Special: Kintoki-Douji
Shadow Teddie turns to the camera and strikes a pose similar to the one seen in his neutral special image, as Kintoki-Douji is summoned and throws its massive missile forwards, going the same speed as a Power Missile. This can be angled 45 degrees up or down, and when it explodes on impact with the foe or after travelling as far as Samus' power missile will deal 13% and knockback that will KO at 150%. This missile is much larger than Samus', half as long as a battlefield platform and has a thick width, making it a massive hitbox. The setback here is that while Shadow Teddie is out of lag the same time as Samus is in her side special, Kintoki-Douji will take until that same amount of lag is elapsed to finally throw the missile forward after holding it triumphantly up above his head. This both makes it easily predicted and potentially deadly if Shadow Teddie can follow up with an attack at the same time as the missile. The missile can travel through the television portals and with the angles, can be rotated to go in all sorts of directions, including straight up. This can make it a good follow up to throw a missile into a portal after the foe, possibly after summoning Kintoki-Douji and then hitting the foe before he throws the missile, making it very hard to dodge on the other side. When a missile hits a Nihil Hand fireball, it will explode and send the fireball forward as if it just hit a football.
This is Teddie's Persona, but is seen to be Shadow Teddie's as well in Ultimax, summoning it works in a similar way to Zelda's Phantom. Kintoki-Douji is 1.5x the size of Bowser, a massive target, and completely round in shape. He doesn't take knockback but if it's dealt 30% damage while it is out, will collapse and dissipate, Shadow Teddie is then unable to use him for the next 10 seconds. Kintoki-Douji has far more HP than Phantom, but this is constant for all attacks he is used on and he will only heal back 1HP a second when he's not out and is far more important to Shadow Teddie than Phantom, when he's down, it makes a big impact on Shadow Teddie's playstyle. For the period where he is unusable, Shadow Teddie’s claws will glow a dark purple the same way as Zelda’s bracelet does for Phantom. When Kintoki-Douji isn’t available, Shadow Teddie will summon the missile and throw it by levitating it in the air with magic, but has 1.5x the start lag. This actually makes the missile come out faster, but can only be thrown straight forward with no angle or charge. Kintoki-Douji is not limited in the same way as normal characters and can use any of his attacks out of portals, simply rotating upward or downwards.
As with the Phantom Slash, Shadow Teddie can charge the move as a non-storable, changing the way the move is executed and also has two other attack variations depending on charge. At low-mid charge, Kintoki-Douji will rush forward with his body as a hitbox dealing 15% damage as he bursts forward, comparable in distance to a midway Phantom slash attack. As he is rushing forward, this functions as one of the moving attacks that can go straight through portals and keep on going. This deals knockback at the Sakurai angle, able to KO at 125%. As Kintoki-Douji doesn't take knockback, only damage, he cannot be interrupted out of the charge and forces the opponent to defensively dodge, roll or shield or get out of the way, or try and trade damage against him. This does significant shield push, enough to easily knock the foe into a television, either knocking them through the portal while still in shield or knocking them into a wall and back into closer range to be hit. The knockback angle can make it the prime set up move to hit foes into the televisions and teleport them while still on the ground, and transitions at later percentages to the air. Kintoki-Douji can also travel through portals during the move, enabling the move to combo into itself if he can knock a foe upwards at high percentages then appear out of a higher up portals, or vice versa if the move is performed in the air using portals. Against fireballs, this will bounce it forward as if hit by an enemy reflector, essentially doubling the amount of hitboxes, and can even work in the air to redirect a fireball in almost any direction.
At mid-max charge, Kintoki-Douji will be summoned in ball form and be launched forward at Rollout's max speed. In this form he is 1.5x the size of a rolling crate and deals 15% damage. This can KO from 140% if hit by the front of the hitbox, foes hit by the top are instead dealt high upward knockback, popping them up into the air above him. Kintoki-Douji will travel as far as Phantom at max charge before he disappears and can travel through portals. When shielded, Kintoki-Douji will rebound off while still doing the shield damage. If he is perfect shielded then he's very easy to attack as it slows down his momentum to a crawl after rebounding, slightly slower than Jigglypuff's walk. Kintoki-Douji can also be sped up or slowed down by any attacks, though he will never damage Shadow Teddie. He can potentially travel at up to 1.5x his original speed and deal up to 20% damage, able to KO at 150%. He can go through portals and follow opponents after hitting them through one, but also hit the other sides of a television to treat them walls, bouncing off them and going in the opposite direction. This can create a pretty dangerous trap area for the foe where Kintoki-Douji is bouncing between televisions or natural walls from the stage, especially if facing a screen, making it a death sentence to get hit into there by a television portal. The ball will also naturally build up or lose momentum with the slopes on stages.
This isn't just limited to going across the stage of course, as this move can be used to send Kintoki-Douji vertically out of up facing portals. This can act as the ultimate follow up to a vertical KO as if the foe doesn't DI out of the way and Shadow Teddie attacks them with another attack. Generally Kintoki-Douji will come back down and will bounce off of the television set or ground twice before dissipating, as falling will take a considerable amount of time from that height. At this phase it will still deal damage, but only 7% and weak knockback due to losing its momentum and becomes a sitting duck for being attacked by the foe. This can be a good time to then hit Kintoki-Douji in midair as if he's a dodgeball, bouncing him across the stage to again become a more powerful hitbox. This has its limits however, as every hit dealt to Kintoki-Douji, including by Shadow Teddie, will bring him closer to losing all his health and being unusable for 10 seconds. His huge size can also be a direct setback for Shadow Teddie at times, as he blocks the entry ways to televisions. If he hits a missile, it will careen out of control and arc downwards at the ground where it explodes, which can sometimes be useful, and will bounce any fireballs back into the air the same as the foe, and this can be good if the foe is hit at the same time, putting both the fireball and foe at the same height.
Up Special: Foolish Whisper
Shadow Teddie withdraws and pops open the head of the bear costume to reveal the inner shadow, it looks around briefly for a short start up, then the shadow crawls out and leaps in a chosen direction. The shadow, which resembles a murky fog and is invulnerable for for its duration, is similar to Pit and Dark Pit's recoveries in Smash 4, shooting as far as their up special at the same speed and but higher lag on both ends. Shadow Teddie will enter free fall if he's still in the air at the end of the move and this can only be used once per air trip, making it difficult to use offensively. At the end of the move Shadow Teddie reappears in a new mascot costume where his entire body and a small area around it is a hitbox that deals 12% and high knockback able to KO at 130%, but not if the move ended with Shadow Teddie grabbing the ledge. The hitbox is cloned from Zelda's up special, and the invulnerability allows for Shadow Teddie to use this as a counter type move against long range or slow, telegraphed moves. Shadow Teddie can also teleport through his portals, going the finishing distance out of the second television to finish the move, making it dangerous to use into an off stage portal as a risky gimp move due to the free fall. Shadow Teddie can effectively cancel the lag of entering multiple portals using this move, re-appearing at the end of a circuit of multiple portals to appear at the natural end of his recovery.
The move can be charged for a different effect, charging for as long as a smash attack. Shadow Teddie, with his head still popped open, instead throws his arms up and then in a chosen direction, sending a stream of shadow onward represented by shadowy humanoid projectiles that resemble Pikmin in size and can travel through portals. This beam of energy is comparable to Robin's Thoron and has the same speed and lag, ranging from 0.5-0.75x as big depending on charge time, and will deal 15-21% damage depending again on charge but low-medium knockback, only able to KO as a gimp off stage. If any part of the beam hits a foe, all of the shadowy projectiles will home in on them and be "absorbed" into their body, causing them to glow a green colour until Shadow Teddie next tries to charge his up special. Instead of charging it, this will cause all of the energy from the foe to escape and head towards Shadow Teddie's current location, pulling the foe along with it at Ganondorf's dash speed for 1-1.5 seconds. Shadow Teddie can use portals to send the foe off stage or pull them through portals to position them in a large variety of ways, they can cancel this by travelling against it, shielding or performing a dodge, but opening them up for an obvious punish.
When Shadow Teddie fires out the Foolish Whisper, it hampers his own recovery however, reducing its range to 0.65-0.8x its usual distance until either he re-absorbs the shadow energy or it travels off the blast zone. If Shadow Teddie can manage to reabsorb it from the foe, it will give him 30-45 frames of super/anti-grab armour as well as the same glowing aura as the foe, making it great for doing a follow up on the foe after pulling them towards Shadow Teddie. On top of the armour, the move can help to turn loose combos into true combos due to the addition of the suction on the foe, and when it can be used to pull the foe in any direction using portals, can create all kinds of combinations. The danger in this comes if Shadow Teddie uses this in a gimp attempt, as his recovery will now be awful, allowing the foe to potentially counter with their own gimping attempt.
Shadow Teddie can use the charged version of the move on televisions by hitting a side without the screen. This will cause the television to glow green until Shadow Teddie uses the move again, then allowing him to move the television around and into the air at Sonic's dash speed for up to 1.5 seconds, before leaving the television in place and causing the shadows to rush back to Shadow Teddie as normal. The television will also remain in midair wherever it was when the move ended, allowing them to be placed anywhere that can be reached in the air. This is not abusable as Shadow Teddie will have to invest his shadows in the television first, gimping his recovery until he can move around the television, but also can use this to his advantage to hit the foe instead if they get in his way, and create more intricate circuits in this way using portals while at the same time creating a more unique set up. When he's possessing a television like this, he can even try and put the foe into it by rushing up against them, if successful the foe will be put in the television against their will. Shadow Teddie can also press shield to cancel the move instead to have the television drop with normal gravity once he exits the move, acting as a hitbox again like in down special. This can also put a foe in the television if it was facing downwards, as well as blocking other television screens, landing on projectiles to send them through portals, or drop a television off stage as a foe is sent through its portal.
SMASHES
Forward Smash: Nullity Guidance
Shadow Teddie rocks back his body with his claws overhead, holding them behind his back and over his head. He then pounds both claws against the ground, enlarging and changing their appearance to resemble the boss form, dealing 18-25% damage and can KO from 120-100%. This has long start up lag, the same as Ike's forward smash, and average end lag, making it a slow move to perform. Performed next to the ledge, the enlarged claws can gimp foes in the air or on the ledge that have ran out their invulnerability, and the range is good enough to cover most ledge options. This move has a reverse power shield effect: if it hits a shielding foe, it will deal additional shield stun and Shadow Teddie is free to cancel out of the move into any other action with the same speed as a power shield, letting him follow up on their shield with a standard or grab, but will need to do another read to land a smash, and this move is far too slow to combo into itself. This is easier to encourage when Shadow Teddie has a charged up Nihil Hand and the foe already has a Dizzy effect, making them want to shield, especially if a fireball is active on the stage and still a threat using portals. If the foe dodges or rolls and Shadow Teddie's extended hurtbox of the claws hit a portal, he can also teleport away to stop being punished.
The rocking part of the start up animation can make it a great counter-type move, especially in the context of Kintoki-Douji’s ball form, as it lets him get further back at first to make sure it doesn't roll past. Foolish Whisper can also let him either pull the foe away to dodge a close-range attack or pull them in to keep them from getting out of the way. The move can be uniquely reversed by tapping backwards during the first few frames of start lag, working the same way as a reversed Warlock or Falcon Punch. Shadow Teddie will turn around during the long start up and deal an additional 5% with greater knockback. As Shadow Teddie moves slightly backwards and forwards, if he’s edged right up against a television, he can teleport just before or after during the start up or attack portion of the move, and using the turnaround, re-enter it with the attack as he charges forward. When the television is behind him, he can use the start up to teleport away, to dodge an incoming attack, then use the brief lag to dodge an attack and come back to hit the foe.
A second attack can be performed if the standard input is pressed again, Shadow Teddie will swing his massive claws behind him, dealing 15% damage and high knockback, able to KO at 150%. This is similar to the second hit of Cloud's down smash. This will send foes at a straight angle backwards and reaches just as far behind Shadow Teddie. This combos out of the first hit about as successfully as Toon Link's forward smash in early Smash 4, which is to say not too often. Any foe hit by the second hit in front of Shadow Teddie will be dragged and flung behind him, able to throw them through a portal he just traveled in and out to dodge an attack. The low hitbox of the attack, on the ground where the claws hit, will be able to follow up very directly if Shadow Teddie hit the foe's shield and poke them after dealing considerable damage. Shadow Teddie can turn around if the standard input is held rather than just pressed, so if he turns around twice during the move he will end up facing the same way, or can turn the opposite direction. When he can throw the foe against portals, walls or Kintoki-Douji, the option of facing either direction for the start and end of the move has a surprising amount of utility, letting him poke through a portal that would otherwise turn him the wrong direction them teleport back to attack the foe with a follow up, or face the opposite direction so he can easily rush into a portal to follow up the foe at the end of the move. Of course this move is also great for reading a foe rolling behind Shadow Teddie to dodge the slow attack, and due to the range, makes this a slow, but solidly good move defensively to not the foe get in too close. Either hit will volley around the fireball, and as it hits both directions, could even do something like hit a fireball into a front portal then back into a behind portal to reset the fireball's position.
Up Smash: Mabufula
Shadow Teddie throws his hands up in the air and summons forth a giant icicle above him, the size of Lucas' up smash, which deals 15% damage with strong base knockback that scales poorly, but will start to KO at around 175%. This is a big hitbox and a great anti-air, but does leave Shadow Teddie in considerable end lag and has only below-average start up, making it as slow as the forward smash simply swapping start up and end lag. The move changes as the move is charged, at half charge, two more icicles will appear dealing the same damage and having the same hitbox next to Shadow Teddie on either side. These will appear shortly after the first and will linger until a second after the move ends to give a small window for Shadow Teddie to attack with them out, and as a result there is actually potential to combo into the other icicles from the first. This can be done by throwing the foe into a portal to hit one of them, or using Kintoki-Douji, or with a Foolish Whisper pulling the foe up. While the icicles are out, they can be hit around the stage by Kintoki-Douji his ball form will bounce off of the icicle in the opposite direction, making it a great pressure move next to a foe.
The icicles will freeze televisions that touch them during the attack, and will not be active again until they unfreeze 5 seconds later. The frozen televisions shoots any foes out of the initial portal if it was linked, but saves up projectiles until the unfreezing happens. This can help to delay Shadow Teddie's projectiles and portal play for the right time or to set up specifically timed patterns, but has very direct uses too. Missiles hit by the icicles will freeze over, fall to the ground and explode if they hit anything, having the same explosive hitbox as normal. This can help to cover the end lag of the move. Fireballs that hit the icicles will cause them to melt, create a half battlefield platform wide icy puddle on the ground, decreasing traction for all players, reducing traction drastically and does stack with the Dizzy effect. The puddle will remain on the ground for 5-10 seconds, depending on charge, before it dissipates. The icicle created above Shadow Teddie will create a puddle directly beneath him and this can be used to boost off of with moves like the forward smash right out of the move. The puddles also generally help to move Kintoki-Douji and slide televisions across the ground.
Mabufula can be cast to create an icicle below Kintoki-Douji while travelling forward in his ball form, it will launch him into the air a Ganondorf, before he falls back down. Kintoki-Douji rushing forward (created with low-mid charge) will leap on top of the icicles. When there is only one icicle above Shadow Teddie, Kintoki-Douji will leap on to it and then leap down on the other side of Shadow Teddie, and can even go through portals in the air if he touches them, being a way to transition Kintoki-Douji into the air as his hitbox remains active during the leap and movement across icicles. When there are three icicles, he will use the grounded ones on either side to scale much faster to the other side, more useful in simply getting Kintoki-Douji to the other side of Shadow Teddie without having to get out of his way, or even help him to evade slow enemy attacks or projectiles coming his way. Shadow Teddie can also time the move to force Kintoki-Douji out of the move early, as if he's on top of the icicle and the move ends, he will throw his missile and end the move early.
Down Smash: Shadowy Abyss
Shadow Teddie turns to face towards/away from the screen and raises both claws above himself on either side, then slams then down, dealing 17-24% damage and knockback that KOs from 150-130%. The claws are enlarged to resemble how they look in the boss fight and this gives the move comparable range to DK's down smash, only having slightly greater range in compensation for worse end lag, more of a middle-ground compared to the other two smashes with less overall lag, but split evenly between start and end lag. The move will drag foes to the ground before dealing them horizontal knockback. However the foe can be dragged down and hit directly into a television on either side of Shadow Teddie, dealing them knockback when they exit the exit portal. A second hit can be performed to have Shadow Teddie clap his claws together beneath him, causing the foe to be deal the knockback vertically instead, but will not combo from the first hit, resembling Toon Link's original forward smash in Smash 4, dealing 15% damage. It's possible to combo this out of a very specifically positioned portal, but has too much end lag to combo further and the second hit only deals medium knockback to KO at 200%, and at high percentages is not possible to combo.
This clap terraforms the stage below to create a pit 1.5x the width of Bowser and 1.3x the height of Ganondorf, and can be expanded by further down smashes until it hits the edges of the stage. The pit will last for 10 seconds before it collapses and the stage fills itself back in like a Pokémon Stadium transition. The pit has slope physics that cause any items not attached to the stage, such as televisions, to slip into the pit and accelerate characters to go 1.25x their usual dash speed and slow them down going up to 0.75x their usual speed. This can force the foe to be pushed into the portal as it falls down, or even bring the television and foe up to Shadow Teddie as he does the move to land the last hits of the move, more if the move is well timed. The move has some obvious uses for the pit in the rest of the set, the obvious one being that Kintoki-Douji now has a slope to build up momentum as he rolls down it. He doesn't even have to care about going up the other side of the pit if a portal is at the bottom, letting Shadow Teddie roll him down the hill then teleport him back to a more useful part of the stage while maintaining his full momentum. Shadow Teddie can try to abuse this as much as he can, but the down smash is very laggy and easy to punish if he tries to refresh it, with 10 seconds not being long at all for a slope to be around. The foe can easily approach from above, and while Shadow Teddie does have a great coverage move in the up smash, it's also easy to punish unless he has some set up like his fireballs, missiles and Kintoki-Douji set up to shatter the icicle version.
What's better is if Shadow Teddie can force the foe into the pit, and this requires him leaving it and throwing them into a pit. This is most easily done at low percentages using the charging move of Kintoki-Douji, as it will simply push the foe across the floor, landing them in the middle of the pit. Likewise the missile can zone out the foe and force them to shield and be pushed into it, with the threat of a dizzy effect or landing a fireball during dizzy forcing out a shield more, as well as forward smash’s good shield push letting him knock the foe while shielding to slide them down the pit. Once the foe's in the pit, Shadow Teddie can create a portal aimed down at them and start bombarding all kinds of projectiles down there, better if he can simply redirect what is already on stage. An effective move here is the Nihil Hand fireball due to its gravity, getting a lot more out of the arc just by throwing it at the right distance into the pit. The forward smash is also good as he can use to fall into the pit and turn around twice to read the foe's much harder attempts to roll or dodge within the pit. The down smash used again is also a good approach, as it makes Shadow Teddie dig a touch forward at the same time, he can use it to dig down the edges of the pit towards the foe, being hard to counter from below for most characters. Shadow Teddie's playstyle largely becomes easier to bridge when he has two portals close together, and this move is great for that, causing televisions the width of the pit apart to fall and come together. The foe has to deal with the slope physics of the pits as they come out as well as dodging Shadow Teddie's attack.
A big limiting factor is the move's lag and having to compensate for it as well as attacking the foe. The brief moment of lag when the foe is shot out of a portal largely isn't enough, but this can be really devastating if Shadow Teddie has set up specifically for a pit, or one that can be transitioned into an aggressive pit game. As Shadow Teddie goes slightly forward, he can use his portals to teleport around the stage and dig several pits at once, even pulling the foe with him. On stage with platforms, this will mean cancelling out of the move early but launching the foe earlier, resulting in an easier KO from a greater height. When the pit collapses, it will cause items to be raised up to the normal height again, if they were on the ground, potentially changing the entire layout of the stage and your own set up in a second. This can be especially versatile if the foe was being dragged up or downhill using Foolish Whisper, but then find themselves pulled at a different kind of strength and having overcompensated, to play into your hands.
STANDARDS
Jab: Wounding Claw
Shadow Teddie has a three hit jab, the first is a weak uppercut with an exaggerated claw dealing 3% damage and knocking the foe up if not followed up, then Shadow Teddie turns to hit again with the claw dealing 2% damage and weak horizontal knock and finishes with both claws hitting forward a good distance, dealing 6% and decent knockback, able to KO at 200%. The weaker moves are actually pretty helpful in the context of portals, as Shadow Teddie can casually send the foe at either a diagonal upwards arc or straight forwards and this is above-average speed for a jab, making it easier to land and of course hit confirms if pressed in quick succession. Shadow Teddie can delay each hit though, and by holding the standard button for the second hit, will turn himself during the move to face the other direction. This can be directly used to combo a foe sent into a portal and shot out behind Shadow Teddie to land the final hit. Likewise, Shadow Teddie can pause after the first hit if a portal was above him to wait for them to come out, or even delay by just going through the second hit, flubbing it, but aiming to hit them with the more powerful final move that has great range and power.
This is one of the fundamental moves for bashing around the televisions, as the move will do little damage to them, and knock them in unique arcs. The first hit will knock the television lightly into the air a very small distance, this alone can be useful for forcing the foe out of a grounded move if they come out of the television in midair, as well as for causing them to be knocked off stage by any momentum they had from a height. This will also cause the television to fall back down and become a hitbox again as in the down special, being a much more powerful hitbox than the jab itself, but is obviously very delayed and telegraphed. This can also lift up multiple televisions on top of one another, and be effective portal management. If the foe would've been spat back out of a television because the exit portal is blocked by the ground, Shadow Teddie can use this move to pick the television off the ground and spit them out there, forcing them to DI or roll out of the way of the falling television hitboxes. By using the move from a slightly greater distance, Shadow Teddie can instead do this to an elevated television, for example a television placed on top of another television. In this scenario, the foe could also be shot out if the path was otherwise blocked, or possibly shot into the bottom of the raised television for a similar effect. On aerially placed televisions, this will rise them up slightly before they dip back down to their previously placed location, good for affecting where the foe is dealt knockback when they come out, or slightly altering the set up for situational purposes.
The second hit isn't quite as versatile, making up for it with the ability to turn Shadow Teddie around after the attack, but will send televisions across the floor a solid Kirby width. This may even slide a television down a slope or push it off stage forcing the foe to recover, or or it could push televisions into walls to block the foe's exit. This can be a direct follow up tool, as Shadow Teddie can block an exit, then turn himself to face possibly the entrance portal, where the foe is being shot out. The final hit is simply powerful enough to knock a television a healthy distance across the stage, half a platform. The last hit has good enough range that this is generally safer than anything they would use, though is slower than simply cancelling out at the first or second hit. The last hit could also be used to do something like hit a portal away then wait for Kintoki-Douji to show up in his ball form, or vice versa with the foe, hitting set up into a position that forces them to engage with Shadow Teddie's attack. It can be a decent idea to flub the second hit of the jab, as a television hit into the air is easier easier to hit around, but is around for short enough of a time only the jab can effectively hit it. If he waits it out, Shadow Teddie can use the last hit to send it double the distance as usual while keeping it in the air. As the last hit does decent damage, it may be better to save it for the foe rather than further bring down the health of Shadow Teddie's persona or televisions, or on the other hand can be just what he wants to explode a television set at the right time.
Dash Attack: Claw Marks
Shadow Teddie rears back then drills forward with both claws enlarged, dealing 5 hits of 2% damage and final 3% hit that can KO at 140% at a 45 degree angle. This will boost Shadow Teddie as far as Corrin's dash attack, up to twice as far if going down a slope, or limited to just 0.6x going up one. This can also help extend the move's usefulness out of portals, opening up the potential for Shadow Teddie to KO vertically much easier out of an upwards facing television, as the momentum will directly carry and pop him up into the air. This can even help Shadow Teddie to overtake the foe in midair or to purposefully end up below them depending on his momentum going into a portal, also cancelling out of the move's long end lag. The attack will send the foe at a slight angle upwards and can be useful to charge into a portal while not pushing the foe into it, if hit at the start of the attack, but will also drag the foe in if used at the start of the attack. This can be used well to bash around Kintoki-Douji in his ball form, especially when Shadow Teddie can follow him through a portal just like the foe and end up above him to volley him down, or vice versa if he ends up below him. The start of the attack will send him slightly up too, while the later part will send him forward, creating a good mix up. This can even knock the ball somewhere first then again as it comes out of another portal, with the move having a long duration, overall very similar to Corrin's dash attack in terms of utility.
Shadow Teddie can use the move to drag along the opponent, and when not ending up in the air on the other end of a portal, will continue the move on the other side, largely guaranteed to continue the move on the other end. This can drag the foe directly into set up on other parts of the stage using portals and go very far if going down a slope, practically dragging the foe across the entire stage, or plant them in a less far spot for a falling fireball or missile to land on them if that's the goal. When a foe’s dragged by Foolish Whisper, this instead will hit them at an angle inbetween straight forward and the angle of the drag on the foe. For example, this hits the foe at a 45 degree angle forward if they were being dragged up, with the dash attack’s own horizontal angle affecting the angle. This can be used to make it an even stronger drag on the foe forward, however, if they’re being pulled in the same direction, or simply hit them with more knockback if being pulled directly away, giving a lot of potential angles.
Shadow Teddie can use this move as a great movement option in a pit, as he will cling to the stage as he travels up or down, and even leaves the ground slightly to make it harder to hit him, making his entire hurtbox into a hitbox. As Kintoki-Douji doesn't follow these rules, this can be used to hit him into the air of a slope just as it collapses and get Shadow Teddie out himself to save him or bat him up at the foe. If the move itself doesn't land, this can also be good for the sole reason of giving the boost going down a slope to then lead into a move like the forward smash or up smash that can make use of that momentum. The forward smash can use it to further extend the hitbox of the claws, while up smash can be used out of the dash to try and slide into the foe while the ice is freezing over and catch them, making it easier to land the higher charged versions such as Bufudyne with the faster approach at the foe. This is the best move to simply go as fast as possible, even if Shadow Teddie wants something as definitive as being launched out of a midair television facing downwards and chasing down a foe, it can be useful for a lot of different reasons.
Forward Tilt: Void
Shadow Teddie punches his arm out with his claw extended out as far as Ganondorf's jab, doing the same knockback and the same lag except for it lingering for a few extra frames. A small orb of dark energy is created at the end of Shadow Teddie's claw, half the size of Mario's fireball, that cloaks Shadow Teddie's entire body in the darkness effect, dealing 12% at the end of the hitbox, 8% for the upper arm and 6% for hitting the body, with progressively weaker knockback. Foes hit by the latter two hits are dealt less knockback and thus made easier to combo later, with the 12% hitbox able to KO at 150%. The orb will send foes at radial knockback depending on where they were hit by the orb, the top of it sending them vertically, the side horizontally, and if they were overlapping it will send them at the Sakurai angle, making it a versatile option to merely position them. The forward tilt can be angled too like other forward tilts, allowing Shadow Teddie to easier hit them with the bottom side to do the Sakurai angle knockback, or hit them up diagonally or vertically by angling down and hitting them with the top side. On a slope this is changed again when the foe will always be above or below Shadow Teddie to more easily hit with the top side from below to go for a vertical KO, or hit with the bottom side against a lower foe to hit them back into the pit. The two other hitboxes will always hit the foe forwards, but angled downwards will bounce them off the floor and angled up will send them at a 45 degree arc instead to allow for an aerial approach.
The void orb will cancel out any knockback the foe had taken before the attack and deal it to Shadow Teddie in the form of pushback, similar in functionality to how Mewtwo's Shadow Ball pushes him back in the air. This can even push Shadow Teddie through portals and use the pushback to catch up with the foe using it, or simply use it to create extra distance. This does not happen if the non-orb hitboxes land instead, making it a good mix-up for Shadow Teddie to go for a direct combo or try for a more elaborate follow-up A foe who was afflicted with Foolish Whisper will have their dragging knockback cancelled and given to Shadow Teddie if he lands this move. This will cause Shadow Teddie to be dragged at the same strength as the foe was being pulled and in the same direction. When the move is landed in the right spot, this can allow Shadow Teddie to hit the foe and then be pulled away from or towards them either to retreat or give him a boost in the foe's general direction, or to another part of the stage, depending on where he's being pulled toward. The move's good range also makes this a good move to use against a Foolish Whisper'd foe to gain the super armour for the attack and then use the mobility given to Shadow Teddie to follow up in any number of ways, given it can also send the foe into the air or along the ground, or down a pit, this can make this a great way to start a complex offensive against the foe. It can also backfire, as the same rules that applied to the foe apply to Shadow Teddie, making it easy for the foe to combo him if he's dragged towards them.
Where the knockback stealing effect can get very interesting is used in conjunction with Shadow Teddie's own set up for a controlled response. He can cancel the mobility of Kintoki-Douji, either in his ball or belly barging attacks, and give it to himself, even to potentially save Kintoki-Douji from being defeated by the foe. Due to how the move works with the angling, he can even stop Kintoki-Douji's movement while reflecting him into the air, back in the opposite direction or straight up, which is even easier within a pit. This doesn't necessarily have to be while standing on the other side of Kintoki-Douji either, if he fails a run at the foe and goes past Shadow Teddie, he can hit from behind to get the pushback towards the foe, while still sending him forwards with the attack's own knockback. The move has good knockback too on-par with Ganondorf's jab, so can trade a super fast Kintoki-Douji for a super fast approach by Shadow Teddie and stop him rolling off stage or going too far to be useful. He can also cancel his fireball or missiles early, causing them to fall to the ground and giving him a little pushback in return. This can be useful standing over a television to send the missile or fire falling into it. Any pushback that Shadow Teddie takes will only last for up to one second after using the move however, so it's not enough to let him build up massive amounts of momentum, but can give an enormous temporary boost.
Angling the move will change the effect of giving pushback to Shadow Teddie. Angling up will give Shadow Teddie the pushback forward instead of backward, allowing him to use it to go on the aggressive instead, while down angling the move cancels the pushback alotgether. Instead, half of the pushback that would've been dealt to Shadow Teddie is added to the knockback of the move, potentially making it a prime KO move. All of this can be made easier by use of the up smash and its freezing effect, to either follow up with this attack itself or use it to freeze the foe before they take knockback from the move Shadow Teddie used to activate their freeze frame. If he can cause the foe to freeze frame, he can then use the forward tilt to directly use the pushback of the move either to move forward or back, or use it to add even more power to KO the foe. As the down tilt bounces the foe off the floor, this can make a powerful meteor smash off the stage with additional knockback from the previous move. When the forward tilt it used to send the foe into a freeze frame instead, Shadow Teddie can simply use this to position himself freely or double up on the pushback by combining two forward/up angled tilts, or combine one of them with down tilt to do pushback and more knokcback to the foe at the same time.
Up Tilt: Heat Wave
Shadow Teddie raises his claw above his head and charges it in place for 55 frames, compared to Ganondorf's utilt at 81 frames, and then slams it against the ground, dealing 20% to KO at 115% at a 45 degree angle. This has slightly more range compared to the down smash but only on one side. The extreme force and knockback of the claw will propel Kintoki-Douji to his max speed and is an excellent ledge guarding move in the same way as Ganondorf's utilt for its capacity to punish most ledge options. As with Ganondorf's utilt, this has a powerful vacuum effect pulling the foe in at approximately 1.3x the strength, to make up for its lower duration. When the foe can be pulled towards Shadow Teddie too, this pretty much forces them to shield, but if in range of the attack will have their shield brought to almost break. On a slope, this is even more dangerous, especially if the foe is below Shadow Teddie and can't jump out of the way, forcing them to attack, creating scenarios where he may have to be grabbed out of it within the 55 frames. This move is great used against a foe with Foolish Whisper to add the super armour onto the move, even though it will never cover all the lag, this can enable Shadow Teddie to block the foe's attack as well, and if they then shield or dodge they're liable to get hit by the second part of the move seen in the image. The claw slamming down creates a fire shockwave that deals 15% and travels 1.5 battlefield platforms forward over a full second, the size of Bowser Bomb's shockwave. This will KO at 165% on foes with vertical knockback.
The two hits cannot combo and the fire shockwave mostly acts as a good way to force the foe into the air for the punish or to attack him out of the attack rather than wait to punish, with the move having low enough end lag they may have to get on top of behind him to do that, making it a good zoning tool. The shockwave is a projectile and can travel through portals, ignoring any characters it travels under, even Shadow Teddie, so that if it's performed in front of a television it may appear again behind him or even above him to hit the foe. In certain situations set up by Shadow Teddie, this can make the move very safe to use because of how hard it becomes to punish, if he attains the super armour and has the fire shockwave set up to hit from another direction. Shadow Teddie can absorb his fireballs or missiles to power up the attack during its long start up, each missile adding 3% damage and fireball adding between 1-6% damage to the attack depending on the size. This maxes out at dealing 33% damage, 5% greater than Ganondorf's utilt and equivalently more powerful knockback than that move, making it into an insanely powerful KO move. Shadow Teddie's own Nihil Hand charge will count towards this passively as well, dealing an extra 4-7% based on charge, giving a nice benefit for conserving a charge. The size of the initial hitbox will grow in size too, eventually becoming an explosion the size of Ganondorf's utilt once it reaches the magic number of 28% damage, and then growing to 1.3x that size at the max of 33% damage. The resulting fire shockwave is bigger too, growing to be as big as 1.5x its usual size and travelling up to 2 battlefield platforms at a slightly faster speed, still taking a full second to travel that far.
Down Tilt: Creeping Shadow
Shadow Teddie sinks into the ground, lowering his hurtbox slightly, and causes his front side to deform into a thick purple puddle that stretches out. This shadow quickly turns into a shadowy claw that erupts and collapses onto the ground, this deals 9% damage later, but the rest of the shadow deals a weaker 3% damage. The claw is just a little smaller than Shadow Teddie's down smash but on one side. This move is actually not as slow as it sounds, coming out surprisingly fast, one of the faster standards outpacing up tilt and dash attack for start up. The shadow hitbox deals weak horizontal knockback to foes that will KO at late percentages, 200%, the first hitbox deals strong upwards knockback able to KO at 160% and pops foes into the air at low percentages. The hitbox and move in general is comparable to G&W's down tilt, the Manhole Top, by comparison coming out faster and dealing greater damage, but having longer end lag and shorter range. As the move deals little damage with the second hit, like the second hit of the jab it can be useful to combo a television into the air, as it deals it only 3% damage. This can be mixed up with the first hit to hit the television forward as well as bring it closer to its explosive death at 0HP. This move as with Manhole Top can be used to semi-spike from the edge because of its range and poke at the foe as they try to recover, and knock foes out of recovery when they're not invulnerable during their recovery, at greater risk due to lower range and higher end lag. The move may also be used to push Shadow Teddie away from television against a wall or against another television, the shadow will push Shadow Teddie away as it comes out. This move will also cause him to duck at the same time, allowing Shadow Teddie to duck into slopes or attack into slopes with a very small hurtbox protruding to attack a lower opponent.
The claw itself technically counts as a projectile and can teleport through portals within a close range, but will leave Shadow Teddie relatively defenseless with only the weak shadow hitbox to defend himself for the end lag. The claw will come out of the other side of the portal and animate slightly different, "reaching out" of the television before slamming down at the center of the television screen, causing the same hitbox as in the move if the television screen was pointed up. The nature of the move changes slightly if the claw came out of a television facing sidewards or downwards. A sidewards television will cause the claw to instead attack downwards, slamming against the side and bottom of the television to deal 11% overall, able to KO at 150%, and dealing knockback away from the screen facing side of the television to any foes hit below the television. A claw coming out of the bottom of a television will disconnect entirely from the television and fall downwards, dealing any foes it hits 10% damage and knockback that pops them further up into the air. This hitbox will be delayed if that screen's side is covered by anything solid, such as another television, coming out as soon as it's unobstructed. One claw is limited per television screen however, making it useless to try and stack multiple claws and still eat up the claw if it's used too close. The claw uniquely can bat around Shadow Teddie's other projectile, the Nihil Hand fireball. Normally this simply means batting it forward if it's too low to the ground, making it go an extra half a platform if it was about to hit the ground. Coming out of a television, the claw can pull the Nihil Hand back into the portal if it was facing up, slamming it back down into the television along with it, or cause the fireball to be tossed behind the television if it was facing sidewards. As both projectiles can be delayed by blocking them, this can easily lead to set ups where Shadow Teddie arranges for a fireball to be kept in play or used in a specific pattern against the foe.
GRAB GAME
Grab: Freeze
Shadow Teddie grabs at the air in an animation similar to Mewtwo's, causing a small cloud of freezing air where the grab hitbox appears. This is a fairly average grab for end lag and has good range, but comes out on the slow side for melee grabs. When a foe is hit, they will be surrounded in ice as big, frozen solid for the duration of the grab. This will technically add weight and fall speed to foes, comparable to the Metal Block effect at max, and 1/4 as powerful at minimum, but this is only true for the duration of the throws as the effect wears off immediately after that. As the grab goes on, the ice will visibly start to melt more and more as the foe mashes, or will dissipate altogether if grab released by Shadow Teddie, functioning as a normal grab in that respect.
Pummel: Burn
Shadow Teddie grabs the foe more firmly and engulfs them in flames dealing 3% damage in a slow pummel. This will naturally cause the ice effect to dissipate more quickly. The damage is boosted by having a Nihil Hand charged, instead becoming an average-above average speed pummel, which is very good given the high damage, but will only melt the ice even faster, not that this is all bad given it also leads to easier vertical KOs without the additional weight and fall speed. While this speed up the process of melting the foe's iced over body, Shadow Teddie can also just wait for them to mash out, but suffers no penalty for pummeling them to speed up the process.
Forward Throw: Void Toss
Shadow Teddie tosses the opponent forwards dealing 3% and fires five Nihil Hand fireballs after them, each dealing 3% damage, more or less identical to Mewtwo's fthrow in terms of animation besides Shadow Teddie tossing the fireballs underhand from a lower height. As with Mewtwo's throw, some projectiles can miss because of the foe's unique statistics, for example Mewtwo's move misses Jigglypuff a couple of times. Shadow Teddie's throw is much more consistent, as the icy effect on the foe will cause them to quickly fall to the ground, and have only 3 of the fireballs hit them, with the others being overshot. The move will work perfectly once the foe's ice is melted completely, all the fireballs hitting them. Fireballs work as the other fireballs do, and not only can hit into television portals if they miss opponents, but will also create a weaker version of the fire shockwave when it hits the ground. This can only hit once and deals 5% and pops the opponent back up into the air. This only combos off the throw if the foe DI'd away from Shadow Teddie, requiring careful DI by the foe to avoid, encouraging them to go forward.
The fireballs can be transported anywhere on the stage using portals, this can be positioned to force the foe to DI in any given direction to avoid the shockwave, or to guarantee it hits from an exact grab and television set up. Given the right set up, it's even possible to re-grab and use pummel to pull in the same fireballs to hit the opponent, if the fireballs are launched from a high enough portal, even with the one second of grab immunity introduced in Smash 4. This is made easier by freezing over the portals in up smash first, causing the portal to spit out the fireballs later on and enabling them to be reused later, with enough time this could be repeated exponentially but that is assuming Shadow Teddie’s foe is completely incompetent or he’s play testing the move. Realistically though, especially with up smash, it’s realistic to get at least one round of fireballs recycled. In a pit or sloped stage, the fireballs can more easily pressure the foe as they're forced to DI forwards if thrown up a pit, or backwards if thrown down a pit.
Shadow Teddie can press the special input during the move to instead send out his charged up fireball from neutral special, if he has one. This will use up the neutral special charge and send the fireball in place of the next fireball to be shot, able to replace any of the five in the line-up. This will travel too slow compared to the other fireballs in the move to hit the foe if they don’t DI towards it, which is more extreme the later the neutral special fireball is fired out, but will fall in an arc that makes it very dangerous for the foe to land anywhere in front of Shadow Teddie and with the right television set up can pin down large parts of the stage for the landing foe. The more frozen the foe is from the grab, however, the more likely they are to fall quickly and be hit by the Nihil Hand fireball. This is most easy at very high percents where trying to mash quickly won't impact the throw at all, but risks only dealing 9%, and doing this will waste the Nihll Hand charge. This may seem ludicrously powerful with full power Nihil Hand and it is easily the most powerful throw. Nihil Hand does stale very quickly though and having to conserve it for a grab does make it pretty obvious, worth the reward if Shadow Teddie can grab the foe under these circumstances.
Up Throw: Atomic Bufula
Shadow Teddie does a perfunctory raise of his claw, rising the foe off the ground and creating an of icy whirlwind underneath them, dealing 5 hits of 1% damage and a final hit of 5% that will vertically KO foes at 180%. This resembles Palutena's up smash with twice the width and two-thirds the height. The throw changes fundamentally if the foe has not melted off considerable ice, they will fall fast enough to catch the beginning five hits when the explosion first goes off, taking an extra 5% damage and boosting the overall damage to 15%, but not able to KO until 230%. This is the more powerful throw at higher points in the stage however, as the extra hits add to the move's base knockback, making it easier to get the foe directly over the top. The extra fall speed from the ice reduces the scaling knockback potential of the throw, and the added weight actually makes the throw take longer too, the more frozen the foe is the fewer of the hits string together to contribute to the final knockback.
The throw's knockback multiplier will be buffed naturally if any orbiting projectiles hit the foe during the throw, when they can't be knocked out of the move. This is very dependant on the foe's positioning during the grab, but also the time of when they are thrown to hit these projectiles in the first place. It may be correct to pummel the foe so they are raised up in the air higher to hit higher projectiles. Portals also play a part in deciding how to go about using up throw, as with a portal above the opponent, it may be preferable to keep them frozen over if they're being teleported off stage to make it harder for them to recover, or the opposite if it's more likely they'll be KO'd outright by the higher knockback when they're completely unfrozen. By contrast, if they're going to be teleported nearer the top blast zone, it depends whether the base knockback would KO them outright from that height, or if they would have a high enough percent to be put over the top by the knockback growth of the move.
This will hit other opponents outside of the throw and drag them into the move, landing all hits after the first if they get in the way, the same as throws such as Mewtwo's forward throw. It will also pull in televisions, pulling them in with a weak vacuum to the centre, and then up with the explosion before dropping them at the end, or causing them to fall back into their aerially placed position. This can impact the move too, as if a television is facing up, it can potentially end up below the foe at the end of the throw, giving you a choice of trying to force the foe in with the full ice or trying to influence their DI more by melting off some ice. On the other hand, it might just be pointed off stage, and if the foe hits its linked portal in the air, could be shot at a greater height, which could mean you'd want more of the fall speed to give the television time to fall, or not depending on their recovery, for example if they can recover from any height it may be preferable to have them recover from over the ledge. Or simply choose to pummel the foe so they don't fall into a television, just to go for the KO, it can be a complicated or simple choice.
Back Throw: Bufudyne
Shadow Teddie pierces the foe with his free claw, dealing 5% damage, then flings them behind him, charging them up with enough ice to create a giant block of ice, called Bufudyne in Persona, then pulls out both claws and swipes at the foe, causing 7% damage and knocking the foe back. If the foe was fully frozen, Bufudyne's block of ice will cause the foe to be pushed across the floor until they can either DI again after travelling a battlefield platform, take strong knockback or reach the edge, but will carry over momentum as they're pushed off stage. If the foe reaches the full distance, the block of ice will shatter dealing a further 3% and knocking them into the air weakly. The block of ice will travel at Falcon's dash speed, but be boosted to twice that and potentially twice the distance when travelling over puddles of ice. The same boost given to foes travelling down or up slopes is given to the ice, making it easy to hit the foe to the bottom of a pit to start attacking from above, or boost them into a portal, but these effects won't stack.
The block of ice can also be teleported through portals, and while the foe will be released from the throw if released in the air, won't on the ground, and can be abused to allow Shadow Teddie to directly hit the foe while still in the block if close enough to the exit portal. As the foe becomes less frozen and is thrown, they will gradually regain control faster after being hit as the Bufudyne melts faster, but will start to take more horizontal knockback, at halfway unfrozen they will be dealt 45 degree knockback and will be KO'd at 190% at the point the Bufudyne shatters, immediately after they are thrown. This is because of the ice shattering impacting the knockback of the original throw earlier, essentially letting Shadow Teddie send them at any angle from across the floor to hit traps or follow up on, or to a diagonal as a KO move. Likewise, Shadow Teddie can attack the Bufudyne block, this will also shatter the block of ice after dealing it strong knockback or 10% damage. The resulting knockback will be combined with the attack used by Shadow Teddie, not only boosting the knockback slightly but raising the angle of the knockback to be more vertical when combined with the ice shattering hitbox. As long as the block is not destroyed, it can be hit back at Shadow Teddie by other attacks as long as they don't destroy it. Another tactic for this is throwing it up a slope, simply allowing gravity to bring it back down for an easy follow up.
When the foe has melted half or more of the ice, the throw instead will shatter the Bufudyne block immediately as Shadow Teddie cuts through the foe, dealing 8% in the second hit for 13% altogether. This instead has Shadow Teddie cut through the foe, but leave them in prone. Unlike the previous version, this will move Shadow Teddie past the foe with his back turned to them. Shadow Teddie has a natural tech chase out of his forward smash by turning it around mid-start up, or reading a roll behind him, depending on when he turns he can also use the movement in forward smash to turn quickly to avoid a get up attack or late to read a foe rolling away, covering most options. When a portal is behind Shadow Teddie for this move, he will instead charge through it and appear out of the other end. This then depends on where the portal took Shadow Teddie, but can lead to its own unique follow ups, such as simply teleporting to the front of the foe for a mirrored tech chase to the normal one, only with a slight delay. This requires two televisions pointing at each other, in which case, Shadow Teddie can use forward smash through the portal he just used to read a roll away, or attack forwards, but this is just one example. It's just as easy to use a portal in the air to get above the foe, or simply go into a solo portal to come out the same side and be facing the foe for the tech chase.
Down Throw: Duality
Shadow Teddie stops grabbing the foe and uses the same claw to pierce into the foe, dealing 8% damage and medium knockback at the Sakurai angle, the most easy follow up either grounded or aerial of all the throws. This is also the easiest way at a low percentage to hit the foe into a portal out of a grab and the fastest throw too. Shadow Teddie's claw will glow with energy before he stabs the foe with it, either blue or orange. This denotes whether one of two effects will happen. The blue effect is the ice effect, and occurs if the foe was fully to half frozen from the start of the grab. The orange effect if the fire effect and is the opposite, occurring when the foe is below half-frozen from the initial grab.
The ice effect will cause the foe's body to flash repeatedly over the next five seconds after being thrown, until at the end of the five seconds, the foe takes an extra 6% damage and is frozen over partially for the next 5 seconds, slowing their movement to 0.85x the normal grounded and in the air. This can be easily avoided by dodging at the right time, with more difficult timing for a roll, but is of course incredibly obvious for Shadow Teddie to take advantage of when it happens. The foe's fall speed and weight are slightly increased for the duration of the ice effect, making them easier to gimp off stage slightly but making it more difficult otherwise to KO, more suited for dealing damage and pressuring the foe.
The fire effect will cause the foe to likewise flash repeatedly over five seconds until a small explosion occurs on their body. This is pretty much identical to the Crash Bomber from Mega Man's side special, dealing 4 hits of 1% damage and a final hit of 4% for decent knockback, doing a little stun like Crash Bomb to the foe. As in Smash 4, this is easily dealt with by shielding the explosion, which will deal little to no shield damage and no stun, although it can't be power shielded effectively because of its multihit. While it deals more damage than the ice effect by 2%, it deals only mild hitstun and unlike Crash Bomb can be shielded after being hit. This effect proves more helpful to go on the aggressive against the foe who has to avoid shielding a forward smash or getting re-grabbed if they don't want to take the fire damage.
AERIALS
Neutral Aerial: Emptiness
Shadow Teddie puffs out his chest and harks his body back, a similar motion to his forward smash with the move itself resembling Dedede's Smash 4 neutral aerial, and shoves out both claws, his whole body becoming a hitbox that deals 12% clean and 7% late. As with Dedede, this is both a sex kick and has transcendent priority. It's a little faster than King Dedede's version, and has much better ending lag, though as bad landing lag, making it a great transition move into another aerial. The move has another effect if the foe hits the very middle of Shadow Teddie in his stomach, as they are instead pushed lightly below Shadow Teddie. This has a certain lack of impact to it, having the same properties as Little Mac's neutral aerial that simply punches foes down lightly. This serves a similar purpose to how Little Mac's neutral aerial is mostly used, as this makes a footstool all too easy for Shadow Teddie, putting the foe into the perfect position for it. Even with the improvements over Dedede's version, the range here is quite difficult to land, but well worth it for the footstool, able to be an effective gimp off stage and a nice panic button in a midair trade with the transcendent priority, and the damage isn't bad either.
The priority makes it a great trading move, but it also is an indispensable tool for hitting around televisions or Kintoki-Douji, as both the normal and "footstool" hitboxes work on these as well. This can let the move's radial knockback hit the objects away from Shadow Teddie, or he can land the other hitbox to send them downwards, reactivating the television's falling hitbox and raining down Kintoki-Douji on the foe. This can be repeatedly done to send the foe and these objects in the same or different directions, the slightest change in positioning giving a completely different result with the radial knockback either sending the foe and attacks at the same angle, or at completely different ones to pressure the foe's approach. With the priority, the move is a very safe way of knocking around what can be hit in Shadow Teddie's arsenal, while not having to worry as much about the foe's punish. Despite the bad landing lag, this move can also be relatively safe if used to land on top of or next to a television portal, teleporting Shadow Teddie through so he can take the end lag somewhere else. If the foe reads this and can get to the portal on the other side, though, the extra lag from travelling through the portal actually makes it even worse, limiting how much it can be abused.
Forward Aerial: Shadow
Shadow Teddie puts a claw forward laxly, turning it into the pictured shadow, roughly the size of a Mr. Saturn not counting the massive tongue, the shadow deals 10% with medium knockback to any foes who touch it and the tongue deals 10 hits of 1.4% and strong knockback. Compared to Teddie in Ultimax, this is not a stupid sock puppet, but instead an actual shadow that sticks out its tongue in a motion similar to Dedede's ftilt with the hammer, licking in place in front of Shadow Teddie. This has great range, but above-average start lag, bad ending lag and horrendous landing lag, making it hard to use into any combos. The shadow is much like the down tilt shadow, in that it can go through portals as if it were a projectile and is a disjointed hitbox, making it not nearly as risky as it sounds to throw out for trades, despite the bad lag. The shadow will come out facing in whatever direction the television portal was on the other end while still active, and Shadow Teddie will remain in the move for the duration. As there is no lag with putting a projectile through the television, Shadow Teddie is no slower for doing this. Shadow Teddie will keep falling in midair and normally drag the shadow down with him for a good vertical range to the too, but once going through a portal, the shadow will hover in midair just in front of it for the duration of the move, comparable to ROB's neutral aerial.
The move can be treated somewhat like an aerial jab, as Shadow Teddie can press the standard button again to cause the shadow to end its tongue ashing by doing a quick lick uppercut in place, the traditional attack of the shadow in-game. This will send the foe upward for medium knockback and 4% damage, able to do 18% damage altogether if landed perfectly. This is much more possible out of a portal where the shadow is static. As the shadow can be teleported to face any direction, the upward knockback can be changed to be any other direction, and even with the bad end lag of the move, is easy enough to throw the opponent back at Shadow Teddie for the follow up, or simply into an orbiting fireball or Kintoki-Douji. This will not reduce the move's lag, but will slightly reduce its duration, technically letting Shadow Teddie out up to 10 frames earlier, making it easily preferable if the move is whiffed. That doesn't mean the longer duration can't be useful, as it will drag the foe with Shadow Teddie as he falls and can help to force them into televisions or other attacks. The move also will push the foe along to the edge of the hitbox like Dedede's ftilt but much faster, making it a great move to use at a set distance over set up to try and catch the opponent.
This move usually is limited, but along with the down tilt, can be delayed with the use of up smash or putting away a television in the down throw black hole to come out later by itself. This is limited to one shadow per television, as in only one down tilt or neutral aerial can exist in one at a time. When it comes out like this, it will do its normal hitboxes as if used on neutral aerial before dissipating at the end of the move's duration. This is obviously easy to follow up with any move, but using neutral aerial into itself is especially nice, given the foe is now hit by the combined hitstun of both shadows and will find it impossible to DI out, as well as being dealt up to 36% damage if it's executed perfectly, although more likely to do something much lower in a competitive match. It's even possible to have a reversed shadow out of a portal hit the foe into a delayed shadow somewhere else, which then hits them back towards Shadow Teddie for great follow up potential. The fact the shadow doesn't move as it comes out and deals light hitstun also makes it a great choice for trying to hold the foe in place while other projectiles or attacks buffet them on the way down, limiting their DI options.
Up Aerial: Spinning Moon
Shadow Teddie spins around with his claws turned up, in a similar motion to his dash attack only pointed upwards, dealing 10 hits of 3% damage. This has low start and end lag, but a relatively small hitbox compared to the other aerials. This is one of those aerials where all the hits are unlikely to land unless certain circumstances are met, in this case the foe has to have been pulled towards Shadow Teddie, or DI'd towards him stupidly, or they have to be walled in from above for all the hit to land. The knockback varies wildly depending on the amount of hits landed, ranging from weak upwards knockback to a powerful KO that KOs vertically at 120%. This is great to use with televisions blocking the above portion of the move, but this can be awkward as the foe will obviously be launched downwards at the end, if not great for damage. As Shadow Teddie is also falling during the move, and the move ends on landing with low lag, the move is maybe even harder to land all hits than Yoshi's down aerial. Where it shines through is the Foolish Whisper and when the object walling the foe in moves by the end of the move, walling them in but dissappearing before it can stop the foe being KO'd, or simply used off stage where being hit down is a gimp. This can be achieved by setting up for a television to be destroyed during the move, even contributing its own explosion hitbox to the up aerial. As all the hits are fairly impossible to land anyway, simply hitting the foe into a fireball, missile or Kintoki-Douji is also a good option, and can lead to a variety of angles for the foe to be launched.
Back Aerial: Dark Claw
Shadow Teddie punches his claw backward, surrounded in dark magic, this deals 10% and knockback comparable to Ganondorf's back aerial along with the range, good for stage spikes, against televisions or for batting away Kintoki-Douji's ball form in midair. The claw extends out a good distance due to being enlarged as in other moves, and works well into the pits where the range can space out opponents. When Shadow Teddie has charge from his Nihil Hand, this will create an orange sheen effect at the end of the claw, dealing an additional 3-5% based on charge that will KO at around 120%, becoming one of the strongest KO moves for Shadow Teddie. The variable sweetspot properties work in the same useful way as jab and down tilt to mix up how to knock around televisions, just by hitting them with the sweet or sourspot. The move has low start lag but high end lag and landing lag, making it a fairly risky move to throw out, but is the go-to aerial when traversing portals, where the end lag will be eaten up on the other end of the portal, trading with the foe just before Shadow Teddie goes through.
Down Aerial: Nihil Drop
Shadow Teddie charges up bright orange energy in both his claws as they enlarge in size, as seen in his neutral special animation, then performs a haymaker in midair, dealing 13% damage, then falls downwards, becoming a meteor smash and able to bury opponents on the ground for a short pitfall. This pitfall lasts for longer if the move hit from a shorter fall and will deal less damage as Shadow Teddie falls, dealing 8% damage after falling as far as Kirby's down special does before he can transform back. The move is similar in many respects to the Mii Brawler's Headache Maker, having a similar, slightly bigger hitbox, damage and effects. Shadow Teddie can get plenty of use out of this move with his portals placed on the ground facing up, teleporting through and using the momentum to launch himself out of the linked television, or even back out into the air. Used in a pit from down smash, this will quickly catapult Shadow Teddie downwards at max speed, the hitbox lingering slightly to catch any foes there, but making it very easy to speed past the foe on the ground enough to not be punished. On the middle or bottom of the pit, this instead becomes hard to punish, as the foe has to avoid falling in to get snagged by the hitbox or getting hit in the air by the move, and hit off the side of the pit will rebound a foe right above Shadow Teddie into the air due to the pit's angle. Hitting fireballs with the move won't absorb them into the attack like utilt, but will instead reduce the end lag from a half to fully cancelling it depending on the size of the fireballs.
When the move is so similar to neutral special, there is actually a benefit to having a charged Nihil Hand, which causes the move to visually have a glow brighter the more the Nihil Hand's been charged. The power of the move's hitbox is unchanged, but when landing on the ground, the move will now create a shockwave. At lowest charge, this deals 3% and weak upward knockback and is barely wider than Shadow Teddie himself during the move. At mid-charge this is buffed to 5% and 1.2x the size, with max charge dealing 7% and a half a battlefield platform of range, with knockback able to KO at 160%. This is even more powerful on top of a pit, as Shadow Teddie will ride down it and create a new shockwave every 20 frames, or 3 a second, as he falls down the pit, scattering them across the pit as he slides down. These can only hit one at a time and are easily shielded by the foe, but make a punish basically impossible. This shockwave can even be created if Shadow Teddie didn't originally charge his Nihil Hand, but the move hit into a fireball on the way down, or even multiple. They will all be absorbed into the attack, giving off the same charge as when they were originally thrown. When the stars align this can be a powerful KO move in its own right. The move won't continue out of another portal, but Shadow Teddie can use it to boost himself back into the air and use it again, predictable but a good surprise attack if the foe expected Shadow Teddie to go for the initial hit.
FINAL SMASH
Shadow Giant
Shadow Teddie grows immensely in size and destroys the stage beneath him so that only his upper body can be seen in the middle of a vast hole in the stage. If his lower body can be seen below the stage, if it's too small, this will be covered in a shadowy effect. The stage collapsing beneath Shadow Teddie is itself a very powerful hitbox that deals 40% damage that KOs at 60%, and Shadow Teddie's final smash form is as big as Giga Bowser even if it is only his upper body. This form lasts for 10 seconds and does not take damage or any form of knockback or hitstun. Immediately after the transformation is over, a shadow similar to the one seen in up special flies out of the open eye of the giant Shadow Teddie and reforms into regular Shadow Teddie on the stage in front of him, who now fights alongside his giant form, similar to how the Teddie finisher in Ultimax simply summons Shadow Teddie's boss form. Shadow Teddie also no longer takes any form of damage, knockback or hitstun, pressing shield at any time will now instead cause a shadow to travel between the two characters, conveying that player control has swapped between the two. Even if Shadow Teddie falls off stage while AI controlled, he'll simply respawn immediately and has this effect for 5 seconds after the final smashes technically ends.
Shadow Teddie operates as normal, the giant form uses a modified, much stronger form of Shadow Teddie's specials and smashes. The neutral special can launch a fireball 10x the size of the max sized Nihil Hand that deals 4x the damage and knockback, with the shockwave on the floor equally as enpowered. The up special instead causes any foe hit by it to be dragged in toward Shadow Teddie's giant form for the duration of the final smash at Mario's dash speed. The side special will summon another, darker coloured Kintoki-Douji in his ball form, thrown out by giant Shadow Teddie and blazing across the ground at max speed, dealing 4x the regular damage and knockback. The down special will summon a massive television the size of a crate to appear and fall from the height of giant Shadow Teddie, dealing 20% damage and able to KO at 80% to anyone hit by it. This will then slide forward across the stage, dissipating only after it has travelled a full final destination in distance, and maintaining its 20% damage hitbox and size.
The smashes are a similar story, with the forward smash outright shattering any shield, but reducing any foe's shield it touches to 1HP if they didn't have it out, able to deal 4x the damage d KO at 80% (the giant form's smashes aren't chargeable, but come out faster by default). The up smash will create bufula and bufudyne at 10x the size at 4 points around giant Shadow Teddie and deal 4x the damage and knockback, this will cause a foe to be rfrozen over as if hit by a Freezie item and for just as long. The down smash will not create any pits, but will pitfall a foe for as long as DK's side special, having the most limited range of the moves, but devastating range. Once the 10 seconds are up, control will transition back to the regular Shadow Teddie. As its final attack, the giant will grab any opponents in a range of a platform if they don't successfully roll or dodge in a narrow window of time, and drag them back down with him as seen in the above image, instantly KOing them outright.
PLAYSTYLE
Bottomless Pit of Despair
Shadow Teddie's playstyle is a hybrid of a combo character, stage control and themes of portals and pits, largely kept together by movement options and the ability to turn any situation around given the right application of his set. There's a lot of depth to how the portals can be played around, without getting into the up smash effect or the ability to move them into the air, it's important to note the slight delay on a character, rather than a projectile travelling through a portal. This naturally helps to follow up, and avoid attacks for both characters, and Shadow Teddie's first order of business is to make sure he isn't outplayed by the opponent using them like he does. As Shadow Teddie's set is built around the application of the portals, and especially with directly interactive moves like forward aerial and down tilt, it's doubtful the foe will get nearly the amount of use out of them. Nonetheless, Shadow Teddie has a high ceiling and a very low floor, a foe who doesn't know what he can do will get wrecked but a bad player could easily have his own set up used against him if he's not a good player. The key lies in the many projectiles Shadow Teddie can send through the portal defensively, and his ability to go on the offensive at the same time around the televisions because of his great range and amount of projectiles and disjointed hitboxes, even if they're pretty slow.
It's good to keep in mind all the moves that can be used to work into the portals, including the forward smash, dash attack, down aerial and down tilt for pure movement, all of these give varying boosts out of the portal, but are consistent set amounts. These can lead into further assaults using the momentum out of the gate, or simply be used to attack and the foe and go out of your way to enter or directly avoid entering a portal, such as with moves like down tilt or a reversed forward smash. Shadow Teddie's ground set is in many ways more important as it can actually be used to go through the portal while attacking compared to his aerials, which are more reserved for trying to control the stage around the television and make trades with foes who use them. His tools to assist are Kintoki-Douji, who has many attacks to specifically guard certain set ups of televisions or be outright defensive or offensive. The missiles and fireballs to lock down parts of the stage, if these can be channeled correctly to force the foe out of their trajectory. As Shadow Teddie can freely summon the televisions whenever he wants, he can potentially abuse a foe trying to rush him from long range, and this is extended to a lot of characters who can make use of the slope physics to build up more momentum than usual.
Shadow Teddie has many ways to trap the foe, with his Dizzy effect to pressure them heavily to avoid further fireballs, depleting their shield with forward smash and hitting them through portals while shielding, going for unique KOs based off of Foolish Whisper, he's versatile enough he's unlikely to find a match up where he can't manipulate his playstyle to fit the opponent. Once he's voided their advantages through his set up, then the match can be under his control and have the foe be forced to go after his televisions or approach and try to avoid the trap made for them. As set up is so casual and seemingly inconsequential, with the foe being able to use it, Shadow Teddie can get away with a lot of set up while he fights, especially when televisions and Foolish Whispers count as attacks. You don't need many televisions to get a pretty complex set up out, just a few will be enough, and Foolish Whisper, besides charging for a Nihil Hand or Kintoki-Douji, is easily the biggest time investment that's risky. Even then, being able to hit the foe with it too makes it much more of a threat, when it can then just as easily help to bridge together combo strings into KOs directly. The grab game also has to be feared a lot of the time in how it can turn set up on its head, by being able to throw the foe from midair. Ultimately this kind of multifaceted set up is the fundamental part of Shadow Teddie's playstyle that links together all the different elements.
I was happy to see you get Togekiss out so fast after Mad Dummy (not like this comment), and it made a big improvement in writing style, which was the complaint everyone had about that set. Togekiss would’ve been a decent set if not for a couple of issues: the very imbalanced chance numbers and the amount of weird effects. I wouldn’t have minded an element of chance on certain moves, like a chance to trip as moves had in Brawl, but it gets fairly overpowered and weird in this set. A sweetspot that 100% trips on the down tilt for example, when it doesn’t seem difficult for Togekiss to get into position for it, seems like it’d be a huge part of the playstyle to get the trip into a powerful hit confirm and combo. A paralyze effect on the down aerial seems like a very odd input for that just from Togekiss dropping on top of them, this causes them to have their movement speed halved for five seconds, comes off as kind of random when he’s slamming into them many other times. All the stun from the Air Slash and down smash seems too casual and powerful. The down smash should also be more similar to the down aerial effect than the Air Slash projectile with the animation. Overall I wish all these effects were a little more consistent in terms of logic and balance, they seem very incoherent in the same moveset.
I guess I do have to credit you with attempting to work in chance percents, although I don’t think it works. If that were the only problem I might be okay with it, but I also don’t like the way Ancient Power is interpreted here, and the way it’s balanced. I’m not sure if the animation for Ancient Power is too direct or something, I can’t really fault you for using the game animation, I would think it’s a move you’d want to change for a character like this from rocks to maybe, energy balls? I can forgive that, but then each rock somehow represents these statistics in this super direct way, when I thought the whole point of Ancient Power was that it’s pretty ambiguous. Then you have to actually land specific rocks to get specific buffs, it’s all so laborious just to get a very simplistic buff. These buffs aren’t particularly used later in the set, for example there’s not mention of out of shield moves that become more relevant with the shield buff, no mention of the dash speed in the dash attack, places where it’d be obvious. I think this move could’ve been really cool if you had more of a solid idea how to make it work better into the playstyle.
I agree with Roy that I liked the standards and aerials probably the best as it implemented moves from the evolutionary line that make sense, I’d have liked to see more done with the Wish and Serene Grace rather than the focus on chance and Ancient Power. One thing about those moves though, you still probably need some “ceiling” to these attacks, because if they come down from the top blast zone, this character is unplayable on certain stages, or the set has to be programmed differently for stages so that it always appears at a specific point on the stage to be viable. That is nitpicking but felt worthy of a mention. I might’ve liked this set if I got more of a sense of the character, but quite honestly this playstyle comes off as a Togekiss being a jerk, he’s tripping people, throwing rocks at them, running away like a coward to heal in his zones. This might’ve been fixed if you focused on the Wish zone and made it heal over time very slowly, so Togekiss could fight in the zone and not want to get the one big heal, that would make it more elegant. Maybe the zone could not have infinite height but be bigger too. It’s a bit too dramatic for its own good, as it sounds good as an animation, you have this flashy zone that sets up the character decently, but the way it’s executed doesn’t help flesh out the character beyond the flashiness.
Anubarak has some good ideas, mostly for using customs to good effect and a strong start. I thought the set was decent up until the down smash. Its problem is awful balance issues that bog down the whole set, as well as some weird moves. For starters, the burrow special is pretty broken with how it can cancel out the start lag of standards and smashes. The way this move is executed is also very confusing with the dash attack seeming to make the jab unusable out of it, and the move’s attack never being worthwhile when you can cancel it into moves without bad end lag that have no start up. Some moves in this context don’t make much sense, like the down smash creating a trap while he’s burrowing without start lag to cancel the burrow. It would look very awkward in practice. I also think you missed an opportunity here to use the aerial custom to explain how the move works in the air, which is not mentioned in the default version.
Another move I thought was awkward was the down smash, mostly because of the random aspect. This creates potential for Anubarak to just camp out the foe and zone them with these traps because the foe pretty much has to assume they could be any of the three and that they can’t shield or dodge because of the way each has its own rules. On top of the minions with the nerubians and the locusts, Anubarak strangely comes off as a very campy minion character, which doesn’t seem particularly in-character or fitting, mostly because of the trap giving a huge amount of stage control and how easy it is to spam it out of side special. When he can also heal fairly casually using the locusts, it seems very overpowered. This is before you take into account all the pitfalls and stun he has on moves like down aerial, down smash, his various neutral special variants which put it way over the top of what’s tolerable to fight against. Speaking of stun, I also really disliked the down tilt dealing stun only if it hits dodging foes, which doesn’t make sense both logically and when characters are intangible during a dodge. Lastly the throws got pretty strange with the writing style, especially down throw, early when it was remotely subtle I didn’t dislike the humour but it becomes pretty unbearable by that point.
To start off on Soul Skyheart, I really love that you posted so many sets that were in the trash and I think this was a very fun movement, even if some of the sets don’t live up to your usual standards. Soul Skyheart fun ideas and the usual Mugen Souls execution focusing on characterisation, but it’s not as polished as I’d have liked. This does a good job of delivering on the JRPG protagonist archetype, and it’s not something I thought was that strong of an archetype until this moveset. It’s a bit of an outdated archetype at this point, and it’s a shame this set was produced long before Cloud’s moveset in Smash 4, as that could’ve easily been a huge inspiration, this character could be traced back to Cloud with all the flashy attack animations. This set simply doesn’t do a great job with the concepts, like the up special, and there are lots of blander moves that don’t contribute much to anything. The playstyle is super simplistic and basically comes down to charging up for the super attack, and compared to Cloud in Smash 4 where his four specials all change after getting Limit Break, it’s a bit underwhelming by comparison. Not to say I didn’t have fun with this set, I may even move it up my rankings at some point.
Tsukika is a really good set and I’m surprised this is a doppelganger, as it seems to perfectly achieve what you set out to do with the characterisation, and the concepts are all creative fun. I’ve not seen a character that has this unique personality before in Make Your Move, which is saying something in MYM18, at least not done at this level of execution; it’s an interesting niche that highlights your style best. You have a knack in finding these character traits to expand upon in a playstyle, and doing something that was totally unexpected. This set’s one fault is its balance as I’m not totally convinced amid all the powerful moves counter-balanced by lag or awkward hitboxes and animations would actually be balanced in the game, but there’s nothing that specifically stuck out to me. I do really like much of the specials for what it sets up there, and while it doesn’t do the best job of taking advantage of it, what it does later is for the most part just as fun. It’s not as complex as your best sets, but it’s a great experiment.
Elka is a fun idea, but let down by some points of balance, which you might be able to fix if you ever wanted to return to it. I did notice it’s not titled a doppelganger despite the fact it’s not one of the better sets, as I would guess they don’t have the most potential. For example the dash attack that goes out of its way to say it is terrible in bold all caps font, it is definitely terrible and that’s pretty stupid, a step too far for the sake of characterisation. On the other hand, it’s probably not that much easier to punish than Dedede’s Smash 4 dash attack. You probably needed to emphasize the damage of the spears in the specials later on with the lower percents, in a similar way to Zer0, where it multiplies or adds so much that the crappier percents become good. It’d be better though if the moves just worked on their own without having to be part of this whole mechanic. The other problem is the grab game is kind of filler and the aerials have some moves that aren’t too interesting. They don’t have to be complex, but they don’t contribute very much to the playstyle. It’s pretty close to being votable for me though, as it’s a fun set with good characterisation.
Pseudo-Vorgis is an event, in that it is probably going to end up the worst set this contest and it’s pretty much what you said it’d be from the moment you posted the moveset. Two of the minions are just missing completely from the section, the Energy Breaker is totally broken, being a solid to block the foe and able to just stand on top of them. Pseudo also has insane healing that he can use on his minions to make them last forever, and he can suck them up to do insane game breaking multiplication with the spiders, as well as about 100 other game breaking exploits that’d probably stem from that or being able to mesh into the stage like a ghost. It’s so dense; every move has so much going on. Then the forward smash is barely a paragraph.
It doesn’t stop there, because the set is insanely OP in many other ways! It has gigantic hitboxes and enough stun on certain moves to keep a foe in an infinite combo, very easily when you combo alongside the minions. I don’t know why this is a 1v1 set because it’s not remotely balanced for that, it’s already an insanely powerful boss, I’m not sure if 3 Fibrizos could beat this guy. I have to say this character’s model is one of the most awkward I’ve ever seen, like an abstract sculpture. It doesn’t look like it should be alive, and this set should probably not exist, but there we go. This disaster was plenty of fun to dissect, if a little on the long side, I would’ve preferred if it was this way but easier to read because this is almost a joke set and all the length takes away from the funny. I’d like to see you return to do this at some point more than the others because it has practically limitless potential to be improved.
Ekko has some positive qualities to it for sure, I enjoyed the combo part to a point, and the later moves had some inventive ways to use the after image. I thought the set had some good ideas when it came to a basic combo and rushdown playstyle, it almost made me like it after hating the specials. Unfortunately I can’t get over the time travel and how joyless the specials seem to me, especially compared to your many other good sets this contest that do similar concepts, like Anti-Mage and Gluth that both do the teleportation concept better justice. The time travel is completely different from how it is in League of Legends because apparently this is how it works in the trailer, and I’d be totally on board with that if it worked, however…
The time travel just doesn’t contribute much at all to the playstyle. Its main use is to try and land two Chronospheres at the same time, leading to a stun (in a Roy set!) that will then lead into an easy punish. It’s not bad I guess to catch the foe’s positioning out in this very direct way, but this is all it really does and then a lot of bad stuff on top of it. Unless you can land the Chronosphere, healing the foe is probably not worth ever doing this time travel. Unless the foe has any kind of set up, even the most basic such as a Charge Shot or a trap that is annoying, then maybe you’d be using this move a lot to reset their camping in essence. You’re basically gambling when you do the time travel because you’re at an outright disadvantage after healing the foe and hoping to get a follow up, otherwise it was worthless. Also you kind of want to not damage the foe too much, because that’ll just heal them more, or maybe just camp it out some to not heal the foe. The heal’s effect on the playstyle is to say the least fairly weird.
Ekko’s combos are also odd in how they logic out the after image, who in League is just a visual indicator for where the ult is going to hit. Instead this set interprets all its hitboxes as constantly active. This is awkward characterisation, but it would be forgivable if what it did with that was interesting and it’s simply not. I question the balance even when it’s doing reduced damage, if it can combo off of the main Ekko. The after image and time travel mechanics seem like they’d be a horror in an FFA, where there may be an Ekko time travel once every second or so, reminds me of Kitanji in that way. Let alone the 8 Ekkos worth of hitboxes going off at once, but that could be said of many sets I suppose. By comparison to Kitanji though, who I feel actually got a lot out of the questionable time stop, Ekko doesn’t really work into it at all, instead focusing on the after image. At that point, I don’t see why you wouldn’t just make it the more straightforward time travel he has in League and avoid all these issues.
Gluth was a fun set, as you probably gathered from the fact I used it as inspiration in Shadow Teddie. It has a good base with the zombies and the jaws mechanic adds a good level of depth. It goes off in a direction I didn’t really expect, I would second that it needed to focus more on the zombies, plus not have the awkward Decimate effect on percentages a la Rattata, but all in all this set is good. It’s yet another one of your sets to do the Pikachu up special with the advanced technique to make the aerials easier to spam and have a double purpose. The pits are in hindsight one of the best parts, as I didn’t expect a down smash to have this effect, and helped to lift the set a great deal. I’m not sure if I really approve of this focus over the zombies, but it’s a fun enough playstyle with the Jaws mechanic and the zombies in the pits. I’d be singing the praises of this set if it just did a better job of juggling all these concepts and giving more spotlight to the zombies, but it falls a bit short, while still being a perfectly good moveset.
Last in this block is Zomom, and it deserves to have the main event card because it’s a truly great set. Zomom approaches the Sonic franchise with the kind of mockery and interpretation it deserves, if not openly welcomes in its latest games. It’s an amazing read that kind of transcends the humour at the same time as it lends itself well to the characterisation, a character that hates themselves and eats to feel better. There’s a lot of Warlord in this set and it just makes it more amusing. I could talk about the characterisation for a long time, even the simpler applications of it like the dash attack and the amazing onion rings, but the set itself has a lot to go over too.
The set takes the Fruit mechanic to the natural evolution on what I did in Lickitung. The food here doubles as a weapon too, and even comes with several moves a-piece, all of them are pretty good considering how many weapons and moves you had to make. The set then makes a great job of working this into a movement speed buff and terraforming that’s pretty creative, without feeling imbalanced. The set is then peppered with all sorts of fun takes on using the food and interpreting the Sonic franchise in a set like this, some in the writing style, but mostly in the move animations. It’s obviously based a little off of my Kristoph set too, and I feel like it does a great job of making a fun set for the Sonic franchise as a whole, feeling really perfect for Zomom.
The set’s strongest quality is the consistency from the beginning to end, without any real bad moves I can pick out. The one multi-throw throw is not the best, but it’s not like it’s bad or actively detracts. It has a massive food item special but there’s some great later moves like the Onion Rings, the fsmash and the belly drum that I really liked, though I really liked most of the moves. It's hard to see how Zomom could really ever have a better set which is a true mark of excellence, and certainly sealed it for me. This is a very high production set considering it’s also somewhat of a joke, which only makes it even more fun to dissect, but you’d need to be an unruly king to get really into that. The set itself has more than enough depth to get your fill of fun.
Riki is one of the main protagonists from Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii and 3DS, and is by far the quirkiest. Part of the primitive but numerous and wide-spread Nopon on the Bionis, Riki is fun-loving, humurous, and 40 years old, with a whole family of children and his wife. Unfortunately, his children eat a ton of food, and has put his family in debt. To repay this, the elder Nopon has endowed the title of Heropon to Riki, and this brings him onto Shulk’s party on their quest to defeat the mechon. Riki is a powerful ether user, as Nopon are able to turn plant pollen into elemental ether, and carries his unique biter weapon. On top of that, Riki has the most health of any of Xenoblade’s heroes, despite his small size, which came about as a joke during playtesting of Xenoblade that stuck around. With unique and situational skills, abilities, and great dialogue and interaction with the other characters, Riki is a fan favorite in Xenoblade, so much so he is part of Shulk’s Final Smash and is an assist trophy in Smash Bros 4.
Stats
Small, fast on the run, and very lightweight, Riki is a tiny character. Needless to say, he’s very easy to bounce away, and in Xenoblade he’s so small he can’t even fight in shallow water like the other characters can. Projectiles aren’t the most effective on the Nopon, as he can simply run under them. Relatively speaking, Riki has huge disjoint on his moves as well, as his primary weapon, his biter, is about the size of his body and comes on a stick, allowing him to hit well beyond where he could normally. Other than that, he’s like Jigglypuff to the extreme, easy to kill (in theory) but with a good deal more speed and zest.
Specials Neutral Special - Behave!
Riki pulls his biter back, exclaiming ‘Behave!’ as he opens the mouth on the biter and points it forward. From the mouth, a white dust, pollen, is produced from the weapon in a cone in front of him. A good way to imagine this is picturing Petilil’s Sleep Powder from Smash Run, but with a slightly larger radius. This move can be held, which will accordingly increase the damage, range, and the effect time this move has. This move will do between 4% and 7% damage depending on its charge, and can reach up to 3 heropons in front of himself, with the nifty ability to angle this move upwards or downwards to hit better. As an interesting thing to note, this move does not flinch the foe whatsoever, meaning it won’t interrupt any oncoming moves. Who would want to punch such an adorable heropon anyways? Riki won’t stand for that kind of violence, so this pollen’s effect will punish foes for attacking while affected, which manifests itself as the foe experiencing a few freeze frames after they strike Riki physically, likely from the regret of making such a formidable opponent. Or maybe it’s just from a paralyzing pollen. It’s up for interpretation, really. Regardless, this effect will last for 3 to 5 seconds, depending on charge, though it has no effect if Riki is struck by projectiles. However, Riki can still capitalize on this defensively, as he can throw the pollen out as an opponent attempts to land a hit, not only affecting them with the dust but also putting them into a few freeze frames after their move inevitably hits, leaving Riki to do anything he wants (a Smash attack always sounds good). While Riki will still take damage, it’s all part of his plan. Should a foe manage to shield against Riki’s Behave!, they are still not fully safe. Now, while they can attack just fine, they will be punished for a different action against the heropon, and so their shield will now take slightly longer to put up and put back down, again, for 3 to 5 seconds. This effect isn’t crippling to foes, but it can mean the difference between landing a hit and not. This is also especially good on defensive foes as they will be more inclined to attack instead of shield. Opponents want to attack Riki should they see him charging this up, despite the risk, as he will still take damage and be knocked a good distance away if struck, even with freeze frames, and the foes do not want the pollen to remain on the stage. Why not? This, and all of Riki’s other pollen moves, will linger on the stage, and they can be used by his other moves to extend hitboxes, place effects on the opponents, and even buff Riki himself. Not something Riki’s foes look forward to.
Side Special - Say Sorry!
Even the bravest of heroes experience regret and guilt for their actions time to time, and Riki is certainly no exception. When this move is used, Riki atones for his sins and places his weapon in a less aggressive stance, saying ‘Riki…’ with a soft and innocent voice. In a brief moment, Riki leaps to life, screaming ‘Sorry!’ as he swings his biter in a quick downward arc in front of himself. What a heartfelt apology! With this genuinely moving expression, Riki will use his biter to remove any debuffs he has inflicted on the opponent through his pollen. A kind gesture, but unfortunately the biter removes the pollen by biting, and so opponents won’t get away from this move unscathed. In fact, this move’s damage and knockback are increased by how many of these debuffs they have, and (spoiler alert) Riki has 5 different pollens to inflict the foe with. If no debuffs are present on the opponent, they will see through Riki’s transparent and meaningless apology and will only take 5% damage with measly knockback, steeling themselves against his tactics. With one debuff this damage is boosted to 9%, and the foe’s will actually be knocked around, able to launch even the heaviest of targets off stage with ease… assuming they have 160% damage roughly. The damage increases by 4% and the threshold for KO’s lower by 20% for each debuff the foe has, which maxes at 25% damage and the ability to KO at an astounding 80%! Of course, this assumes Riki can manage to get all five of his pollens on the opponent, and with only a five to seven second threshold to do it, this is rare without utilizing his other abilities, many of which allow him to kick pollen back up. Of course, this move when used properly is amazing and unexpectedly powerful from such a small character, but it also comes at the cost of removing all debuffs from the enemy, and as such they will be back into action at full force and with a vengeance if they weren’t KO’d. Use this move wisely.
Up Special - Roly Poly!
If Riki uses this move on the ground, he will begin to charge it up in a ‘cat preparing to pounce’ stance. Once released, Riki will tumble forward, rolling along the ground similar to Jigglypuff but with significantly less force, distance, and speed. The charge determines how far Riki travels, and can range between 2 heropons and 6 heropons forward. Riki cannot cancel his roll once he has started, though he won’t go over any edges, so max charging this move is not useful in the majority of situations. Opponents who are struck will take a static 7% damage regardless of charge and be toppled over and tripped as the Nopon rolls underfoot. A nifty effect, but this move has far more utilitarian uses than simple damage and approach. Should he use Roly Poly! and pass through a pile of Behave! pollen left on the stage (or any other pollens mentioned later on), he will coat himself with the pollen and, being the nature-bound Nopon he is, will instead gain a buff from the pollen rather than a hinderance. In this case, the dust will make him more alert, increasing his reflexes and allowing him to put his shield up and take it down a while 25% faster, allowing him to play more defensively should he want. Of course, as with the offensive variant, this will last 5 to 7 seconds depending on how long the move was charged for. Of course, a great way to use this move is to roll through several piles of different pollen at once, allowing him to get a great buff all at once.
Down Special - Play Dead!
Sometimes the mighty heropon needs a break too, and so using this move will cause Riki to lay down on the ground on his back, his biter pointed in the air like a bouquet offering for the deceased. While in this peaceful state, Riki will heal at a rate of 2% per half second as long as he is not disturbed and no other inputs are used. Should Riki awaken himself, he will go through a somewhat lengthy animation of him getting off the ground and jumping up twice to reinvigorate himself, leaving him wide open to an opponent’s attack. While Riki is already small, this makes him even tinier, and unless an aimable projectile is used, or one with drop off, foes will likely need to get close to hit him out of this state. Riki can use this to his advantage by resting in one of his piles of pollen. Once an opponent draws near, Riki can wake up and jump around, causing the pollen to kick up into a cloud around him which will pass on the effect to not just the opponent but to Riki as well, with the foe getting a debuff and Riki getting buffed. Of course, Riki will likely still take damage from the opponent’s attack, but still will have gained a reward. Of course, Riki can use this to simply buff himself, though it’s rarely a better choice than Roly Poly! unless the opponent has been KO’d.
Standards Jab - Hero Combo!
As mentioned a few times previous, one of the big benefits of playing Riki is his comparatively large hitbox from his biter, nearly the size of him, which gives his attacks a great range, and this helps on with some effects later on as well. Starting with his jab, Riki will perform a three part combo, starting by smacking his biter down on the ground in front of him, snagging foes in his way for 4% damage and bouncing them off the ground slightly. Additionally, upon hitting the ground any pollen the biter hits will be sent back up into the air slightly, making it easier to trap foes on the approach by throwing up a smokescreen of dust in their way. This still will not deal any damage, but will inflict the status as per usual. This can be a very effective option over dodging or shielding, as while Riki can be hit still throwing up Behave! Pollen will cause the hit they’ve sent out, such as from a dash attack, to put them in a freeze frame for Riki to follow up on. Using pollen after it has been on the ground will fully use it up, however, meaning Riki cannot keep spamming this move. If uninterrupted, Riki can continue onto the second part of his jab, which, as he bounces his biter off the ground from the first strike of the move, causes the heropon to swipe the biter quickly to the side, dealing another 3% damage and bopping foes away from the Nopon. The final element of this combo has Riki gnaw repeatedly in front of himself using his trusty biter, each gnash dealing 2% damage. Ending the repetition portion of the jab has Riki perform a slightly slower bite with the biter, dealing a final 3% damage and knockback away from him, starting to KO at 155% damage.
Forward Tilt - Peekaboo!
Riki performs a very short, very quick hop forwards, as if to surprise an opponent. The surprise in question here is a nasty whack from his biter, bringing it straight down in front of himself, and will strike foes for 9% damage with a fair chunk of horizontal knockback, KOing at 140%+. While better than the first two attacks in his Jab combo, this move is not phenomenal on its own. Riki takes a little while to hit the foe, though it’s not too serious, but fast foes can see the actual attack coming and retaliate fairly safely. Riki does recover from the move quickly, so actually missing the move is not terrible as the heropon will be back in the action shortly. As with the jab, Riki can use this move as an interaction with ground-bound pollen, and should the biter strike the pollen on the ground, Riki will fling it forward in a blob. This projectile pollen will travel a small distance, roughly a fifth of the length of Battlefield, and foes will take 5% damage and flinch as they are afflicted with the associated status of the pollen. Unlike the Jab, pollen can be placed around the stage repeatedly using this move, and will not disappear upon using it. In addition to the damage it deals, this move is obviously longer ranged than the jab, but these benefits come at a tradeoff. Firstly, Riki has to be a set distance away from the pollen he wants to use, as he jumps forward at the beginning of this attack, which gives more time for opponents to counter the move in whatever way they choose to avoid being pollinated. However, this is still a great way to spread pollen around and try to pile up ailments on the opponent.
Up Tilt - Bestest Stars!
Riki places his biter’s head on the ground in front of him for a brief moment, and, while facing the camera, swings his weapon in an arc above him. This attack stretches across all of Riki, ending up striking the ground on the opposite side of the heropon. The biter is a hitbox through the entirety of this attack, striking opponents for 9% damage and, depending on where in the arc they were struck, variable knockback. For the first half of the attack, as Riki is swinging his biter upwards, foes will be knocked vertically, beginning to KO at 145% damage. On the later half of the attack, when swinging the biter back down, foes will be launched backwards away from Riki, with the opportunity to KO at 135% damage rather than 145%. Finally, where the biter strikes the ground there is a sweetspot, dealing 10% damage instead of 9%, and can KO at 120% and higher. While a useful move with a wide range, the move is laggy and can be punished on a miss.
The additional effect can be seen a mile away to readers, and if there is pollen on the ground where Riki starts the attack, the biter will scoop it up as he swings the weapon through the air. Riki will then distribute the pollen in a long cloud above Riki, covering a 90 degree angle positioned directly above the heropon. This cloud acts more similar to the Jab than the Forward Tilt, and while it won’t protect Riki from being hit from above it will still punish attacking opponents, hitting them with an ailment. Similar to the Jab, Riki can use Tantrum! to inflict the freeze-frame on a hit, allowing him to follow up with another move, even using this move once more to smack opponents around. As with the Jab, this uses up the pollen permanently.
Down Tilt - Tantrum!
Riki’s face is wracked with anger, as he faces the camera and slams his biter down on the ground three times while bouncing around in place. The first strike is as Riki faces the camera, hitting directly downward under himself, and deals the most damage but the least knockback out of all three hits, hitting foes for 11% damage and bouncing them off the ground weakly. The second hit will instead strike for 8% to the left of Riki, knocking opponent’s back with the force to KO at 130% damage, and the final blow will hit to the right of Riki for 9% damage and horizontal knockback away from the Heropon, starting to KO at 140% damage. Naturally, this move interacts with pollen as all the standards have thus far, and while smashing the biter on the ground Riki will kick up any pollen he is standing on into a cloud around him. Unlike the clouds from the Jab or the Forward Tilt, this cloud does not interact with opponents, and instead will coat Riki in whatever pollen he is standing in, acting the same as Roly Poly! but without needing to travel across the stage. As a tradeoff, however, this is another long, somewhat laggy move, though with good coverage, so it is not a constant superior choice to Roly Poly! in every scenario.
Dash Attack - Sneaky!
Riki’s watched Shulk fight a fair chunk, and as such has picked up a few of his moves through observation, such as his famous Back Slash. The heropon will attempt to replicate this move on a smaller scale, leaping forward out of his dash and swing his biter in a wide overhead arc. While Riki’s small body and tiny legs don’t carry him as far as Shulk’s do, this is still a potent attack that covers a wide range thanks to the large biter hitbox. Opponents struck at any point by the biter will take 12% damage, flung away from Riki with force to KO at 135% and above. Unlike Shulk’s Back Slash, this does not deal more damage if Riki strikes opponents from behind, but does have a sweet spot at the very end of the attack, where the biter strikes the ground after Riki has landed, and foes hit here will instead take 14% and be launched with the force to KO at 125% and above, making this move among Riki’s better moves in general for both damage and knockback outside of Say Sorry! with buffs. Of course, this is a laggy and predictable move once it has begun, so Riki can easily be punished from spamming of this move. Behave! allows Riki to follow up being struck by a foe at low percentages while they’re in the freeze frame, but this isn’t reliable at high percentages as the heropon will be launched too far back to act into a dash attack.
Smashes Forward Smash - Freezinate!
Riki’s Smashes are all pollen moves, giving various effects that differ from that of Behave!, though all deal damage over time to some degree. For this move, Riki holds his biter above his head as this attack is charged, and, upon release, points the biter open, mouth agape, as a cloud of light blue sparkling pollen sprays forcefully from the weapon. This cloud, fired (or iced?) in a cone shape, covers the distance of a fourth of Battlefield, lingering for almost a second after being launched, and can be influenced up and down as well. As with Tantrum!, Freezinate! leaves a puddle of pollen on the ground afterwards, should it not strike an opponent. Upon impact with an opponent, they will take between 14% and 18% damage, and at max charge will be thrown back with enough force to KO at 125% damage and higher. Additionally, foes who touch this chilling dust will be inflicted with an aptly named Chill status, different from that seen in Melia’s set. Chill will 2% flinching damage every two seconds the foe is inflicted, ranging between 5 and 7 seconds depending on the charge of the move, useful for disrupting the opponent’s flow. Upon hitting a shield, this, and the other moves, have unique effects similar to Behave! Upon hitting a shield, Freezinate! will give it a slight blue sheen as an indicator that it has made the shield frozen and more brittle, translating to Shield health being capped at half of its normal health, again for the course of 5 to 7 seconds. As an addendum, as with Behave!, no pollen moves can have both the regular effect and the shielded effect. When coated in this pollen himself, as with Roly Poly!, Riki will instead gain a 50% buff to his shield health, though not his shield size, for a similar 5 to 7 seconds.
Up Smash - Lurgy!
As he charges the move, the heropon holds his biter close to the ground and, upon release, swings the weapon in a semi-arc. The weapon itself is not a hitbox, but rather once it reaches the peak of the swing will fire a green blob of concentrated toxic pollen in a lazy arc. The projectile pollen will rise straight up into the air normally, though it can be influenced to the left or right, and moves at a little above Ganondorf’s walk speed through the air. Upon striking a foe, they will take between 15% and 21% damage, and at full charge will be thrown back with the force to KO starting 115% damage. Upon being struck by this toxic blob, opponents will be inflicted with a Poison status, which forces the foe to take 1% non-flinching damage per second over the course of 10 to 14 seconds. This is indicated with a slight purple bubbling effect over their character model. Upon impact with an opponent’s shield, this will inflict a Poison status on the shield, which functions slightly different from the previous Poison status. This will pause the shield’s regeneration for the course of the same 10 to 14 seconds, and in addition will deal 2% damage to the shield every second. Of course, Riki can coat himself in this pollen as well, and while toxic to others, the Nopon quite enjoys it and will restore 2% of his health a second, over the course of 5 to 7 seconds.
Down Smash - Burninate!
The Heropon wields his biter as he hops around 360 degrees in a circle, shouting ‘B-b-burninate!’ as he scatters a red pollen around himself. The pollen, if uninterrupted, will drift slowly towards the ground and, on impact with the stage, will suddenly combust into a ring of fire around the Nopon. If it is interrupted by, say, an unfortunate foe, the burst of flame on that side will happen early, so nothing to fret for Riki. The flames reach up twice Riki’s height, and when they connect with foes will do between 16% and 22% damage, depending on charge, and launch foes upwards with the force to knock them off stage at 105% damage. Very nice! Foes will also be afflicted with a Burn status, which will hit foes once a second, dealing 3% non-flinching damage for 5 to 7 seconds, and is indicated by a slight red burning effect. Hitting a foe’s shield, rather than their body, will naturally burn their shield. Rather than damaging the shield, this instead will cause opponents to take 5% damage every time they bring up their shield, though it will not hinder their ability to shield. When Riki himself is coated with this pollen, he will have a burning property about him as well, though used for offense rather than being a debuff, and increases damage on all of his non-pollen attacks by 2%.
Aerials Neutral Aerial - Pollen Burst!
As he drifts in the wind, the glorious heropon reaches into his pollen pouch and throws out a thick cloud of golden pollen orbs around himself. Rather than the pollen from other moves, this allergy inducer does not maintain any ethereal properties, having come straight from the source rather than have been manipulated through the biter. The cloud of pollen just surrounds Riki, so opponents with any tangible disjoint will usually be able to strike through it just fine, and this cloud will linger for about half a second around where it was used before dissipating. Additionally, Riki is lifted a minor distance into the air when using this move as he tosses the pollen, not enough to use as recovery but enough that he can remain in the pollen cloud if he so chooses. The pollen itself, while not magical, still presents a hinderance to opponents who make contact with it, dishing out a weak flinching 4% damage.
The sticky pollen will attach itself to opponents, weighing them down from the heavy dust. Afflicted foes have their jumps effectively lowered by 2 stages and their Fall Speed increased by 2 stages (sorry Pohatu!) nerfing both their skills in the air and allowing them to be better combo’d from the ground. Of course, this cloud is not just one large pollen particle, as that would be silly, and is instead broken up into 10 much smaller particles, distributed equally in a sphere. For each individual orb of pollen the foe touch, they will suffer this effect for two seconds, maxing out at twenty seconds for being struck by the entirety of the attack, though this is a typically unlikely scenario as opponents do flinch away after making contact. On average, the foe will attract three to five of these pollen orbs onto them after being struck by the attack, translating to six to ten seconds of worse jumps and a higher fall speed. Getting hit by this attack again will continue to stack more onto the timer, discouraging foes from attempting aerial killing combos on the heropon. This effect counts towards Say Sorry! as well, giving Riki even more power on the attack.
Forward Aerial - Nutritious!
Riki’s aerials have a trait shared among all of them, though not necessarily unique to his character, that they all have multiple hitboxes and can strike in various directions, making him a tricky Riki to deal with off the ground indeed! For this move, Riki leaps backwards in the air a very short distance, his body becoming a brief hitbox that deals 5% damage on contact with foes and knocking them away from the puffball slightly. During this time, Riki swings his biter down in front of him like a great hammer, the weapon’s maw agape as he does so. Opponents struck are batted away as if struck by a mace, taking 8% damage and diagonal downward knockback, though only starting to KO at 165% and above. While not necessarily the most devastating of moves, the multiple hitboxes, both roughly the size of Riki, make this a difficult move to avoid. A second function of the attack ties into the move’s name, and while the biter may not be alive it still seems to enjoy “eating”, and allows Riki to scoop up most projectiles with his weapon. Unlike Villager’s Pocket, Riki cannot use these for later, but still proves useful against other campers. Additionally, Riki can use this on his own pollen from the NAir, in which case he will actually store the pollen for later. Pollen will remain in the biter until a biter move makes contact with an opponent, another pollen attack is used, or Riki, though a complete impossibility surely, loses a stock.
Upon successfully hitting a foe with the biter, the pollen will be distributed once more, adding the debuffs from the pollen in addition to the damage and whatever other effect the move may have had. Of course, this is a more reliable way to hit opponents with this pollen, though two moves of setup can be tricky to complete, especially as opponents may hang around after the NAir is used to strike Riki from above or below to prevent him from using this move. Should an ether move be used, such as Behave! or the Smashes, this will expend the pollen and, in exchange, extend the duration of the move’s effect by 1.3 times, a very potent addition which gives Riki reason to store this pollen. As a quick note, Riki cannot store multiple uses of pollen in the biter at one time. Instead, using this move while Riki has stored pollen will instead cause him to launch it from his weapon in a yellow polleny blob. This projectile travels in a lazy arc about a fourth of the distance of Battlefield before disappearing, and not only will opponents struck by it suffer the aerial debuff from the move but will take 8% damage upon being struck, with a bit of knockback to push them around. As the pollen bomb travels in an arc, it is potent from many stages of the air, as it can strike both aerial foes and grounded ones. As with the Smashes and Behave!, if this pollen lands on the ground it will spread out in a small puddle for five seconds before disappearing, yet another way to afflict foes. Using Roly Poly!, Riki will pick up his own pollen off the ground, gaining a buff to his jump height and air speed, essentially putting him in the next stage up for each for the next five seconds.
Up Aerial - Gusty!
In a quick motion, Riki faces the camera and spirals around in the air, his body once again becoming a full on hitbox. Struck by the whirling heropon, foes take a weak but rapid and repeating 2% damage and are pushed a bit upwards, like a weakened Mario Tornado. This move is much shorter, however, lasting only a few revolutions before Riki lifts his biter high above himself and launches a gust of wind upwards. A small windbox appears, pushing foes upwards and away from Riki. By itself, the move has limited utility, primarily existing to prevent gimping and to break up aerial combos. However, as most readers are probably picking up on, this move allows Riki to disperse his pollen into the air above him (sounds… dirty…). As with the Forward Aerial, this takes the form of a blob of pollen, but rather than being launched forward the pollen will be launched along with the windbox, still dealing 8% as before. Because the windbox remains, foes can be thrown upwards and pelted with the pollen in rapid succession, making this a viable offensive move. The actual trajectory of the pollen naturally differs from the FAir’s, and while the orb can be directionally influenced to an extent left and right the pollen stays on a straight path upwards, boosted by the wind and moving at a faster speed. The pollen will disappear at the end of the hitbox, however, and will not return downwards at any point.
Back Aerial - Hookie!
Riki begins this attack by, of all things, jabbing his biter forward like a lance with the mouth open. Opponents take no damage if struck immediately, though they will flinch on a hit. This is very fast and can be hard to avoid if not prepared, and after the initial strike Riki will yank the biter backwards with great force. This turns the handle of the biter, which now extends behind Riki, into a long hitbox that can deal 12% damage on a hit, his strongest aerial by a longshot, and can even KO at percentages of 115% and higher when it connects! As for the opponents who were struck in front of Riki? In addition to being an effective way to end an aerial approach, the opponents are effectively ‘hooked’ for the second part of the attack, allowing Riki to yank them towards himself along with his biter. The most obvious use of this is to draw foes into a pollen cloud from the Neutral Aerial, which can be effective though many foes will be wary when the pollen cloud is up in general, as no one will appreciate the debuffs. Of course, there are other uses, and Riki can instead go into his Up Aerial, allowing him to hurl opponents into the air and, if pollen is currently stored, hinder their game with a reliable setup move, and this can generically make the Forward Aerial easier to land as well. Of course, the competent power on foes behind the heropon is also nice, though predictable as this part of the move comes after the thrust of the biter forward, so the startup lag hurts its usability as a killing move. Additionally, this is the one aerial of Riki’s which does not actively utilize the pollen, though it still has solid interaction by being able to drag the foe into a cloud of the flowery dust, and, if played well enough and with help from Behave!, can be used to score solid KOs on opponents.
Down Aerial - Dinobeast Strike!
To put it bluntly, Riki is far from a ‘dinobeast’. I’m sorry to mislead you in such a way. However, Riki is as tenacious and courageous as a dinobeast, at least until the battle gets too intense and he needs to make a hero’s escape. This move is an example of the latter situation. Riki faces the ground and plummets downward, holding his biter ahead of him the entire time. Much faster than his actual fall speed, this is a great move for breaking free of quicker aerial opponents if Riki is struggling to get his other aerials off, and while diving his body becomes a hitbox once more, dealing 6% damage to opponents who touch the heropon, and said foes will be struck aside to make room for greatness. The biter is its own hitbox, of course, and being struck by it will do a whopping 7% damage instead, also throwing foes off to the side. Unlike many stall-and-falls, Riki has great control over his, able to cancel the move at any time by pressing the standard input a second time. Doing this will cause Riki to open his hand-ear-wings like a parachute, breaking his fall abruptly. Additionally, if any pollen is stored in the biter, it will be launched downward at this point, moving at a speed between the Forward Aerial and the Up Aerial, but straight downward. Naturally, the impact is the same as with the other forms, and will deal 8% damage. Range-wise, this form of the pollen bomb is the superior choice, as it will continue downward until striking a foe, the ground, or leaving the stage. While the startup on this move is quick, canceling the move is actually laggier than landing it, as the whole ear parachute thing takes up many frames to start and stop.
Grab Bitey Bitey!
It would be remiss if Riki’s grab was not grasping at opponents like a child with one of those t-rex toys, and that is exactly what the heropon does. Riki opens the mouth of the biter and swings it upward, closing it around any foes who it touches. With the sizable grab hitbox via the biter, Riki’s grab is on the slow side, making up for its lag with range. Once held onto, Riki can pummel opponents in the most intuitive way; fulfilling its name, the biter will repeatedly bite the foe, dishing out a moderate 2% damage per hit. Additionally, the grab has versatility beyond just opponents. Items are easier to pick up as the biter will scoop them up and bring them to Riki. Additionally, and perhaps most interestingly, Riki can scoop up pollen from off the ground in all forms, from his Smashes, Behave!, and his Neutral Aerial. As explained in the Aerials, Riki cannot do this if he has pollen already stored in the biter, and the pollen remains stored until Riki uses it or loses a stock. Similar to how pollen was explained before, this allows Riki to alter his next biter attack, causing it to inflict the associated effect with that dust. Additionally, Riki can use these pollens for his aerials as well, allowing him to have a paralyzing, freezing, burning, or noxious projectile in the air, depending on what kind he’s storing. As an added note, the pollen from the Smashes will deal 9% in projectile form rather than 8%, while the pollen from Behave! will only deal 7%. The grab, pummel, and throws that do not mention the powder do not actually activate pollen like other biter moves do.
Forward Throw - Topple!
Riki holds the foe in place with his biter and presses them against the ground. Riki proceeds to fling the opponent forward, characters assuming their launched curled up position, as they roll along the ground. The throw itself will deal 8% damage to the opponent, nothing particularly special, and they will continue to roll over the course of a third of the distance of Battlefield, even rolling over ledges to prevent any Forward Throw chain grabs. Once offstage, however, foes are free to cancel the rolling animation at any time, so this is not a move designed for killing. Interestingly, as I’m sure most have noticed, this is the second move in the set that revolves around rolling, and as such has a similar, but inverse, effect to Roly Poly! Opponents can be rolled over pollen on the ground, and this will inflict the associated effect on them. Since pollen lasts for a little while on the ground, this is Riki’s most efficient means of hindering the foe indirectly, as with a little set up Riki can coat the foe in multiple pollens at once, lining him up to either continue pestering the foe or to finish them off with a super-powered Say Sorry!
Up Throw - Makna Fall!
Riki hurls the opponent up into the air giddily with the biter, dealing a lame 5% damage with alright vertical knockback for a throw. Under normal circumstances, this ends the attack, and is ultimately a pretty poor attack. Luckily it can be made up for using Yoink which has a greater vertical knockback if the foe does not have an item out. What gives? Well, if the biter is currently storing pollen, Riki will form that into a projectile, as with his aerials, but slightly different. Based on the pollen used, the projectile will have different impact and effects, adding some sweet diversity to Riki’s throw and making it actually usable. Pollen from Behave! will form a silvery blob that rises upwards to strike opponents for an additional 7% damage, raising this throw to a total of 12% damage. After the impact, foes are freeze framed momentarily before taking the additional vertical knockback, which allows this move to KO at 135% and up. At higher percentages, foes are likely to be too high in the air to strike on the freeze frame, but at lower percentages Riki can follow up and hit them with Lurgy or one of his aerials, most likely the Neutral Aerial. Naturally, foes will also suffer the effects of the pollen. Freezinate will create an icy blue blob of pollen which launches upward and, upon hitting opponents, deals an additional 10% damage, inflicting the foe with Chill and encapsulating them in ice for a brief moment. As mentioned before, this is great for follow ups at low percentages, especially as Riki can stack more pollen in the air, or even line up the Back Aerial for good damage and knockback, but is hard to combo off of once opponents are at higher percentages.
Burninate, when used, hits foes for an extra 10% damage, as with Freezinate, and will initiate an impact similar to PK Fire, though shorter, and this is Riki’s best chance to follow up with another move, as the foe will be flinching in the air for a short bit. This, of course, will Burn foes as expected. Lurgy will also strike opponents for 10% damage, inflicting the noxious Poison on them as once might expect, and dealing a solid chunk of knockback, able to KO foes at 115% and higher. Of course, there are no follow ups to be made out of this form of the throw, there’s no pause and the knockback is too great for Riki to end his animation and get up there to any great effect, so this is better to use towards the end of an opponent’s stock. Finally, pollen from Pollen Burst takes the familiar image of a golden blob of dust launched upwards. Opponents will only take an additional 8% damage when struck, more than Behave! but less than the Smashes, and will be affected immediately by the pollen. This does have more vertical knockback, but not a significant amount for KOing foes, and the opponent will plummet back down at an obviously increased rate. Riki can combo on the ground using this throw, as the increased fall speed will bring the foe right back to him, though thanks to DI Chain Grabs are unlikely and easily punished. While this throw, as with the Forward Throw, requires some setup to reach full potential, it can become a great way to inflict status on foes and even score a KO, thanks to Lurgy’s variation of the move.
Back Throw - Riki Rumble!
Riki grabs hold of the opponent with his empty ear-hand before suplexing backwards wildly. A bulkier fighter may simply slam the opponent in the ground but Riki’s light weight sends both him and the foe tumbling backwards together quite a bit. The tumbling will mess up foes for 6% damage as the two of them somersault back, traveling a fourth of a distance of Battlefield. Afterwards, the opponent is launched upwards at a 45 degree angle, taking an additional 5% damage. This throw can KO foes at 120% damage and upwards. Similar to the Forward Throw, of course, this move can be used to coat opponents in pollen, but there are a few differences. First off, this throw is much stronger and easier to score KOs with than the Forward Throw. However, the range is decreased as a result, and rolling over pollen is not guaranteed to afflict the opponent as sometimes Riki will be the one rolling over the ground. Luckily, this allows him to pick his pollen up himself in this situation, so while less reliable than the Forward Throw there are benefits to both sides, as either the foe is debuffed or Riki gains a buff. All and all, this is a versatile throw, if not always reliable for what Riki wants to happen, and is another way to force debuffs onto his foes.
Down Throw - Yoink!
Riki see, Riki want! Riki brings the foes in close using the biter and attempts to snatch whatever, if anything, they were holding with his hand-ear. If Riki does successfully snag the item, he will explain “Riki happy!” and throw the opponent against the ground using the biter. This will deal 9% damage to foes as they bounce back up at a low angle, not much for KOing but hey, Riki got a cool new toy out of the deal so he’s content either way. This is a good way to, if items are on, grab a good item like the Gust Bellows or Steel Diver, or really just keep foes from having any items out, and can punish certain characters like Link with his Bombs, though this is risky as taking too long can leave Riki with a bomb just as it explodes. If Riki fails to snag an item, however, he will become upset, shouting “No present??” and hurling the foe down as hard as his little Nopon body can. Since he is angered, more strength is used when no item is obtained than when one is successfully yoinked, and will instead deal 12% damage with a much steeper bounce angle on the throw, and can actually start KOing foes at 130% and higher, making it an alright finishing move and also giving foes a reason to continue using their items against Riki even if he can simply take them away, essentially bribing the heropon to hurt them less. Truly a hero!
Final Smash Heropon Armor
Riki lifts his biter in the air and dances, and suddenly is engulfed by heavy armor! Now that he is in the proper attire of a hero, Riki is invincible! Or at least he won’t flinch when attacked. And, as an added bonus, opponents who touch Riki, or get too close, they will take spike damage from this heroic armor, taking 2% damage for every half second they are too close, and so Riki is free to simply chase foes around in the armor as he wishes, and he can attack if he really needs to. Once seven seconds have passed, Riki will return to normal, and will continue the fight as a humble Nopon who does not resemble a morningstar.
Playstyle
Riki’s playstyle is fairly straightforward: place debuffs on opponents, place buffs on yourself, and continue until they are within range of a Say Sorry! Of course, there are many ways to go about this, which adds to the fun of playing Riki. Best way to go about tends to be trying to force opponents to shield so Riki can weaken their defenses, as Riki is mobile enough and small enough to try and evade offensive opponents, but struggles against bulkier or shielding opponents without his debuffs. Of course, Riki can manage a couple other strategies as well, though they aren’t as easy or straightforward as the Say Sorry! Strategy. Riki can manage a competent anti-air style with his weight increasing pollen and his wide variety of aerial moves, and while he is designed on being on the ground he can definitely handle himself in the air as well. His grab game gives him a variety of utility too, and provides multiple outlets for getting pollen onto himself.
Flavor
Entrance - Riki drops down onto the stage from a Pterix, similar to how the Ice Climbers enter the stage. Boxing Ring Title - The Legendary Heropon! Up Taunt - Riki hops up and down several times in a circle with joy. Side Taunt - Riki performs a generic kawaii peace sign as he laughs. Down Taunt - Riki places his biter on the ground, exclaiming “Heropon very cool!” Victory Pose A - Riki bounces around, shouting “Heropon run from nothing!” Victory Pose B - Riki slams his biter around a couple times and shouts “Riki can win by himself!”. Alternatively, in a team match Riki might say “Riki’s sidekicks do good!” instead. Victory Pose C - Riki is seen sitting on the ground and thinking, as he says pensively “Riki wonder if heropon can repay debt now”. Losing Pose - Riki jumps up and down while cheering for the victors. Victory Theme - The same snippet of “You Will Know Our Names” as Shulk
Nice moveset Salvic, it was simple and fun! Good to see MYM reviving after it's month-long hiatus
Anyways I've been horrible in this community, i've mainly been lurking, trying to make movesets and then losing inspiration to do so, I think the problem is because I'm making them at too slow a pace which only leads to quickly losing interest in the set. At least now I know to make them quicker if anything.
I've also learned I just can't make promises, especially since MYM can't be especially high on my priority list, which is sad beacuse I honestly love this community even if I am a lurker. One thing I can promise though is I'll always pursue to make movesets out of the interest of MYM but whether or not I can make them in time without losing inspiration I can't really say.
With that I'll proceed on making a moveset, no promises this time!
This attack is Dark Samus' signature move as it was the first attack she used in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and tries again in the second battle. This attack fires Phazon bullets. If all of these bullets should hit Dark Samus' opponent, that will be a total of 21% damage. Scatter Shot fires at a 10° angle. Because of the high amount of damage in a single shot, Scatter Shot cannot be charged. (In fact, it doesn't appear that this ever happens in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Metroid Prime 3: Corruption).
Up B - Phazon Sphere
When Dark Samus uses this attack, she'll end up temporarily with super armor. The way Phazon Sphere works is that Dark Samus leaps into the air, about a full hop in height, and launches herself in any of the 8 directions. If the opponent shields this attack, Dark Samus will rebound, but upon landing, she will be temporarily unable to move due to cool down. This is a KO attack and produces 20% damage. If Dark Samus decides to launch downward, she will generate a shock wave, which makes this attack also useful for edge-guarding, but the damage is reduced to 10% instead.
Forward B - Phazon Missile
When this attack is not a smash attack, Dark Samus will launch a super missile, which will cause 10% damage. When smashed, the Phazon Missile has a property similar to that of a freeze effect. This attack produces 15% damage. There is an inverse relationship here, as super missiles are capable of KO'ing if the opponent is at a high percent, but when smashed, the Phazon Missile will not kill, but rather cause Dark Samus' opponent to fly up in an 80° angle just like any attack with a freeze effect will. Although risky, Dark Samus could use this close up in order to follow up with a combo.
Down B - Dark Echo
When Dark Samus summons Dark Echo, she is essentially summoning what would be considered an assist trophy. During this time, a clone of Dark Samus will appear, moving on its own terms based on the AI of a level 9 computer. Touching this clone will inflict damage on Dark Samus' opponent. Dark Echo can be removed from the stage if she receives 30% damage. Dark Echo can perform all attacks Dark Samus can perform, but these attacks are reduced both in damage and knock-back by 24%. Dark Echo doesn't work off any concept of combos and is more of a nuisance than any true threat. However, this does allow Dark Samus to have a distraction to aid her in combat. If the player decides to use Dark Echo again when there is one present, the player will take control of Dark Echo instead and Dark Samus will behave as a level 9 computer. The player can alter between the two by performing Dark Echo at any time. Once Dark Echo is defeated, Dark Samus will need to wait 10 seconds before she can summon her clone again.
-Normal- Neutral A - Phazon Punch
This attack is somewhat like Samus' jab 1, the difference being that it cause 6% damage, has better hit stun, and it has a lower FAF in order for Dark Samus to do her Phazon Punch in a manner as if she were taking advantage of IASA frames. This jab can lead into other attacks like Phrygisian Pillar, causing the opponent to be launched at 85°. Phazon Punch is only 3 frames, meaning that while it is a short duration, making it safe. Furthermore, attacks with 2 frames or less will often counter this attack, unless of course Dark Samus brings out her jab before her opponent inputs their jab.
Dash - Speed Boost
Dark Samus can KO her opponent with this attack at high percent. When Dark Samus uses this attack, she is covered by a blue energy field, meaning that if she uses this attack early and the attack is shielded, she will still have somewhat of a safe distance to reduce punishment. Speed Boost knocks Dark Samus' opponent in an 80° angle, allowing for her to follow up with some aerial combos. The total amount of damage caused by this attack varies. Its early and late damage percent is 8%. It's normal damage is 10%.
Up Tilt - Aú sem Mão
Dark Samus will do a flip, bringing her left or right leg to an arc depending on the direction she's facing, following up with her other leg to bring a full swing against her opponent. This attack has two hits to it and can be used for juggling or even spiking with the first hit if she's standing next to the ledge and edge-guards at the right time. If Dark Samus' opponent is in the air, she can use Aú sem Mão to juggle her opponent. A down throw to up tilt is a guaranteed combo and is especially effective against larger or heavier characters. Each kick deals 6% damage.
Forward Tilt - Roundhouse Kick
Dark Samus' forward tilt is similar to Samus' with its good range and ability to angle diagonally up or down. The attack deals 8% linearly, 7% if angled downward, and 9% if angled upward. This kick has a sweet spot, should Dark Samus land her attack with her foot, as opposed to the rest of her leg. The difference, of course, is the hit stun caused by Dark Samus' Phazon-charged attacks. The higher the percent, the longer Dark Samus' opponent will be stunned. Because the stun will be more effective at higher percentages, this can allow Dark Samus to follow up with another attack, such as Phazon Tendrils or Boost Ball. With the hit stun present, connecting Roundhouse Kick to the aforementioned options would technically make these true combos.
Down Tilt - Phazon Tendrils
This attack allows Dark Samus to push enemies away if they get too close. It covers a lot of range on both sides, so this is also effective against those who roll a lot. Phazon Tendrils causes 12% damage and launches DS' opponent at an 80° angle. It is capable of KO'ing anywhere between 130% to 150% depending on the weight of the character.
-Smash- Up Smash - Phrygisian Pillar
Unlike the numerous Phrygisian Pillars that Dark Samus generates in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, she can only generate one at a time. It can be destroyed, but if this attack fails to come into contact with the ground, it will fall below, making it a useful edge-guarding attack against those who try to recover low. It has a spiking property. If used on the ground, Dark Samus' opponent will be launched at an 85° angle.
Phrygisian Pillar can be rolled behind, so this attack is really only useful for defensive purposes. This also means that even if Dark Samus' opponent rolls past the pillar to get to her, she could easily roll behind it to remain protected. Phrygisian Pillar only remains on the stage for 10 seconds and it can be destroyed if it receives 20% damage. If Dark Samus uses Phyrgisian Pillar, even after there is a pillar on the stage, the initial pillar will break apart and the new one will take its place.
Forward Smash - Plasma Beam
This attack is like Phazon Beam, but it has more knock-back and can KO. This attack can be charged to cause more damage with a maximum of 25%. Unlike the Phazon Beam, it has a shorter range, probably a little past Mega Man's Charge Shot. Plasma Beam can still be angled diagonally up or down. Since it also has flame properties, it will cause 1% damage per 12 frames, totaling out to be 5% of extra damage, since the game would be 60 frames per second. The disadvantage of Plasma Beam is that Dark Samus cannot move while she's using this attack, leaving her vulnerable for 20 frames, even though FAF is negligible.
Down Smash - Boost Ball
Dark Samus will first strike in the direction she is facing and then move to the opposite direction before the attack finishes. It's fast speed is good at preventing those who roll. Boost Ball knocks opponents at a 178° angle, making this a perfect KO attack, as the opponent won't be able to tech on the ground. The range for this attack, however, is short, about the length of Samus' forward smash. This means that should this attack be used on DS' opponent in order to KO, even if the opponent hadn't rolled to get hit, the opponent could take advantage of this if his/her range is greater, either by virtue of a disjointed hit box or projectile.
-Aerial- Neutral A - Radioactive Explosion
A burst of radioactive energy bursts from Dark Samus' body, knocking her opponent away from her. When Dark Samus performs this attack, if she has any momentum in the air, she will suddenly stop in place to release this energy, and then continue with the momentum she originally had. This attack is good at knocking her opponent's barrage of attacks, giving her time to breathe. Like some of Dark Samus' other attacks, this is a useful attack at KO'ing her opponent off the stage in a horizontal direction.
Up Air - Helicopter Kick Dark Samus will perform a rotation of upward kicks, catching her opponent in consecutive hits. Helicopter Kick causes her opponent to fly nigh vertically, allowing a KO depending on the height of the ceiling or the percentage. When Dark Samus performs this attack, she can move forward or backward, ensuring that if her opponent so chooses to DI to escape, she can maintain the consecutive hits. Backing away also allows for Dark Samus to maintain safety, while moving forward allows a continuous flow of combo momentum.
Forward Air - Plasma Arc
Plasma Arc fires at a 270° angle and works its way to a 0° angle. This aerial attack is useful against opponents trying to recover low, since there is really no other option to escape but up. Of course, a grounded opponent could shield or roll. Plasma Arc is a long stream of plasma, which has knock-back useful enough to push Dark Samus' opponent away. Like Plasma Beam, this attack will cause an additional 5% damage based on its burning property, which works at 1% per 12 frames, or 5% per 60 frames. The total amount of damage caused by this attack is 12%.
Back Air - Back Kick
This is one of Dark Samus' effective methods to KO'ing her opponent due to the high knock-back. Because Dark Samus' leg is extended just like Samus' and Zero Suit Samus' back air, this gives Dark Samus a safe option, should she connect to her kick to her opponent's shield, rather than to her opponent. Like the two other characters, this will deal enough damage to eventually cause a shield break, so it's best for Dark Samus' opponents to avoid shielding this attack too much. Total damage dealt is 14%.
Down Air - Phazon Burst
Somewhat similar to Samus' down air, except when Dark Samus uses this attack, she'll use her left palm and a burst of Phazon energy will propel her upward while spiking her opponent with a meteor smash.
-Throw- Neutral A - Phazon Pellets
Because Dark Samus uses her left hand to grab, once she grabs her opponent, she fires miniature Phazon projectiles to deal damage. The attack takes only 1 frame and it causes 1% damage.
Up Throw - Missile Launch
Dark Samus grabs her opponent, throws him/her up into the air and fires a super missile. Lower ceilings or higher percentages allow for a possible KO.
Forward Throw - Phazon Push
Dark Samus grabs onto her opponent's shoulder as she leaps over, piercing her sharp fingers into her opponent's shoulder to toss him/her overhead so as to land in front of Dark Samus. At this time, she has let go of her opponent, causing her opponent to fall while she pulls back her left palm, only to thrust it forcefully against her opponent to launch him/her away.
Back Throw - Spin Toss
Dark Samus will spin around in a tornado motion with her opponent swinging from her hand, causing the opponent to fly at a 180° angle. This attack is based after Samus' lethal strike in Metroid: Other M.
Down Throw - Super-charged Slam
With her opponent at her mercy, Dark Samus will send a course of blue electricity through her opponent as she slams him/her to the ground. At this time, the opponent is stunned momentarily before being launched at an 80° angle. During this stun time, a window of opportunity is established for Dark Samus to follow up with any true combo in any manner she so desires. However, as Dark Samus' opponent increases in damage, her opponent, like most who are thrown downward, will have been given enough space to avoid further combos, so this is seen as being effective at around 0 to 100%.
-Miscellaneous- Air Dodge - Phantom
During this state, Dark Samus is completely immune to attacks, just like anyone who air-dodges.
Dodge - Phantom
This is the same as the aforementioned dodging ability, except it's on the ground.
Roll - Sense Move
Dark Samus' way of rolling is nothing like Samus'. Rather than going into morph ball mode, Dark Samus will quickly hop away. This roll is faster than Samus', being at least on par with that Zero Suit Samus'.
SANDSLASH Sandslash can roll up its body as if it were a ball covered with large spikes. In battle, this Pokémon will try to make the foe flinch by jabbing it with its spines. It then leaps at the stunned foe to tear wildly with its sharp claws.
In PokeSmash, Sandslash is an offensive fighter with a handful of elemental tricks tucked away, much like it's counterpart Pikachu!
STATS
Size:4.5 Pretty much standard-sized, Pikachu's head would rest squarely under his chin when both are standing straight making him around the same size as Mario if not a bit shorter.
Weight:5.5 A bit above average due to the healthy coating of spiky plates. Run:5
Running on all fours puts him at a slight advantage when it comes to some other characters, but speed isn't Sandslash's specialty.
Jump:3 With a disposition towards the ground, Sandslash has poorer jumps akin to Metaknight... only you know with only 1 double jump. Air:7.5 Despite being poor at getting high into the air, Sandslash can cut through the air much like he does with dirt!
Fall:7.5 Sandslash really prefers being grounded, and also benefits from being hard to send flying off the top! This does make him a bit more susceptible to throw combos, but that is assuming somebody grabs him through his prickly defenses!
Like in the Pokemon games, Sandslash sticks to his Ground Typing and has the potential for explosive bursts of movement and offense, even if certain strategies can end up hurting him defensively if out of his element.
SPECIALS
Neutral B:Magnitude
On the ground, pressing and holding the B Button will have Sandslash scrape his claws against the floor as he grumbles, sharpening his claws and pumping himself up! Letting go of the input will stop this motion, as will rolling / shielding just like Samus or DK. Like the leader of the bunch, he can charge both in the air or on the ground with the aerial version simply scraping his claws together and being much slower to charge. After 10 scrapes, Sandslash will gain a feint gold/brown aura indicating he has maximum Magnitude built up!
Just like in the games, unleashing a full Magnitude-10 attack into the earth is truly devastating. Hitting the same area as DK's down B, anyone on the ground will be hit for 15% damage and send straight upwards with high knockback that can KO anywhere from 100% - 140% depending on the victim's fall speed! Luckily for the enemy, the quake part of Magnitude only hits opponents touching the ground. Sandslash can counter that with the initial downward strike though. Bringing both claws up overhead, Magnitude has him slam them down in front of him and into the ground as a separate, meteor-smashing attack dealing 10% at max. While in the air it isn't too special, comparable to your average Dair of the same type, it can immediately combo into the quake hitbox it emits as a meteor'ed foe touches the ground! Totaling 25%, this can be quite the punish when spaced just right. The multi-hit nature of the move will still give it the same KO range, though effectively 10% earlier if you land his initial swing. You can also short-hop this quite easily given his aerial stats to give the initial hit more effective range to boot. Landing the Mag-Slam has a bit of wiggle room for timing, but there is a laggy fail window if you are in the air after his claws essentially reach nearly all the way down.
In many ways this can also be compared to Ike's eruption, such as how its really only worth writing home about at maximum charge. For starters, the Mag-Slam scales with each scrape. Starting at 1%, each charge will add 1% and a bit of knockback till the 10% maximum is reached. The Mag-Quake hitbox also scales, but is barely even notable until 4 scrapes, dealing a weak second hit for 1% basically right under the claw. Each bit of charge then adds 2% and a bit of distance and gradual knockback to the quake, until at 10 it boosts to the DK range and high impact. The mid-near max charges can be useful as a wide-area launcher much like DK's ground pound and put the foe close enough to combo off of on a decent read, though the real star is of course the Magntitude-10 quake!
You'll want to often keep your claws busy with building Magnitude to maximize your performance! Just be wary as Sandslash is rather vulnerable while he is sitting there charging up. Speaking of Claws...
Down B:Dig
Turning his attention to the floor, Sandslash does what he does best and begins to dig after the input is pressed! Taking about 1/2 of a second (30 frames) for him to "submerge" as start up lag, foes can interrupt Sandslash if they're quick, and attacking him head on. As you can see in the pic above, Sandslash's digging creates vicious Sand-Attacks behind him! Covering an area the size of DDD, the sand will spray multiple times to flinch foes for up to a total 14%. B-Reversing Dig can allow you to toss up defensive walls of sand at approaching foes, and moving/jumping will allow you to stop digging and capitalize! Doing so will not transition Sandslash into his Digging stance though.
Once the start up is complete, Sandslash is buried under the floor with a tell-tale lump of dirt showing his location like Bugs Bunny. While Digging you can move back and forth at an impressive 10/10 dash speed, and bumping into foes can cause them to trip. You are essentially invulnerable unless your opponent can strike the ground where you are, rendering many attacks either useless or predicable for Sandslash's counter measures. Tapping B or A when underground will have him burst out of the floor with a "dirt" hitbox all around that hits like Sand-Attack for 2% and flinching, immediately followed up by a slashing uppercut that launches foes upward for 10% and identical power to Captain Falcon's Side B. This is great for swooping under a foe's defense/offense and slinging them up to where you can start your own followups! Alternatively, you can press Jump or Shield to pop out of the ground as if you short-hopped from the floor. Combined with the tripping effect of burrowing under somebody's feet can lead to fun tech-chase, or at least mind-game scenarios of keeping the opponent guessing what you will be doing when underground. In any event, Sandslash can only stay Digging for a maximum of 3 seconds before resorting to this second option. The mound of dirt surrounding him will flash white indicating his playtime is over to both you and the opponent, so space wisely.
It should be noted that Dig behaves much differently in the air or on drop-through platforms. On a platform, there is obviously no "ground" to dig into past 1 inch or so of standing room, so Sandslash will get the opportunity to go right through the platform and transition into his Aerial Dig until he hits ground. Acting like a "drill" aerial, Sandslash faces downward and swipes, dealing multiple hits of 4% as he passes through foes and scoops them up and behind himself as he falls. This can be used sort of like Yoshi's down air in a sense for tearing up enemies from above, though the backwards knockback limits the potential.
This will last forever until he hits ground, but after about 1/2 of a second it can be canceled by about any action. If he hits floor during this time he will transition into your normal Dig assuming you do not press anything else. Platforms still send out Sand-Attacks behind him even with limited material, and he will dig through any surface that is shorter than his own height. While he can move through such ledges while already digging, it can be unwise to tunnel straight down off a cliff! It should be noted that Dig both in the air and in the ground starts with slower swipes that get progressively faster. On the ground this gives enough time to dive into the stage after 30 frames, but in the air Sandslash "revs" up if you don't cancel and can hit the ground digging, so to speak! The best way to describe it is that the frames spent digging in the air will speedup the frames it takes to go underground up to a max of 20 frames. This means from say, the top platform of Battlefield a Dig will go through the platform then dive into the ground with a very swift 10-frame transition.
On that note, you may notice dirt mounds where the Tunnels begin and end from Dig. These two points can act as Pit-fall traps to opponents running over them! Holes only last for about 5 seconds a piece mind you, but having two spots where you can bury foes passively is a huge asset for Sandslash. Just like in the games, Magnitude will deal bonus damage vs underground foes! 1.4x in fact, just like a fully charged smash attack. This will turn the 10+15 from a Mag-10 into 14+21, or a whopping 35% total on a direct hit, able to KO at a range of 65-100%! Not only is this a tremendous punish vs foes you drag into the ground, but also makes the Sandslash ditto hilarious. Using Dig on buried opponents will instantly unearth them as well as close the hole behind Sandslash. Dealing a bonus 4% damage as another hit before the dirt + uppercut, it is a decent bonus for sure but nothing compared to Magnitude.
Side B:Bulldoze
Curling into a spiky ball as seen above, Sandslash starts o spin in place as long as the B button is held down. The spinning will multi-hit anyone touching it just like Lucario or Mewtwo's charges, and like them it will max out after about a second where the spinning starts to spew dust behind himself as well as flash brown/gold an indicator. Upon release, Sandslash will barrel forward to bowl into anyone in his path!
Bulldoze will deal 6-12% on impact with a foe based on charge, with varying knockback properties. At no charge, Side B will just send Sandslash about a platform's distance before uncurling for some end lag. Anyone hit like this will be simply sent forward along the ground at a 0* angle, which can shove them right into a tunnel from Dig! This knockback is set at about 2/3 of a platform along the ground, though it will be slightly more in a mid-air collision due to less friction on the foe. As you charge up, the spin dash gains actual knockback to the point where at max charge it can actually KO at around 140%+ at the ledge. The angle goes up to around 40* from 0*, and the distance also maxes at 2.5 platforms. It should be noted that Side B cannot charge while in the air, as unlike Sonic Sandslash needs something to push off of when revving up!
This defensive curl also comes with armored benefits! Seeing as his pangolin-plating is covering his whole body, Bulldoze will be able to Trample through other moves following the priority system. Unlike your average "armor", Trample Priority simply allows attacks to persist through clanking. In this case Bulldoze will be able to clash with any mores that are +/- 8% of its current damage yet still keep rolling! At no charge this means that Bulldoze will simply beat out any move that does not deal over 14%, and at max charge it will take over 20% in one shot to knock him out of his roll. While certainly powerful, Bulldoze only moves at a 6-7 dash speed compared to his 5 after some start up or noticeable charge, allowing for some counter play by the opponent (such as shield grabbing). Luckily you can juke your opponent by Jumping!
At any point after release, Sandslash can perform his jump while Bulldozing. This will decrease the overall horizontal distance, but allow you to impact foes mid-air as well as cross up defenses. You will remain in Bulldoze until you spend the time it would have taken to reach your charged distance, or if you hit ground from your jump. On landing, Sandslash hits the ground hard with a very small shockwave that essentially only hits those right below / adjacent to him for the same damage Bulldoze would have done as he uncurls and pops up slightly. Landing this maneuver will reward Sandslash with a Buried foe upon impact as he slams a standing foe with the Ground-type move! Enemies that happen to be where he lands but in the air will be hit like a normal strike, but ideally you should be aiming to Bulldoze enemies into the ground with a hopped version if not blatantly trying to ram through enemy offenses. Hitting enemies that are already buried via Dig will deal a bonus 4% to them when either rolling over them or landing on them directly, and will pop foes out of the ground with set, platform-high knockback which you can follow up from as he pops into the air as well. On a fresh burial, you can instead dive down onto the foe with Magnitude or Dig for a potent KO link or tremendous damage potential as Dig's "Drill" hitboxes persist until the foe escapes the ground. It is easier for a foe to mash out when Sandslash is digging directly on them, but if they do not the combined hitboxes can rack up insane % pretty quickly.
Bulldoze and Dig both offer Sandslash faster movement with powerful defensive and offensive capabilities than he normally would have. However, both are able to be worked around by the enemy due to noticeable start up, being locked to the floor or otherwise despite their ability to bypass or outright beat most other moves head-on. Luckily, Sandslash has a means to even the odds of a grounded encounter!
Up B:Sand Storm
Spinning as seen above, Sandslash whips up sand around him just like Link's grounded up b! As he spins, the sand creates a vortex-like hitbox that will trap foes that are standing up to a Sandslash away and suck them in to deal 14% before popping them out onto the floor at either end of him randomly with weak knockback. Like with Sand-Attack from Dig, the sand on either side puts up a formidable wall against foes, though only horizontally. Airborne enemies can jump over and slam down on Sandslash from above over the second-long duration if he is careless! If used in the air, Sand Storm will behave similarly to Wario's Up B as Sandslash spins upwards high enough to scrape foes standing on the top Battlefield platform for the same type of hit as the grounded version, while sand spirals down from below him for 1-2% damage to those just below along with minimal hit stun. Combined with Bulldoze this makes for an adequate if not exceptional recovery as Bulldoze won't go into special fall, though it can only be used once per air time.
Like in the games, the primary use of Sand Storm isn't to attack directly, but rather to change the condition of the battlefield. All that sand you whip up on the ground will stick around! One use of Up B will coat an area the size of DK's down B with sand on the floor about as high as a Pikmin minus the stem (Olimar can still track the guys using the flowers/leaves). Aerial Up B will coat an area just the size of himself below, hardly worth mentioning but it is still something. Dashing over the sand creates big dust trails by any character that will send it behind themselves and clear the area with time, as will normal gameplay with attacks landing and so on. Sand will last on the floor forever, but general gameplay on it will make it only last about ~7 seconds depending as people dash about, attack and so on to make it shift off the stage. Luckily Sandslash can always make more with Up B as he may often use it defensively like with Sand-Attack both in general and out-of-shield. Speaking of Sand-Attack, you would think his Ground moves would benefit from having more material to work with, huh?
Starting with Dig, the sand on the ground will act as a veil for Sandslash as you can no longer accurately tell where he is digging, covering up that bugs-bunny like dirt mount he makes as he moves! Sand-Attack's hitbox will also increase in size by about 50%, but remove basically all the sand in the immediate area behind/below Sandslash. Tunnels that he makes both entering and exiting Dig will similarly be covered up by sand initially, but are still noticeable by small "dips" in the sand as they begin to fill the holes. These will fill up after 2.5 seconds, halving the active time on them but also provide a suction-area of half a platform on either side that will drag foes into the hole at your average walk speed. Filling the hole with sand will also remove the sand for use from the immediate area as it then replaces with normal terrain after the second is up. This is a huge boost for Dig as a whole, but it is costly as it also removes sand the fastest as you drain it into the ground, shoot it off behind you and so on.
Bulldoze is more subdued as it merely gains bonus hitboxes thanks to the Sand coating. As it spins during the charge, you will gain the same Sand-Attacks behind you as Dig for up to half a second, dealing a possible 14% atop your normal spinning mulit-hit before you run out of sand below you. Upon release, Sand-Attack will also be summoned constantly behind him as he rolls for variable damage and an even bigger moving hitbox. Landing Bulldoze from the air will create a large "splash" hitbox of sand around you that mimics a single sand-attack on either side that clears the immediate area below in exchange for the rather massive coverage.
Lastly, Magnitude gains vertical coverage when performed in Sand to varying degrees. As usual, it doesnt get going until you hit Mag-4 or greater, upon which the shock wave will begin to irritate the sand at your feet. At each level, the sand will be sent up into the air for 1/3 the distance the shock wave travels to deal 1-3% and hit stun to foes depending on charge both on the way up and the way down. This merely allows you to actually hit a foe not touching the ground at Mag-4, but at Mag-10 the sand can hit folks who aren't higher than a platform! With Sand, Neutral B truly becomes a tremendous hitbox that covers a large amount of the stage, but surprisingly does not remove too much sand at once. 2/3 of the sand sent up will fall back down, making it surprisingly efficient compared to Dig or Bulldoze for preserving sand on the stage as they spray it all over the place.
Sandstorm is extremely important for Sandslash being a supreme defensive option to either side, his recovery, and a source of "Ammo" to generate huge hitboxes. You will often want to spread sand along the floor when there are breaks, but using it offensively can be doubly rewarding as you can smack around the foe and spread sand at the same time! The angle can be useful to potentially bury a foe if they are sent into a Tunnel, or simply send them offstage again if you do this at a ledge/etc. Fortunately for them, Sand has no effect if it is falling offstage unless it is "active" via a Sand-Attack or such. Still, aerial Up B does trail sand directly downwards a small distance which can lead to humorous gimp attempts.
SMASHES
Fsmash:Crush Claw
After so many ground-type attacks, its about time Sandslash used his coveted claws!Drawing his arms back as you charge the move, upon release Sandslash will lunge forward with a 3-hit combo smash! Sort of like a jab on steroids, Sandslash will lash out with a left, right, then an x-motion with a step taken on each swing plus a hop with the final X to give end lag as he skids to a stop. Dealing 5, 5 then 7% for a total of 18% (7,7,10 when charged for 24% total), this natural combo can put in a lot of hurt and even KO near the edge at around 120% as the final hit sends them flying at the standard 45*~ angle. This is a great neutral tool as well given it has very little start up, but the ending "landing" from the hop gives a good amount of end lag as well as how he is committed to moving along sort of like how when Sheik misses her Fsmash. Traveling about 2/3 of a platform total, this move covers a good distance but oddly isn't too good at capitalizing on Buried foes. Unless you land the final hit on them, Sandslash will just run over them!
A committal, but otherwise great ranged combo smash, Crush Claw can whip up even more range when you are in Sand! As you travel over Sand when F-smashing, each swipe of the claw will bring up a "slice" of sand from beneath you and send it forward in the same motion another claw's length away for 1/2 the damage of the initial swipe. The hits are all separate and thus can chain with the main claw swipes for an impressive 26.5%, though the last hit will have significantly less power due to the half-damage on the sand as opposed to the claw. At higher % the Claw hit can cause enough knockback to bypass this though as the enemy will fly past the sand, or you could always opt to get the last hit out of sand for the knockback. It goes without slaying the Crush Claw will also do quite a number on shields with 6 meaty hits.
As with all his smash attacks, beginning a charge while in Sand will have a distinct animation as he takes in power from the ground around him. Mirroring a Tunnel when covered by Sand, the sand around him in a platform area will be drawn towards him and thus also drawing folks standing on the ground weakly. This will add the sand used to his smash attack when unleashed, clearing the area of sand much more quickly in exchange for some impressive range! For Crush Claw, this means a fully charged assault will expand the range from 1 claw length to two, making the swipes appear like miniature Cloud Sword Beams! The damage is still 1/2 of the Claw, but the huge range on the shifted sand more than makes up for it as the swipes deal a total of 12%, followed by claws that can deal 24% for a possible total of 36, more than Magnitude! This has huge coverage, but again is very predictable since he has to be charging in the sand. Charging up outside of the sand then crossing over it will just add the standard extra swipes.
Sand-Boosted smashes are tempting but you must be aware of the cost. Using the sand as ammo will remove 1 - 2 platform's coverage worth of sand. A fully charged smash will eliminate all the sand generated by a single Up B! If you fully charge a smash and do not have the amount of sand you need, it will merely eliminate all sand from within range and sort of round to the nearest amount between no charge, full charge, and halfway between. Usmash:Sand-Slash Raking his claws upwards in an underhanded swipe, Sandslash performs a powerful clawed "scoop" which causes him to flip into a ball backwards briefly before landing on his feet to end the move. Behaving much like Fox or Pikachu's Up-smashes, the first part of the scoop has an awesome sweet spot for 15-21% and very high knockback at an 80* angle, able to KO around 100-140% depending on the character much like a Mag-10 shock wave. The rest of the scoop/flip is a weaker hit box for only 7-10% that sends the foe at a 45* angle behind Sandslash. This is another go-to KO move and launcher much like Magnitude. It has weaknesses compared to Mag however in that the same sweet-spot placement nets less damage thanks to Nspec's multi hit and interaction with Buried foes, and far, far less coverage when comparing range. Speaking of grounded foes, this is a decent way to scoop them out of their hole with decent damage and prime set-up for a juggle at low or even mid percent thanks to them taking less knockback from non-ground type moves.
Like with all smashes, Sand adds to the potency of the move. With Sand, you will scoop up a column of the stuff straight up like Palutena's laser of holy... doom. Not going nearly as high, at a tap the column of sand will just shoot up high enough to push anybody a platform's height above (Usmash cannot naturally hit platforms). Contact with the sand pillar does the same damage as the sour spot for 7%, but the same knockback properties as the sweet-spot. With charge this will double in height to reach Shulk Utilt height for the narrow hitbox and hit for 10%. The sand column will not kill nearly as early as the main claw attack, but the added height and coverage can assure some KOs later on such as 150~170% depending on charge. A foe can only be hit by the claws or the pillar, and not be knocked into both.
It should be noted that the little flip Sandslash does can be angled slightly back and forth. This scoots him about his own width (standing) forward or back when used to either create space after tossing the move out to cover the lag, or to approach forward as a mix-up. That forward option becomes a bit more useful when scooping up a sand pillar though, as Sandslash rides it up while curled in a ball! You will ride up to the end of the pillar's height and just enter your aerial state, able to combo off a foe pushed up by the sand with an aerial or just ride back down to rev up Dig. Drifting back is also good here since you have created both horizontal space, and vertical as the sand pillar covers your front.
Dsmash:Excavate Essentially the opposite of Up Smash, Sandslash draws his hands up and back before slamming them straight down into the ground at his feet! Unlike Magnitude with it's exaggerated hop before the swing, Dsmash looks and behaves much more like Dig on roids. The initial scoop is a meteor hitbox for 10-14% which can pop foes up nicely or ruin somebody's day at a ledge. But the real meat of the move is the large chunk of dirt and debris that Sandslash then scoops up behind himself in a Sand-Attack sized hitbox. The debris looks more"Dirty" than the normal sand and will deal 14-20% and 40* knockback that can KO a recovering foe at around 120%.
This is similar in use to Fsmash for KOing, but trades speed and combo-ability for disjointed range. Further emphasized by Sand,the massive scoop will send out a great big Sand-Attack behind yourself alongside the normal dirt/debris. Dealing 7-10% with reduced knockback, the sand acts as a sour-spot ranging from just barely bigger than normal to being nearly twice as large at full charge! Proving to be his biggest, yet slowest smash attack it can certainly put up an intimidating presence for foes trying to approach you from behind. Just be wary that it has a considerable "tell" with the wind up, so that range will be coming in handy if you want to land the attack.
Using Dsmash on a Buried foe will instantly uproot them from their prison and deal 4% bonus damage. However unlike other moves that yank the foe out of the ground, they are instead sent backwards with the other debris as their own hitbox! Combining with the standard dirt and sand, the foe will act as a second hit vs anyone else in the way and deal 10-15% (14-21% with charge) based on their weight and deal the same knockback as the sand-boosted portion of the move.
STANDARDS
Jab:Fury Swipes
Like his fellow mouse Pokemon, Pikachu, Sandslash has a rapid-jab with no associated combo. Slashing furiously in front of himself as you spam the A button, each swipe will deal 2% when fresh plus some hit stun. This doesn't really lead to anything, but it is his fastest move by far and allows him to be a nuisance as he tears away at folks in front. Like Pika, this is simple enough to DI out of, but it will also very slowly push the foe away from Sandslash to prevent dumb stuff, being completely free from him after they take about 26% if nobody presses anything. Ftilt:Slash
A non-angleable tilt, Sandslash swipes his claw out to make a sort of half-oval hit box that covers the space in front of him nicely. The Slash has two main hit boxes depending on if you hit with the tip of his claw or the rest of his claw/arm. The tipper hit strikes for 11% and sends at a shallow 30* angle outwards that can KO around 140~150% near the ledge, or simply give you breathing room similarly to Bulldoze. The inner hit strikes for 6% and at the more standard knockback angle of 45* weakly, which can be followed up by your choice of move. A fairly standard but functional move that should be respected by opponents.
Utilt:Pangolin-Poke Hopping up slightly, Sandslash arcs his back and attempts to intercept foes above him with his rows of spiny plates! The initial hop upwards has his entire back as a decently sized hitbox that launches foes straight up for 9% and middle-ish knockback that wont really ever kill outside ludicrous %'s. On the way down, the spikes deal 7% and slightly lower knockback, but make the tilt a sort of vertical sex-kick. This has a smidge of start up, but very little actual end lag in terms of when the hitbox ends and when Sandslash can act, making it a very valuable tool in his combo game.
Dtilt:Scratch Sandslash has a fairly low crouch, and is even able to crawl back and forth quite well. Pressing A will have him reach out far with a claw while leaning forwards just slightly for a surprisingly long ranged poke. Dealing 5/6% based on if you hit with the arm or the claw, the knockback of Dtilt will launch foes up weakly at a 60* angle which is decent for following up, but can change pretty drastically based on the direction you were crawling as this Dtilt can actually be angled!
Crawling backwards or forwards will influence the animation slightly as a tell, as well as direct the foe to be knocked more towards or away from Sandslash. When moving back the swipe is more of a "scoop" motion and will pull the foe 60* towards Sandslash instead of away, which can combo to Utilt, Aerials, or the various sand-attack like hitboxes you can produce. This obviously doesn't have him lean forward and is actually slightly faster for trading the range. While crawling forward, Sandslash will scoot forward instead of just leaning to add a bit of lag but also do 6/7%. The scratch is more of a poke forward as the foe is sent at a much more horizontal 15* angle that can gimp certain low recoveries or simply bump people around the stage where they will need to deal with Tunnels and such. Speaking of which, crawling around with Dtilt is a great way to tech-chase after getting a trip from Dig! Dash:Roll-Out From his dash, Sandslash will roll into a ball like with Side B and "peel out", pivoting and ending up facing backwards after a full rotation. Mimicking the Koopaling's side B in many respects, dash attack will deal 10% and knock foes up at a 75* angle for medium power initially, then send foes at the more normal 45* with 7% and the slightly less knockback briefly for the rest of the roll before skidding to a stop. This can KO at very high % with either hit, but is mainly useful for popping the foe up as well as setting up Sandslash with his spiky back facing the foe, a favorable position.
The biggest difference between Bulldoze and Dash attack, besides the obvious ability to turn, is that Roll-Out does not stop at shields. Spinning out and whipping behind somebody ready to fury-swipe/etc is a great tool in Sandslash's arsenal if they are not ready for it. You either get to cross up and surprise somebody, or bully them into the air / offstage. A win-win assuming they do not simply swat you out of the start-up or jump over it...
AERIALS
Nair:Rapid Spin Curling up, but not quite into a "ball" like with Bulldoze or Dash attack, Sandslash spins in place to strike foes with claw and plates alike! Bowling foes for 10% at first, this will send them out with strong knockback at a 35* angle, able to KO near the ledge at around 130%+. As he completes a second spin he will deal only 5% and set knockback in the same direction of only about a platform's distance give or take.
This is your bread and butter aerial for many occasions as it will send folks at a shallow angle, can KO when spaced just right, and even has barely any landing lag to speak of! That said, it does have terrible lag if you do not land on the ground, making offstage altercations risky. Optimally you will be using this close to the ground as you dash and jump in at foes, making good use of the low landing lag and spacing so you either get the strong or weak hit depending on what you want to set them up for.
Bair:Spike-Slam Jutting his plated back outwards, Sandslash slams into foes for 9% and semi-horizontal knockback strong enough to KO at around 140%+ at the ledge. The hitbox is decently sized just like Utilt, and just like that will linger though the end lag of the move. As he leans back from the initial "push", his back becomes a hitbox for 7% that pushes folks away weakly at the dreaded 0* semi-spike angle!
Semi-spikes send you at a "true" horizontal trajectory, meaning there is no upwards force to counteract your gravity. This makes it so you are actually traveling diagonally downwards without the ability to cancel the knockback by jumping/Up B like with Meteors. Even with weak knockback, this can prove to be fatal if you intercept somebody coming in low at event early %'s, but it shares the same downfall as Nair with high end lag both in the air and on the ground as he falls on his back and has to take a split second to right himself.
Fair:Over-Slash Bringing both claws up, Sandlash performs a double-overhead slash forward! Covering essentially the quarter circle to the upper right of him, this slash will hit for 6-11% depending on if you are hit right above when it starts or at the end of the swing in front of him. A high hit will pop foes out at a 60* angle with low-mid knockback while the end of the move hits at the normal 45* with medium knockback that won't really kill any time soon. This is one of your go-to combo aerials to take advantage of your many launchers from the ground, able to combo into itself quite nicely or into other moves. Like with Ftilt, the range is very nice but still technically jointed, but still something foes should be weary of.
Dair:Under-Slash Picking up where Fair left off, Dair rakes those claws across the lower-right quarter circle in front of him, and even a bit behind as he scoops down beneath his legs as if playing leap frog. Only with deadly, ground-breaking claws. On your face.
Anyways, following the same sort of rules as Fair, the initial hit is weaker and builds up to the stronger ending hit this time below himself. Starting at 6%, the initial swipe will hit the same direction as Fair at 45* to make it perfect for stringing into Fair's or another double-jumped aerial. This is especially useful when you want to scoop a foe up and forward off the ground! The end of Dair below himself will hit for 11% and send the foe at a 40* angle behind him with mid-strong knockback that can actually KO around 150%+. Like his other "scoops", putting the foe out behind Sandslash is a good set up for more harassment as well as potentially fatal Bair gimps, though at some points a Dair can gimp quite nicely too. Both Fair and Dair have average lag all around and make up the bread of your aerial combo-sandwich.
Uair:Multi-Slash The meat comes from Uair, where Sandslash looks up and decides to "dig" into the sky! Throwing out a flurry of slashes to cover the area above him, he will hit 5 times totaling 20% total before popping the foe up weakly. This obviously has a lot of lag/commitment like Fox's Fair, but the combo potential is superb. Juggling foes with a long lasting multihit from below is very rewarding, but unlike his other slashes has some range issues making strong aerials able to power through and hit Sandslash if he isn't careful. Like with Nair, this has very little end lag when landing on the ground, but is very sluggish to end in the air. Assaulting people through platforms or after other launchers is best for max damage, or simply following their options as they try to come down for maximum damage.
THROWS
Grab:Claw-Grasp Sandslash actually has a deceptively short grab range as the tips of his claws do not have a grab box as he reaches out. It is still OK overall, a bit below average but thankfully his throw game makes up for that!
Pummeling with Sandslash has him hold the foe in one hand and bop them with the side of his free claw over and over in an identical manner to Samus. Getting a grab isn't easy for Sandslash outside of reading a roll after getting a dig-trip or other such moves, so digging into them with a few pummels for 2% a pop before throwing is encouraged. Dthrow:Shredder Hopping up on top of the foe as they lay in their "oh god Bowser is Dthrowing me" pose, Sandslash tears into them with Fury Swipes! Landing 7 hits, this deals 14% with the last hit popping the foe up and away at a 45* angle. The knockback starts low enough that you can get an aerial or tilt followup at low %'s, but past mid % requires a read or sand-boosted hitbox to get a guaranteed followup. His most damaging "Raw" throw (more on that later) it should be a go-to move whenever you just want damage or have no other setup prepared.
Uthrow:Sand Tomb Hopping up with the foe his full jump height, Sandslash spins with the foe to become a hitbox just like Nair vs other enemies in range before pile-driving straight into the ground! Quite literally in fact as the foe ends up Buried upside down with 7% taken. Sandslash bounces from the impact and spins until hitting the ground a small distance backwards, much like Up Smash except without a hitbox.
Until around 100%+, most characters will naturally enter the "pop out" part of being buried by the time that Sandslash lands, allowing for an aerial followup / punish with a read. At much higher %. Sandslash will be able to follow up with the opponent while they're grounded which can lead to bigger damage numbers or even a deadly Magnitude!
If you manage to Uthrow right on top of a Tunnel, the end lag for Sandslash is halved as he sort of just shoves the foe into the hole. This allows for much earlier follow ups, but at the same time you would be hard pressed to catch a foe right over a hole before they fell in normally. Fthrow:Forward Roll Diving forward, Sandslash rolls with the foe for the distance of his Fsmash before kicking them out weakly at a 30* angle for 6%. The distance and shallow angle are great for positioning the foe into an area such as into Sand or offstage, which can easily set up for further damage.
If you happen to roll into a Tunnel, you will both enter and pop out the other side! For every 4 frames spent underground, 1% will be dealt to your captive victim. This also reactivates the Dig hitbox as you bugs bunny from A to B and can trip other opponents. To visualize, a distance from say, on Battlefield platform to the other will deal an additional 6%. From one end of FD to the other will deal an additional 12%, totaling 18% dealt! Once you come out the other end you will continue in the direction you were traveling as well as from the point in the throw you entered at. This means you can get some pretty drastic distance if you roll immediately into a hole or at the least punt somebody right out of the stage. If you go into a tunnel of any length, you will add at least 1% damage. Bthrow:Backward Dive Leaping backwards with the foe, Sandslash begins to spin as he plummets down towards the ground and continues to do so until hitting a surface. Bouncing upwards, the foe is released with 4% worth of multi-hit taken from the spinning and sent at a 70* angle behind Sandslash weakly. This is great for followups thanks to the angle, nearly non existent end lag and weak knockback, but leaves room for improvement in the damage department.
Like Fthrow though, this can change by just diving into a Tunnel! The same rules apply here, adding 1% per 4 frames spent underground, except the end result is arguably sweeter as the foe is kept around near you for more attacks instead of being flung forward. You also do not "interrupt" the animation like with Fthrow, instead the foe is ejected out of the tunnel like they'd normally be popped up and Sandslash exits the hole normally.
It should be noted that if you enter a tunnel while the other one would be closing due to time, it will still close like normal but Sandslash will still "burst" from that location, just without a new hole behind him.
FINAL SMASH FISSURE
Doing a much more dramatic version of Magnitude, Sandslash will leap, spin and then do an exaggerated slam as the camera tilts as seen above. Both claws then impact the floor to create a giant crack in the stage!
Going from edge to edge, the crack will destroy anything on the stage and instantly meteor foes downwards for 50% damage. The crack will seal up swiftly, causing anyone who is not hit by the initial strike to become Buried. Foes who are on platforms when the initial quake occurs will also be Buried, but airborne foes are unaffected. This cannot be avoided in any other manner as dodges will fall and get meteored and shields will be ignored.
PLAYSTYLE SAND-SMASHER
Sandslash is a mix of different archetypes rolled into one, spiky package. You have a trap user with his Tunnels and Dig. Tech Chaser with his Bulldoze, crawling and grab game. A flurry of claws that can attack you from various angles, and even an ammo-user who uses Sand and Magnitude as resources! If there is one common theme though it is that Sandslash is truly a "grounded" character.
While he has good aerials, they are all very punishable when he is actually airborne. This means offstage or high in the air his options are very committal as even Digging through folks will occupy quite some time until he can act in another manner. Magnitude is your best bet being a traditional spike if you land it, but it will also waste your charge. His fast falling status also makes this a bigger challenge thanks to being susceptible to juggles himself, at least you can always try to Bulldoze away to a safe spot as the base/aerial version is still tough enough to bash through some attacks. Point being, the downfall for Sandslash is being taken out of his element and kept there.
When in his element however is where things get really fun. His ground moves cover a lot of well, ground, and have tremendous power when applied correctly. Sand will grant dominating stage presence for a time with enhanced hitboxes and smashes, and can be applied regularly with the helpfully defensive Sand Storm. Dig and Bulldoze allow you to approach or punish, and your various smashes and Magnitude make for excellent finishers. Make sure to mix in your standards and aerials as you scurry around the stage to take advantage of your sandy environment, foes who get too close shouldn't walk away without some scrapes! A still Sandslash is a juggled Sandslash, don't forget.
Keep aware of the surroundings you make for yourself and always try to bring the foe down to your level, and preferably under it so you can Slash through the competition!
The Hook: 10
The Butcher's main points is his sheer mass and gruesome disposition, alongside some truly horrifying steam-roll potential! The main mechanic in play isFresh Meat, a pick-up exclusive to Butcher that generates whenever he causes the foe to bleed. If the Butcher acquires the item by touching it, he gains +1% damage on all attacks and his attacks all KO roughly 4% sooner. There is no cap to this, allowing him to become truly insane if you let him satiate his blood lust! Moves that deal DoT or are Multihit are either exempt or only are affected in the last hit to prevent too much abuse, and the foe can make it so the fresh meat they produce falls offstage or can manually prevent The Butcher from getting at it by standing on it (destroying it after 1 second and stopping him from touching it) as well as simply keeping him away by attacking/etc for 6 seconds until it despawns. Fresh Meat also acts as a fuel source for his other moves such as his chaining Nspec which gains range, Dspec which gets refreshed and potentially gain range, UpB and Grab also gain range up to a point, as well as some other interactions with Bleeding, the condition needed to produce Fresh Meat. Fresh Meat is nicely balanced by how the added knockback also prevents chaining attacks together. Luckily, the Butcher has an actual chain to keep them close with his grabs (Grab and Up B) as well as the trapping Nspec which tethers the foe to a spot and has a wonderful interaction with up B involving the audience and a puddle of blood.
A secondary mechanic to this is the deadly Furnace Blast. A move that once started, automatically fires a huge explosion around him after X seconds, his Down B seems surprisingly underplayed when talking about other moves unless stating how it can Boil Blood (another effect of certain moves is that it leaves a puddle of blood on the floor). The advantage of this is that after initiation, you can sorta do whatever you want with the knowledge that you are gonna produce a free hitbox very soon. This makes his normally unsafe moves with a ton of end lag suddenly very attractive as part of a 1-2 combo as the explosion can cover the lag, and so on.
Character: 10
Froy captures the essence of the Butcher to a T here, in both blatant and subtle fashion! To start, the usage of the chains, cleavers, blood, guts, gore, and even the fire from the boss fight are all great for building up who the butcher is and where he is from. You even have the Fsmash as his BS charge from Diablo! Other aspects not ripped right from the games fit right in as he uses every part of the buffalo so to speak. His horns and teeth are used, gruesome effects like attacking with his own guts, Boiling Blood, ripping the foe up and getting an audience reaction alongside each move feeling like they fit right in with something a "Butcher" would do in a horror film.
A bit more subtly, the Butcher seems to fit best when he is in a non 1v1 setting, much like his source games of Diablo 3 and HotS. 1v1, the amount of times you can really get Fresh Meat is rather stifled since you only get 1 target to work with, and all the attention is on you from them. This makes counter playing the butcher a bit easier to focus on as it is simpler to deny access to Fresh Meat and avoid some moves. With more targets, he has many more chances to get Fresh meat and exponentially make him more powerful to take advantage of his new power like a true boss!
Moveset: 9
Moving to the "meat" of the set, everything here is gravy except for a few chunks here or there that are more nit-picky than anything. Getting those chunks out of the way, the first bit is that Fsmash and Bthrow are a bit wordy for what you are trying to convey and are a smidge confusing. Bthrow's knockback doesn't apply until they're done sliding, so they slide on the ground then suddenly rise up at an angle? Fsmash hits shields 3 times? Usmash also seems like it would have been a multi-hit move, or at least be weaker after each spin given it has a long duration. Though it can be avoided by crouching / simply being shorter than Butcher due to his size at least.
Utilt and Dash Attack are both cool, but they seem to fill similar niches to other moves in the set. The former I assume is to drag foes from the air to the ground, but then you already have Up B and Neutral B for that, as well as your various spikes. It also shares very similar "coverage" as Ftilt in terms of hitbox placement. Forcing a prone to work around the added knockback of Fresh meat is clever, but "added speed" doesn't make sense here as more knockback means they will travel faster anyways. The Dash Attack seems to behave similarly to the Fsmash but without the laggy drawbacks. It is initially weaker, but it also gets to shoot a projectile along with it if you have blood to add to or even surpass the damage and power of Fsmash when combined. It even foes further! It isn't so bad as this requires more set-up and situational awareness, and also lacks armor, but the resemblance is sort of there.
Fresh Blood "Gates" could probably be more uniform as well. It seems that there are "Every 10", "Every 4", Every X" conditions on various moves which is cool, but probably could have been streamlined to every 6, 5 or some thing you can divide 20 by easily just for a Quality of Life improvement on the reader and theoretical player.
Everything else is perfect for the butcher and unique in their own ways, its just that these few parts stood out to me as rough edges on an otherwise perfectly cut set.
Overall: 29 / 30 -- S TIER
Overall the Butcher is a fantastic first set of MYM18. It brings in everything you can think of for a moveset from unique mechanics, thematic moves, good characterization, and an intriguing playstyle that can easily become a fan-favorite. Despite a couple minor blemishes, this is definitely one boss to be wary of.
The Hook: 6
Its Paper Mario! Characters themselves can often be enough reason for players to hook onto a set, and a fan favorite like this gives you an early advantage in this department. However, the main parts of Paper Mario seem a bit... crumpled. The main gimmicks here are sort of divided into two categories: 1) Paper Copies, and 2) Game Recreation. Each element seems to compete with each other at times for which you are trying to go for, and in the end leaves me a bit torn.
You start out with the latter over-all as you note the animations from the game, ability to transform into a paper airplane and even have his weight and certain attacks reference that he can flatten into paper! The addition of Partners as a roulette-wheel type Side B is cool too, though they feel very overshadowed by what comes later. Lakilster at least is always available as an Up B, and the Pixls also make appearances, most notably in the grab. I do like the base here for a chunk of moves + the power-shield that take advantage of Action Commands, something I thought would be more prominent in the set and its appreciated when they are noted like in Dair.
Taking from the most recent game, Paper Jam, the Copy Block is the real highlight here and actually provides some fun mechanics to the set. It is a bit slow as you only gain 1 copy per -second-, which is like needing to Falcon Punch 5 times in order to max out a meter. Luckily it seems that you can store the timer? It isn't exactly clear on how that works, but unlike the punch it can be canceled with little commitment and eventually you will be running around with a couple copies. These copies provide three functions:
1) They tank hits for Paper Mario. On impact from an enemy, the copy will be destroyed but PM will only take 1/2 the damage and knockback. Each Copy then grants you essentially 1 lessened hit. This seems great at first, but then you have to realize that this then makes the normally evasive featherweight suddenly combo-able, with the last hit being full damage/knockback. I like the idea here but in practice it just seems like it would actually be a liability outside of having 1 in preparation of one solid KO move. A character like Fox or something could strip all copies away in an instant where you would then need to find 5 seconds to regain them.
2) They attack for Paper Mario. Aside from taking a hit, they also provide a function similar to another hammer wielding duo in that you can have multiple attacks happen at once! How this appears to work is that Paper Mario is in "neutral" unless he performs a move that cannot be done by a Copy, like grab or a special. The copy performs the attack as normal and then is destroyed, leaving the OG PM to do whatever he wants without the commitment. There is also a small delay between each copy attack, preventing you from just spamming a move 6 times in a row for an auto-combo or the like which is a welcome addition (as seen in the set, my guess is the next Copy can be activated only after the last is destroyed by using a move). My guess is that this can even be extended further by having OG-PM fill the gap between Copies. This is a very clever way of using the Ice-Climber like Desynch as it provides some stellar combo potential alongside an appropriate "ammo" source. Copies can also be remotely placed down with Down B, becoming stationary and with only 10% HP. You can however attack 3 times with these guys remotely so you can use your PM-Only moves in conjunction with a remote version of yourself that can perform other functions. Doing this in the air will let you do aerials with the dropped copy as it falls, and it also acts as a hitbox itself.
3) Lastly, you can super-charge nearly any move by using all copies at once for a high risk, high reward move! These are generally actually pretty creative and borrow from the more recent PM games such as a wheel of copies, multi-bonking, fanning out like a deck of cards and using each other to elongate hitboxes as a chain. However, I feel that it is still fundamentally broken due to a couple of factors. For one, the fully blown out attacks are kind of ludicrous with smashes that KO at 0% and such, as well as every single move having it as a do-or-die type attack. In my opinion, it would degrade to whatever one of the setups is easiest to land such as Super-Jab/Ftilt or one of the Super-Throws. On top of this, merely trying to do anything other than a super will result in loss of copies. Trying to space around outside of predictable grabs / side B will leave you vulnerable, getting hit, and losing copies. Trying to space with attacks in order to set up a super will also result in loss of copies since attacking destroys copies. With less copies, you need to find time again to replenish them which again, leaves you not attacking or defending outside of a few predictable moments. So sure, a couple at a time works out but in order to get the truly massive, silly attacks you need to just YOLO and toss it out immediately which won't really happen against humans outside of a blue-moon scenario.
Overall the copies are a really neat central mechanic, but there are some questionable folds to it.
Character: 6
As mentioned above, Muno does a good job at replicating and noting aspects of PM's main appearances through the set with the staple partners showing up, animations, and general attacks being recreated. What pains me though is that the Copy Block seems to be the end-all be-all through the set with other aspects either being pushed aside or limited in some manner. Being from his latest appearance, and also a cool mechanic in its own right, it is understandable that the copies get the spotlight. But at the same time it seems to take away from the characterization and feels less like "Paper Mario" and more like "Paper Jam Paper Mario", if you catch my drift. Sort of like if normal Mario only used FLUDD everywhere instead of Fireballs, Super Jump Punch, etc. Its still the same "Character" but it doesn't capture the essence as well, which is what you normally want out of such iconic characters.
Since I've talked about copies forever, lets touch on the other half of the character with the Paper and Partners. Paper shows up here and there with the crawl, Dtilt, Paper Airplane and the really fun visual for the Super-Usmash where you hit the "ceiling" and float back down like paper. The extras are also great with a fitting stage, alt costumes for you and partners, fitting taunts and so on. Though, you know Goombario could be that smash taunt too. I like how the Partners move independently (again like Copies) and even have action commands like classic PM, but I wish that was carried throughout the whole set. It feels like there was half a set featuring them but then every move focuses on how using copies would be better / etc.
The Pixls and Partners sharing screen time are also 50/50 for me. On the one hand, they're both cool and should be in the set. On the other, it falls into the same issue we keep bringing up where this feels like different sets taped together. Something I thought of while reading, especially after getting to the alt costumes was that the alt costumes change the move aesthetics while keeping functionality, for cohesion's sake:
Classic PM: Side B (Goombario, Kooper, Bombette), Grab and rolls (Bow goes forward and grabs the foe, vanishes and reappears elsewhere with PM), Nair (Watt flashes and then gets dimmer, identical attack), Up B (Lakilster)
TTYD: Side B (Goombella, Koops, Adm Bobbery), Grab (Ms Mowz), Rolls and Nair (Vivian replicates Bow, Nair has fire aesthetic and similar to Watt).
SPM: Side B replaced by appropriate Pixls such as Thudley mirroring Goomba, Cary or Dash being like a Koopa Shell, and the Bomb one being well, a bomb. Thorough is Grab, Barry is Nair, and the rolls are the 3D selection again. This could even be limited to Mr L's costume to further rep SPM specifically.
Modern: Replace partners with Mario Copies doing similar moves / paper aesthetic such as Flipping Sideways to roll "invisibly", etc. Side B would be a copy hop, copy dash attack / tube roll, and a copy Dsmash or something....
The missing element would be Up B, but something could be worked out. I just think cohesion is an issue here as each appearance brings very similar tools for Paper Mario but in very different packages. Having the copies, pixls, and partners together seem to compete for space and split the focus a bit between gameplay styles and theme. However, as a whole this is still very faithful to the common elements between all the games, I just wish it was less divided.
Moveset: 7
I have said a lot about the set so far, but on this aspect it is still decent. I like the idea of "Smashed Throws" as a concept, but again the Copies make them super moves. The core of the desynched copies and partners is very fun as well, allowing you to mob somebody with a flurry of hitboxes given some setup, but I feel it becomes too overbearing when you have a Remote Copy, a Spiny Egg / Spiny, Copies on you, Partners and PM himself all going at somebody. Along with how frail he is without copies and how overbearing or even somehwat weaker due to combos he becomes with them.. as well as how hard it is to attain copies I feel like the set's balance becomes very polarizing very quickly with the "cohesion" problem resurfacing here.
The Super Moves are all varied in usage and sometimes totally change moves which is why I emphasize them so much in the other sections, but when they are taken out I think the set functions nicely. Still though, there is a lot going on here...
Overall: 18 / 30 -- B TIER
Sometimes less is actually more. I feel that Paper Mario has a ton of ideas going on at once that compete for space/attention, as well as trying to reference many aspects of the series at once. Unfortunately that leads to one or two parts getting the limelight, and even then it leads to questionable balance as each aspect feeds off another with some moves seemingly designed without other aspects in mind (like Spinies).
On the other hand, when it works it does work and does represent what Paper Mario would most likely be like in smash a good amount of the time when you look past some of the competing layers. The aesthetics, paper attacks, the classic moves and partners, taunts, and so on all bring it back up for me to make Paper Mario a solid B-tier.
Lord Garithos was the last notable surviving Alliance figure within Warcraft 3, until WoW retconned it to say there was an additional entire nation of humans on the opposite side of the world. Within Warcraft 3's continuity, he fought as hard as he could against the advancing Undeads as their final line of defense. He is primarily remembered for being a racist and giving unimportant tasks to Kael'Thas and the elves instead of allowing them to fight. Kael decides to team up with the Naga, a race of evil sea people lead by Illidan, an insane half demon. Garithos rightfully threw Kael in prison, but they escaped with some sort of portals.
Garithos is retroactively blamed for all of the Elves leaving the Alliance instead of Kael, and was retroactively given lore that he was a wimp who only inherited the position of power from his father because we're not allowed to have racists in our story. While his Dota Hero was ironically turned into an African American female as a joke about how racist he is, it still keeps the original character's theme of racism and turns it up to comical extremes, as the Legion Commander is "racist" against anything and everything, including inanimate objects.
Even within Warcraft 3, Garithos is treated as something of a comic relief character, as Kael never gets a confrontation with him. Instead, he is seen being mind controlled by a Dreadlord in the Undead campaign. When he is freed from his mind control, he forges an alliance with Sylvanas out of desperation to defeat the remaining extremely powerful Dreadlord, joining forces for the most difficult level in the game, but she betrays and kills him afterwards. Ironically, the reason he dies is for not being untrusting and racist enough. He also has a non canon level where he has apparently imprisoned leagues of minor races such as Ogres and Gnolls and sends them parading at Kael, who must defend against them in a tower defense.
SPECIALS
UP SPECIAL - LORD'S MOUNT
By default, Garithos is mounted on his horse. Garithos and the horse take stun seperately, but take lag from actions such as attacking/dodging/etc simultaneously. Garithos cannot move if he is mounted while the horse is in stun, but can still use his own attacks that don't involve it. If either of them are tripped/put into prone, Garithos will fall off the horse. If Garithos takes any kind of hitstun/knockback, he will be knocked off the horse. Garithos cannot technically attack while the horse is moving (outside dashing attack), but the horse will take a few frames to stop after the attack is input.
Inputting Up Special will have Garithos leap up off of his horse as he swings up his axe triumphantly, giving him a great recovery that goes up as far as Sonic's, and is just as fast to boot. He has superarmor on the way up and deals 13% and knockback that kills at 150% away from him. The horse will be knocked downwards a Ganondorf height by this and be a hitbox that deals 9% and radial knockback that kills at 150%. If Garithos wants a more casual dismount, he can quickly double tap down after inputting Up Special to skip the entire attack and do a quick dismount that puts him into a normal aerial state. While Garithos is unmounted, the horse will act as a minion and pursue foes directly, using its assortment of attacks that we'll get to later.
Inputting Up Special in the air while unmounted will have Garithos do the jump without anything to kick off of, making him only go up half as far with no superarmor and causing him to enter helpless at the end, unlike when he jumps off the horse. Inputting Up Special on the ground while unmounted will cause Garithos to call for his horse over 12 frames, causing it to drop whatever it's doing and charge towards the position Garithos was at when he used the move, its legs a constant hitbox that deal 11% and knockback that kills at 120%, knocking foes in the opposite direction the horse is running. If Garithos is unmounted and inputs Up Special while overlapping a horse, he'll quickly mount it regardless of whether he's in the air or not.
The horse alone is already larger than any existing character with realistic large size. The main body of the horse is as tall as Ganon, with the head sticking up an extra 1.25x Kirbies. It's 1.4x as wide as Bowser, making it a real monster. It moves very quickly along the ground, though it has considerable difficulty in turning, especially out of a dash. While the horse has a decent first jump, the second jump leaves much to be desired, and its terrible aerial statistics make it very easy to kill off stage. Garithos likely won't keep his horse for very long, but he can make plenty of use out of it while it's around, and it's potentially possible for Garithos to replace it.
Garithos is much slower without his horse, but functions much more like a normal character. Garithos has access to a normal grab-game while on foot. When on the horse, the Z inputs correspond to the horse's moves, as it's too difficult for Garithos to grab anybody while he's sitting on top of the horse. Garithos' shield is for him and him only, but when mounted both he and the horse will dodge simultaneously.
It is entirely possible to hit both Garithos and the horse at once, but they both have their own seperate damage percentages. Shielding an attack that would hit both enables more opportunities for punishing, though the fact Garithos can't shield grab from this position makes it not be particularly powerful.
NEUTRAL SPECIAL - THE ALLIANCE
Garithos summons either a human, dwarf, or elf, scrolling through them like Pacman's fruit neutral special as the input is held. When the choice is made, he will summon them with 12 frames of lag regardless of the one chosen, though it is faster by a few frames to summon the ones earlier in the roulette, showcasing that Garithos is not in fact an equal opportunity employer. All of the minions take hitstun and knockback like characters, but can also die by having their HP depleted.
The human footman is the size of Marth and is fully armored, giving him impressive weight comparable to Ganondorf at 50%, but only 30 HP. His great weight can often be more of a hindrance than a help, as it just enables him to be comboed to death more easily. Regardless, he moves a bit slower than Ganon, falls quickly, and has terrible jumps, so if he's baited to the edge he's still easy to kill as he mindlessly chases the foe.
The footman's most used attack is a generic sword slash with good range as far as Bowser's ftilt, dealing 7% and knockback that kills at 185%. He also has access to a "jab combo" like move where he does several rapid slashes that deal 10 hits of 1% and flinching, with the final hit dealing 3% and knockback that kills at 220%. The rapid slashes are largely only used if the footman's AI thinks the foe is focusing enemies other than himself, as while the attack comes out fast, the footman will go through the entire combo whether he hit the foe in it or not.
If the footman is being focused/comboed, he will attempt to bash the foe with his shield, dealing 9% and knockback that kills at 150%. This has terrible range, but it will block projectiles and clank with any attack. The footman is too dumb to actively use the shield to block projectiles, but will spam this attack if under half health.
The dwarven rifleman has 25 HP, and has size, movement, and weight comparable to Luigi at 50%, though he still has no aerial jump. The rifleman's shot deals 8% and knockback that kills at 165% with 1.5 platforms worth of range, though it has a half second of both starting and ending lag. The rifleman will attempt to stay as far away from the foe as he can while staying within range to shoot them, and he can still move during his "ending lag."
His other "attack" consists of taking out some beer and having a drink, which he will only do if he's at under half health or if he can't find a foe to shoot at for 4 seconds. Booze will quickly heal the Rifleman at a rate of 1 HP per 2 frames, and if he's able to heal at least 10 HP in this way he'll get drunk. While drunk, the rifleman will be able to move during the starting lag of his shot, will have kickback upon shooting that sends him back a Bowser width, and even has the ability to spot dodge. This drunken state lasts 5 seconds, and makes him a lot more obnoxious to kill.
The elven priest has the same size/movement as the rifleman and only weighs as much as Jigglypuff at 50% with a mere 20 HP, though he has the luxury of two extra aerial jumps due to magic, making him immune to being poked off the stage. He has a projectile with the same range as the Rifleman's, but where the rifleman's shot is instant, the priest's is incredibly wimpy, traveling at half Robin's dashing speed and only dealing 3% and flinching. While it seems useless at a glance, the slow nature of it makes it a lingering annoyance to the foe, potentially landing you a free hit with some power behind it.
The priest will attempt to follow around the nearest ally, able to heal them at a rate of 5% per second if he stays within melee range of them. The heal is an actual hitbox and can hit multiple targets at once, but the 5% will be divided by the amount of things healed. The foe can potentially knock the intended recepient of the heal away to claim the heal for themselves, making the priest the most useless minion by himself, requiring intense supervision from human soldiers. If the priest is damaged whatsoever, he will spam the heal on himself unless he has to use his magic projectile in self defense. Garithos can't teamkill his own priest, so he'll have to accept only 2.5% per second until the selfish elf is back to full strength.
There is a 10% chance Garithos will say a line when he summons a minion based off their race.
Human:
"If you want something done right, leave it to a human."
"We humans have to stick together."
Elf:
"You Elves are here to serve the Alliance, thus you will obey my commands to the letter."
"You have your orders. I trust your Elven ears heard them clearly enough."
Elf/Dwarf:
"I hate working with these...People."
"Hold the line, you dogs! We've got to fight on!"
SIDE SPECIAL - DUEL
Garithos points his axe forward as he challenges his foe to a duel, summoning a golden circle of power in front of himself with range/lag comparable to Mewtwo's Side Special. If Garithos is mounted on his horse, the hitbox will spawn on the ground in front of the horse rather than in front of Garithos. This move only works on the ground where there's an actual golden circle of power to be spawned, but the hitbox reaches up a good Marth height off the ground, meaning the foe doesn't have to be standing on said ground.
If the move connects, the foe will be challenged to a duel, and both Garithos and his opponent will gain superarmor/grab immunity for the 2.5 second duration of the duel, invulnerability to all outside sources, and will take half damage/healing from all attacks. Whoever deals more damage to their opponent will be the winner of the duel, and gain a permanent 1.1x power buff to all of their attacks. This invulnerability extends 6 frames after the duel ends to make it harder for outside characters to punish the duelists as it ends. Minions will do nothing while a duel is taking place, sitting and watching the duel, with the exception of recovering back to the stage if they've been knocked off. Garithos cannot summon minions if he is dueling.
The foe is not forced to participate in the duel, and can leave the golden circle of power that is roughly 1.25x as wide as their character + Garithos' width to end the effects of it early. This will count as the foe forfeiting the duel, meaning Garithos gets the power buff by default. If Garithos is mounted, both damage done to him and his horse will count towards the damage the foe needs to win the duel. Garithos can also forfeit duels, though he has little reason to. It can be worth it to lose a duel if the vast majority of damage was only done to your horse, so long as you got a decent chunk of damage on the foe. The move is also amazing if you/the horse are already at a high percentage.
At the start of the duel, the foe takes a microstun of a few frames before left in a frame neutral state against Garithos as he gets out of the move's ending lag. This brief stun is largely helpful to the foe, as it will interrupt them from accidentally running out of the duel or being caught in the middle of a laggy set-up move.
If Garithos hits the foe with duel while he is overlapping a minion, he will have that minion duel the foe. The footman will exclusively use his rapid slashing and shield bash while dueling, and if he gets some lucky shield bashes in it is somewhat possible for him to win the duel. The priest and rifleman are very happy to know that any healing done during the duel counts towards winning one, and a drunk rifleman has a vague chance of possibly winning, though is still very doubtful. The priest obviously can't win a duel by himself, period.
If they somehow win, the minion gets a promotion. The footman is promoted to a knight and gains access to a horse much like Garithos', though at only 0.8x the size, weight, and power. The footman can be knocked off the horse, and Garithos can mount these new horses given to the footmen, even able to kick them off the horse if he wants by inputting Up Special while overlapping it. Footmen will attempt to mount any unmounted horse they come in contact with, so long as it's not Garithos' original horse. If Garithos' original horse is alive, only it will respond to a grounded Up Special input to charge at Garithos, but if it's dead then whatever horse Garithos most recently mounted will respond to that input, even if a footman is currently riding it.
Riflemen will be promoted into mortar teams, giving them a second dwarf to back them up. This doubles their range and health, and their projectile is now a mortar shot that travels in an arch arc, dealing 16% and knockback that kills at 100% on contact. They can't move during ending lag and move incredibly slowly as they carry around their equipment at a third of Robin's dashing speed, but it's a pretty big buff.
Priests gain access to master training, which will give them the ability to cast Inner Fire on any allies in melee range, which they will prioritize over healing unless that unit is at 10 HP or under/125% or over. Inner Fire causes the target's attacks to gain a fire element and do a burning over time effect over 5 seconds, dealing a quarter of their attack's damage over those 5 seconds, effectively boosting their damage output by 1.25x. Inner Fire lasts 8 seconds, and master training priests are also now competent enough to not accidentally heal foes. Master Training Priests also gain access to Dispel Magic, a quick bowser sized hitbox that does 4% and set knockback a platform away as a decent defensive measure. Dispel Magic will also cause foes to lose Duel power buffs for 5 seconds.
If an already promoted unit wins a duel, they get a 1.1x power buff like a playable character does. Horses cannot duel unless they have riders.
While Garithos cannot hit a foe while they are dueling his minions, the main thing that enables his minions to actually win duels is the foe not wanting to give Garithos 2.5 seconds of setup time to summon an army of minions. As scary as that sounds, the foe can kill some minions pretty quickly long before 2.5 seconds are up, especially if they were already damaged, making it a matter of what's more worth the foe's time and how many power buffs you're willing to arbitrarily forfeit to the foe.
DOWN SPECIAL - SHOCKWAVE
Garithos raises his axe and his horse gets up on its hind legs if he's mounted on it as he prepares an storable charge move, charging his axe with holy energy. On release, Garithos and the horse both slam down, creating a magically enhanced shockwave that goes forward from them along the ground. If he was mounted, the horse will deal an additional 10% and knockback that sends foes forward lightly into the shockwave as it slams down. Hitting either Garithos or the horse will interrupt the entire move. The charge time is slightly longer than the existing Smash characters like Mewtwo/Samus/etc.
The shockwave travels forwards 1-4 platforms, and will wrap around stages. The shockwave deals 5-22% and knockback that kills at 225-135%. The minimum charge version can actually be better than the pitiful knockback, as it will trip the foe rather than dealing knockback. The shockwave always travels at Mario's dashing speed, which is reasonably fast, but Garithos' mighty horse can easily outrun it and potentially follow up on a foe at a low percentage, making the move a lot better if you actually can make use of its range.
The shockwave is not used up upon immediately hitting something, having to deal damage to something 3 times in order to vanish, and has transcendant priority against other projectiles. This makes the move very powerful against shields, with a fully charged or even 4/5ths charged version of this easily destroying a full strength shield by itself. Unfortunately, the move's knockback is at a 45 degree angle off the ground, so it won't combo into itself against the foe. In a duel, the foe won't take any knockback, though, meaning as the shockwave travels through the foe they can potentially be dealt up to 33% (66% halved due to duel). Keep in mind that shields still work during duels while grabs don't, and this move becomes pretty important. If a foe becomes shield broken during a duel, the duel ends early and the shield broken character loses by default.
If the charge is released in the air, Garithos will do a stall then fall before he hits the ground. By himself, he deals up to 13% and knockback that kills at 150%, but with the horse will deal up to 17% and knockback that kills at 120%. When he hits the ground, Garithos will produce a pair of shockwaves instead of a single one, both going in opposite directions. The shockwave will have two thirds of the charge that a single one would have. It's generally impossible to hit with both of these unless done on a drop through platform, but if done at point blank it's possible, as a fully charged shockwave is Bowser sized, making it possible to sandwich all but the smallest foes in the middle, and even characters like Kirby will become big enough if they are shielding. This method is obviously more telegraphed if you want to hit with both, but it can potentially be easier to hit with if you try to use it like a "dsmash" to catch a foe regardless of which way they roll.
SMASHES
FORWARD SMASH - HOLY LIGHT
Garithos summons a holy sphere of energy that travels forwards much like Zelda's Side Special, traveling at the same speed for as long as he holds down the button before bursting into a column of light the size of PK Fire. All of the lag on the move is inserted into starting lag in order to make the actual explosion instant, making the move considerably more usable than Zelda's version if you have the time and distance to actually get it going, but still far from spammable.
If it hits an ally, they will be blessed by the gods, healing 6% instantly and gaining a regenerative effect that causes them to heal 1% every 20 frames for the next 5 seconds, totaling to an additional 15% for a grand total of 21% by the end. The blessing will also cause them to press the attack, causing them to have their lag reduced by 0.8x during this time. Garithos cannot heal his horse while he is mounted on it, and can never heal himself directly.
If the holy light hits an enemy, they will be smited like the inhuman beast of the jungle they are, regardless of Garithos being a Dota Hero. This causes the enemy to take 15% and knockback that kills at 175-140%. Instead of being blessed, the enemy will burn, taking 0.5-1.5% per 20 frames for 5 seconds, dealing an additional 7.5-22.5% to them to total up to 22.5-37.5% for Garithos' most potentially damaging Smash.
Garithos is capable of hitting multiple targets with this at once, but this will cause them to split the damage/healing of this move (foes will still take full normal knockback though). If Garithos hits a character already healing/burning from this, he will add an additional 5 seconds onto their healing/burning, regardless of the charge of both fsmashes. Since the burning damage is the only thing that actually powers up with charge, this means that all of your fsmashes against that foe will be "fully charged" for all intents and purposes until that burning wears out.
Garithos cannot heal his minions in a duel or interact with them in any way, but he is allowed to give them buffs before sending them into the duel, where the healing and attack speed will help them out significantly. This also applies to giving the foe the debuff from this move, as the damage over time will contribute towards determing the duel's winner. Obviously, it's perfect if you can manage to hit both a foe and the minion with the same Holy Light before having them duel. If pit against a full health footman or a drunk rifleman in that scenario, it's doubtful the foe will try to duel at all. If you somehow manage to promote a priest by some miracle, their Inner Fire buff is also extremely helpful for winning duels.
UP SMASH - TRIUMPHANT STRIKE
Garithos heaves his axe over his shoulder before doing a small leap forward as he slashes it forwards for a massive overhead swing ending in front of him. This is as laggy as Ike's fsmash and deals 19-27% and knockback that kills at 105-80%, and while the range of this move isn't as good, the leap forwards means it technically reaches the same distance. Charging the move will increase the distance Garithos leaps in addition to the power, potentially leaping forwards up to 0.65 platforms.
If Garithos leaps off of a higher surface like a platform or his horse, the amount he leaps forward will also be inherently boosted as he'll have further to fall. If Garithos was mounted, this move will actually cause him to dismount his horse as he leaps off of it. If Garithos did a dashing mounted usmash, he will keep half of the horse's momentum until he hits the ground, enabling him to travel some truly tremendous distance while having this hitbox active while transitionining into his unmounted game. This can also be used as an effective retreat if a foe is hounding Garithos to knock him off his horse. If the foe continues to directly pursue Garithos, they'll be right in the middle of Garithos and his horse, an easy target to be trampled by a charging Up Special.
When mounted, this attack can also be used as something of a counter for the horse, as Garithos will leap off the horse as it is hit backwards back on top of the foe that hit it. This requires more skill than a standard counter, though, in that the amount of charge for the usmash needs to correlate to how far you need to leap back at the foe. This generally works better if the foe is just trying to use weak hits to combo the horse so you don't need to charge the usmash as much. Alternatively, dsmash can function as a more direct counter move for Garithos himself.
DOWN SMASH - MOMENT OF COURAGE
Garithos leans backwards as he readies a significant axe strike, then spins around for a spin like Dedede's dsmash. This deals 14-20% and knockback that kills at 150-115% for respectable power, and while it comes out at an acceptable speed the ending lag is pretty hideous. The brief starting lag of the move is superarmored, though, and if hit Garithos will spin around two additional times. The first two spins each deal 0.5-0.8x the damage of the foe's attack and suck the foe in, while the third spin has the normal hitbox on it that will send foes away with radial knockback. This version largely replaces the ending lag with the two additional spins, leaving Garithos free to act afterwards. While this counter has very powerful damage output, the actual window to use it as one is very small compared to traditional Down Special counters. This attack can become more appealing if the foe has won a couple of duels for whatever reason, potentially letting you use the foe's newfound power against them.
Having a direct counter move is very useful during a duel for obvious reasons, but Garithos enjoys the fact that it's also still an attack on its own. Note that because the foe won't take hitstun during a duel that they won't be hit by the whole thing, though, as they can jump out of it before it expires. As such, Garithos will want to get into the middle of the duel arena to prevent the foe from being able to escape the move, or counter a move laggy enough that they'll still be in its duration/ending lag by the time your dsmash is completed.
HORSE ATTACKS
NEUTRAL Z - LOWER THAN DIRT
The horse stomps forward with a single leg mightily with grab priority. If it hits, the foe will be pinned underneath the horse's hoof as the horse grinds the foe against the dirt, dealing 2 hits of 4%, before the horse stomps down with its other front leg to deal 8% and vertical knockback that kills at 210%. While this attack is simple, it means Garithos still does have a grab while on the horse even if he doesn't have an actual grab-game. This has great range for a grab, though the fact it's the neutral input means it can't take advantage of the horse's great speed due to being unusable while dashing. In addition, this is the horse's main attack to actually deal vertical knockback, hitting the foe up to enable Garithos to actually hit them if he's riding them.
If the horse is unmounted and is being AI controlled, Garithos will be sad to learn that the actual "throw" portion of the move is very fast and won't stun the foe long for him. Garithos is still capable of mounting the horse while it's in the middle of a move, though, meaning he can mount the horse after it's grabbed the foe, quickly getting into position to hit them with a mounted attack. If the foe's at a higher percentage, Garithos can still use the opportunity to mount the horse just so he can get some good height by jumping off it ASAP.
SIDE Z - HORSEKICK
If this is input behind the horse, the horse will simply kick it legs out behind itself with decent speed for 10% and knockback that kills at 150% for decent speed. If input in front of the horse, it will turn around before doing the same thing, but with more lag, superarmor on the horse against attacks that deal 14% or less, and a power boost to deal 16% and knockback that kills at 125%. If the horse was dashing when it used the turnaround version, it will slide about a 1.3 Bowser widths before coming to a stop.
This is obviously slower than turning around on the horse normally, but the horse takes long enough to turn around that this can potentially be argued as the safer option, especially with the superarmor on the horse. The rear version is your generic primary attack to hit foes behind you while on horseback without having to resort to jumping off.
UP Z - FLAILING HOOVES
The horse gets up on its hind legs and flails its front legs in the air in front of itself briefly, dealing many flinching hits totaling to 13% with the last hit knocking foes away in front of the horse, killing at 160%. A foe attempting to jump right past the horse to Garithos will be dealt with quite easily by this move, as aside from placing a hitbox in the way, Garithos will be moved back far enough that it will be quite difficult to hit him. The horse's hurtbox that isn't covered by a hitbox is also heavily moved, though if a foe predicts the attack and runs/rolls under it, they can hit both Garithos and the horse simultaneously.
The massive height of this hitbox means if this attack collides with another one, it will almost always be an aerial. This lets the foe trade very favorably, as they just get a token 1% out of the deal while the horse can take a meaty hit. This will only place the horse into hitstun, though, meaning Garithos can potentially follow up with a usmash and take advantage of the foe's brief flinch if they aren't careful.
DOWN Z - STOMPQUAKE
The horse leaps into the air, potentially dodging attacks, before bringing all four of it legs together to stomp onto a single point centered directly underneath the horse. This is the horse's laggiest attack by a good margin, with the concentrated stomp itself dealing 17% and knockback that kills at 100%. This is telegraphed enough it will rarely hit directly unless playing on a stage with platforms, in which case the move becomes a lot scarier as the horse leaps up to a platform and causes the hitbox to spawn more quickly. A wario width portion of the stage where the horse stomped will shake afterwards for a second, though, causing anybody who stands there to take 5% and be tripped. The main attack does heavy shield damage, and the earthshaking hitbox will automatically shield poke the foe if they dared to shield such a powerful hit.
Already tripped foes are immune to the hitbox, but if in a duel they will constantly take 5% every 10 frames by standing on the quaking ground. There is enough space to move around in a duel that this space can be avoided, and Garithos can't force the foe to stand there. If the riderless AI horse happens to make an earthshaking hitbox, though, this can be situationally put to use. AI horses consider this attack "defensive", and will be using the jump at the start to evade foes and threaten them away with the powerful hitbox.
STANDARDS
JAB - OVERWHELMING ODDS
Garithos does rapid slashes back and forth with his axe in front of himself for a fairly mediocre damage output infinite repeating jab. The jab finisher is an advancing shield bash, dealing an additional 4% and KOing at 180%. If nothing else, the lag of the jab finisher itself is nearly non existent, so if the repeating portion of the jab whiffs he can get out of it quite quickly.
Garithos will get more and more desperate with this attack if he has taken more damage, visibly doing more and more slashes during the repeating portion. At 50% his jab is on par with the Koopaling jab, at 100% it's 1.5x as strong, and so on. If Garithos manages to get any healing, this move won't suddenly slow down because of it, being tracked seperately from Garithos' actual damage percentage. The jab sees great use in duels for raw damage output at higher percentages/as Garithos takes it within the duel itself, and the quick ending lag enables him to cancel it should the foe actually bother to move out of the way. Outside duels, if Garithos catches a foe with this while mounted, it's generally a good way to slowly lower them back to the ground as they fall out of the hitbox, at which point Garithos can follow up with an Up Z or Down Z horse attack based off the foe's DI.
DASHING ATTACK - CHARGE!
Garithos raises his axe triumphantly into the air for as long as he holds A as he shouts the name of the move, then slashes it in front of himself in a motion that looks like he's beckoning his troops into battle, dealing a hefty 13% and knockback that kills at 120%, but with painful lag, especially on the ending.
This attack's input can be held to keep Garithos with the axe raised above his head, enabling him to continue dashing with this portion of the starting lag "stored". In addition, the further Garithos travels during this attack, the more the move's lag will be reduced. After traveling 2.2 platforms, the move will be lagless. Because this lag reduction is based on distance traveled rather than time spent traveling, this makes the move very powerful when on horseback, but very predictable.
If Garithos passes any minions when he has the axe raised above his head, they will charge alongside him for as long as he charges, raising their weapons in the air like Garithos and will attack when he releases the button. If Garithos outspeeds the minion, they will keep charging until they reach the point where Garithos released A. If the minion outspeeds Garithos, they will slow down to dash alongside him and release their attack simultaneously with Garithos. Riflemen will load their guns while charging, footmen will do their generic sword slash, and Priests use the only actual attack in their arsenal. If the Priest has acquired master training, they will cast Inner Fire on Garithos right before his hitbox connects if they were running alongside him. If he already has Inner Fire, they will instead cast it on a charging minion if applicable.
Having a minion run alongside Garithos on foot is mostly useful to get them in position for a duel. Ideally, the minion's attack will either cover Garithos' lag or hit the foe when they dodge his attack. Outspeeding a minion on horseback can set up a guaranteed attack from the minion as a "trap" that you can better play around.
FORWARD TILT - SHIELD BASH
Garithos does a simple bash forwards with his shield. This is identical to the attack done by the footman, dealing 9% and knockback that kills at 150%, with good speed but meager range. If it comes in contact with any attack that can clank, the foe will enter their clanking animation while Garithos has no ending lag whatsoever, free to parry with a grab or whatever else he wishes. Like with the footman, this is a very powerful option to use during a duel. Garithos can block projectiles with this, though it is a pretty ineffective response compared to Link standing in idle or an actual reflector, and he'll inevitably mess up the timing eventually against projectile spam. If the projectile does 20% or more to actually be worth blocking, the shield will fail anyway.
If this comes into contact with an attack that can't clank, such as an aerial attack, the foe will take half the knockback of their own attack in the opposite direction it would've knocked Garithos. The main time this will actually come up is when Garithos is mounted, as he'll be high enough in the air foes will be primarily hitting him with aerials. If they attack him head on and he counters this, Garithos' speedy horse can potentially run up to them while they're still taking their knockback for a followup. This version unfortunately does not work in duels due to dealing actual hitstun/knockback rather than making foes clank, making it fairly useless if Garithos is mounted. If he is unmounted, foes may attempt to shorthop aerials during the duel to get around this move, but doing such an arbitrary action at the cost of raw DPS could very well be their downfall.
UP TILT - AXE SWEEP
Garithos swings his axe in an arc over his head, but in contrast to most utilts of this archetype, Garithos starts the sweep behind him instead of in front of him. As Garithos swings his axe in front of himself and builds up momentum, the hitbox will be more powerful. At the start, the axe only deals 5% and knockback that kills at 400%, but at the end of the arc as it comes down in front of Garithos it deals 12% and knockback that kills at 135%. Trying to hit a foe in front of Garithos with this is dumb, but the move can potentially combo into itself if Garithos manages to catch a foe behind him. While the move is fast, it is easiest to use it as a generic anti air which it functions perfectly fine as, as the range on either side of Garithos is very poor.
On horseback, Garithos can potentially slide forwards a bit during the start of the utilt to make the move combo at higher percentages. In addition, this is a position where foes will more regularly try to approach Garithos from behind due to the horse having less attacks and having difficulty turning around, giving Garithos a good alternative to just his bair for this situation.
During duels, it is possible to hit the foe with this more than just twice since they won't be knocked away. Garithos will want to use the attack while overlapping the foe to try to get as much damage as possible.
DOWN TILT - HOLY PROTECTION
Garithos holds onto the top of his shield with both hands before thrusting it downwards into the ground at a 45 degree angle in front of him. Only the bottom of the shield is a hitbox during this move, dealing 5% and knockback that kills at 180%. Garithos can input A again to do a second portion of this tilt, causing him to hold the shield horizontally and thrust it up above himself, doing 7% and vertical knockback that kills at 145%. At very low percentages the two hits will combo into each other, but it doesn't take long for it to get a bit awkward in that regard.
Garithos' shield is a drop through platform during this attack. If the first hit whiffs, it is still very possible to catch a foe and lift them up above Garithos and getting them with the second hit. This does wonders against dashing attacks, as foes run up the shield and get the angle of their attack screwed up, for example. The nature of this attack makes it one of the most direct attacks to be able to mess with the foe's positioning during a duel, as having superarmor doesn't make you immune to drop through platforms.
Minions can and will walk up the shield, and will take a set knockback of a Ganondorf's into the air if you go through with the second hit. This can help them to get at foes in the air obviously, but for more direct combat use it can be helpful to forcefully get a minion out of the foe's way in case your attack whiffs, enabling them to cover you. The "platform" shield is too small for a horse to be able to use.
If Garithos is riding his horse, the first hit is unchanged and will be commonly used as his most direct methods of hitting a foe down on the ground. The platform aspect can also see some use to temporarily wall the foe off from finishing low health minions. The second hit has Garithos let go of his shield and slide down it onto the ground, his body a hitbox that deals 12% and knockback that kills at 135% with superarmor against attacks that deal 9% or less. The platform status of the shield here may be used to briefly delay a foe and potentially catch them in the hitbox of Garithos dismounting. This also turns the horse into a minion who can potentially also attack, though Garithos has to be careful of the absolutely hideous ending lag on this version.
GRAB GAME
GRAB - SEIZE
Garithos' shield briefly vanishes as he reaches out to grab the foe with a free hand. His regular grab is the typical swift low range one most characters have. His dashing grab has a good bit better range, but his terrible dashing speed prevents it from being one of the better ones. Upon grabbing the foe, Garithos stares at them in complete and utter disgust.
Garithos is capable of grabbing his own minions, though it goes without saying that he will prioritize grabbing foes over them. Garithos cannot grab allied horses, and if he could he'd often end up doing so on accident due to their massive size. Minions will ignore grabbed foes, though they can still do other actions such as healing themselves.
PUMMEL - TAXES
Garithos violently shakes the restrained victim, dealing 1% a pop to them in a spammable pummel. As they're shook, golden coins are shot out from their body (In coin battles, foes will drop more coins than a 1% pummel usually would). This effect may appear to be only cosmetic at first, but if Garithos can amass 10 pummels he'll have enough money that the next minion he summons will be immediately promoted.
It's doubtful Garithos will get a promoted minion exclusively off of pummeling the opponent, and most of the money will come from taxing his own minions. Priests and riflemen are generally preferable to tax because of their ability to heal themselves.
If a priest has ever healed an enemy or if a rifleman has ever drunk beer, Garithos will force them to pay double taxes for the next 10 pummels, punishing them for their incompetence. While this doubles the damage the unit takes, it also adds to your counter to be able to promote units faster. If the priest heals the foe multiple times/the dwarf drinks multiple times, that will add on an additional 5 pummels worth of double taxes beyond the first 10.
If a foe takes advantage of a priest's healing, they'll want to kill them off quickly afterwards. This still applies even if the priest simultaneously healed other people alongside the foe and barely healed them at all. If the priest healed both himself, Garithos, and the foe, the foe will only heal 1.6% while you can penalize the priest with double taxes, an extremely good deal. Even if the priest has been promoted and will no longer heal the foe, you can still tax them for their past failures.
DOWN THROW - JUSTICE
Garithos takes out a chain and whips the foe with it, dealing them 4%, before tethering them to it and throwing them off the maximum distance of their tether for an additional 3%. The chain allows them to move 1.25 platforms away from the point they were tethered down, and the chain can be broken by depleting its 35 HP. If any knockback would send the foe out of the maximum tether distance, the tether will be broken instantly, so this isn't abusable for combos as it more limits the foe's movement. If the foe has no projectile, Garithos can use this as a generic throw to buy set-up time. If Garithos can manage to catch a foe at the edge of their "leash" with duel, he can limit the space the foe can move even further as they're stuck between two places they can't leave. The foe can still destroy the chain during this time, though if they invest time in that they'll almost inevitably lose the duel and may be best off forfeiting.
While Garithos will arrest people entirely out of prejudice, he technically needs to give the foe a reason why they've been arrested. He will say some dialogue when he inputs this throw and an input will show up above Garithos' head. By default, this input will be the move that has the most entries in the foe's stale move list, but Garithos can make an input to choose. If Garithos grabs the foe within 5 seconds of them inputting a move he's outlawed, he will be able to get double taxes out of them. If the foe has used the attack multiple times within 5 seconds, it will stack to 2.5x taxes, 3x taxes, etc. This effect as a whole lasts for 10 seconds. This effect can be extremely useful to penalize the foe for using their best DPS moves for breaking the chain, dueling, and killing minions. If the throw is used twice in 10 seconds, it's possible to outlaw multiple moves, or just extend the first one's duration.
If Garithos tethers a minion, they will never break their chain and won't be damaged by the throw. Unlike a chained foe, minions can't be freed from the chain by knockback either, forcing the foe to whittle down the minion's HP. This is a good enough reason to use the throw on a minion, but the reason Garithos will give for their arrest will be to outlaw them from using their worst attack. The footman will no longer use their generic sword slash, the priest will only heal/buff, and the riflemen will be outlawed from drinking. The footman and priest will obey orders, but the rifleman will still drink on rare occasions out of self pity. If you grab an imprisoned drunk dwarf, you'll get triple taxes out of them.
BACK THROW - PUBLIC EXECUTION
Garithos goes to do an over the top beheading of the victim for his most powerful throw, dealing 13% and knockback that kills at 140%. The glowing circle of power visuals from Duel will show up during this move, but the usual duel rules won't apply. If this attack kills the victim, Garithos will gain a 1.1x power buff as if he had won a duel. If Garithos already has power buffs, this throw gives him some fantastic snowballing potential, but this throw itself cannot have its power boosted by duel.
Garithos can still get the buffs from killing his own minions, but this throw has significant lag and is easy to interrupt. What's worse is the fact that if the foe kills the minion that you're trying to execute during this throw, they'll take the power buff for themselves, making this a very risky throw if the foe isn't occupied.
Garithos' only method of damaging his own minions is by taxing them, making priests the primary target as they become killable after 7 pummels. 7 pummels is still a very long time to wait, and if the minion is full health this is really only viable if Garithos is getting extra taxes on the minion to damage them faster, turning that bonus damage into a plus. When the minion gets into kill range of bthrow, an axe icon will flash above their head for the remainder of time they stay grabbed.
Aside from the threat of taxes, the main way to get a foe to weaken but not kill a minion for you is through making them duel a minion under some kind of a handicap, typically a footman to ensure that they actually survive. Aside from buying set-up time, this throw's existence gives Garithos good motivation to try to get minion duels as basically any result other than the minion dying can potentially provide him some benefit if he plays around it well enough.
If Garithos successfully kills somebody with this throw, he'll say a line if the victim was a non human race or if he taxed them. If multiple apply, he'll pick from any of the applicable lines.
Dwarf:
"You brainless dwarves are almost more trouble than you're worth!"
"There's a war on, and you're off having a picnic!"
Elf:
"NEVER TRUST AN ELF!"
"Save your breath, I never trusted you vainglorious elves."
"It was a mistake to accept you into the Alliance in the first place."
"Now, I have all the proof I need to execute every traitorous one of you."
Demon:
"What's the matter, demon? Are you afraid?"
Dwarf/Elf/Other:
"I want you wretched animals out of my city!"
"You inhuman dogs must be slain."
"The lesser races must be purged from the kingdom."
"The only good non human is a dead non human."
"Die, mongrel!"
"Inhuman beast!"
Tax:
"I'll teach you a lesson about greed!"
"Being arrogant again...So be it."
"It's alright. You get the treatment you paid for."
"We even host a party for you, and this is what we get?"
"I've just collected all the money I'll ever need, if I die by six o'clock."
FORWARD THROW - HOLY CRUSADE
Garithos straps an explosive to the foe's back before kicking them away, dealing 5% and knockback that kills at 265%. The Froy approved time bomb will explode 5 seconds later and deal 12% and knockback that kills at 125% to the foe, but the explosion can be dodged just like Megaman's bombs. The explosion creates a Bowser sized hitbox around the foe, and it is capable of hurting Garithos and his minions. This gives the move a pretty big potential to backfire, but the payoff is huge if Garithos can pressure the foe properly. Garithos can attempt to use the explosion to his advantage by countering it with dsmash, even if the foe dodges the explosion. If Garithos hits the foe with fsmash or fair (his moves with fire based hitboxes), the bomb will detonate early.
Using this on a minion turns them into an unknowing suicide bomber. Footmen are the best to use this for directly attacking due to their high HP, weight, and directly chasing after the foe, much like in the campaign level. While a rifleman won't chase after the foe, a drunk rifleman will use their dodging ability to actually avoid the explosion, being entirely unharmed by it, meaning they can be potentially useful. Used on priests, the main purpose is just a quicker alternate method to damage them to be executed with bthrow without having to commit the extra time to pummeling them. Fsmash and fair can still detonate minions, but fsmash will have any healing take place after the minion is damaged, so if the minion was already full health they will still heal back the damage of the explosion. You can also try chaining down the minions who normally run away from the foe to make them do their job.
UP THROW - FIRING SQUAD
Garithos does a simple slash upwards with his axe, dealing 10% and vertical knockback that kills at 200%. While the knockback is weak, the base knockback makes it a bit difficult to get any combos off of it unless Garithos' mount is right next to him for him to gain some free height. If Garithos has non horse minions out whatsoever when he uses this throw, he will say "FIRE!" as he executes the move. This will cause all minions to close in and attempt to use their attack on the foe, all simultaneously at the height of their knockback. This can all be dodged, but at lower percentages this can enable Garithos to get a free hit with an aerial.
Riflemen are obviously the most desirable units here to force an immediate dodge with the great speed of their shots matching Sheik's needles. If the foe dodges, Garithos can get in a free aerial if the foe is at a lower percentage. Priests and Mortar Teams will fire their very slow projectiles at the foe, giving more of a lingering threat if another minion attack makes them dodge. Footmen have to jump at the foe to hit them with their only aerial attack, their generic slash, and will not be able to hit the foe at later percentages. If they are mounted on a horse, though, they will have the horse use its Up Z to reach high into the air to hit the foe, or simply use their rapid slashes if the foe's at an especially low percentage. This throw rewards Garithos for having a large quantity and a large variety of minions, though they will have to be fairly nearby to participate in this attack.
If this throw is used on a minion, Garithos will pick up and spin the minion around himself, dealing 6/8/10% and knockback that kills at 200/180/160% based off it being a priest/rifleman/footman, then lets them loose in the direction of the nearest foe. The minion will travel 3/2/1 platforms and deals 12% and knockback that kills at 150% on contact. This is a bit slow to use as an efficient projectile, though spinning them around you is a decent defense for anybody trying to stop you from tax collection.
In the least, this version of the throw has no ending lag after its long duration, to the point you can try to throw the minion at a foe at point blank and attempt to start a duel, in which case the hit will be credited to the minion for the purposes of the duel. Garithos can be given more time to do this if the minion was chained down, as they'll fly against the border of their tether briefly during which time they're still a hitbox.
AERIALS
NEUTRAL AERIAL - HOLY NOVA
Garithos holds up his shield in front of him as a circle of holy energy emanates from it, rapidly expanding out to form a circle around himself and reach out a good Kirby width from his body before flashing out of existence. Being hit by the nova will deal radial knockback that kills at 200%, making it a good quick defensive move. Any portion of the nova that is hit will be used up, rather than the entirety of it like a normal projectile. This means the move does far more damage if "overlapping" a foe like with Jigglypuff's Rest, potentially up to 20% which is great for the move's very low starting lag. Most of the time, the foe will only be hit by half of the nova at most, rendering the attack a lot less impressive damage wise. Leaping at the foe and getting into position before popping it is incredibly risky, but it is a lot more effective during duels where foes can't knock you out of it before you gain proper spacing.
This attack can heal minions, but will only heal for half of the damage. If your intent is to just heal, you can do it more quickly with fsmash. This move enables you to multitask better, and by healing minions you can make use of the full hitbox without being required to hit point blank. When on horseback, the lower portion of the nair will basically always go into your horse to heal it for 5%, while the upper half can be used to aid in Garithos' powerful horseback anti air game.
FORWARD AERIAL - SMITE
Garithos' axe is enchanted with holy energy as he slashes forwards with it for a quick and spammable fair. The move's initial punch is very weak, dealing only 4% and knockback that kills at 315%, but causes the foe to start burning over time like in the fsmash, taking an additional 1% per second for 5 seconds. This attack is fast enough that if it did 9% outright, it'd be a pretty good deal, but this attack can't be spammed directly for damage purposes. If Garithos hits a foe with fair after they're already burning for their sins, the foe will burst into flames and simply take all of their burning damage immediately in addition to the usual paltry 4% this attack does. Each 1% added to the combustion decreases the KO% by 6.5% (This can't be boosted by duels and other power buffs).
While hitting with two fairs isn't impressive, but following up on an fsmash can potentially turn this into a outright KO move, especially if you hit them with an fair first. Hitting a foe with fair immediately after a fully charged fsmash will have the move killing at 175%, which isn't much, but on such an easy to land move is pretty powerful. This also enables Garithos to cash in on all his fsmash damage over time within a duel immediately.
If Garithos has duel buffs, the puny 4% base damage isn't what gets boosted by this attack. Instead, the burning damage is what gets boosted. This means Garithos can potentially apply his duel multipliers to fsmash twice. The kill % calculated above assumes Garithos has no buffs - with just a single duel won, if Garithos hits with fair immediately after a fully charged fsmash, the move will KO at 147%, 109% if he had two buffs, 65% if he had three buffs, and is practically an instant kill with four buffs.
That said, hitting with a fully charged fsmash is a pretty tremendous event, much less hitting with fair right after it. The payoff for fair will constantly be ticking down to lesser rewards as the foe manages to stall the effect out. It's possible to get greedy and try to hit the foe with additional fsmashes to lengthen the burning time even further to power up this move even more, but you're playing with fire.
Inner Fire burning from master training priests is identical to the burning effect found in fsmash and fair. If the foe allows a promoted Priest to live, Garithos can potentially rack up burning damage to power up the fair on his entire moveset, with moves like jab and bair being potent options. Priests can even enable other minions to get in on the action! Master training priests are still as frail as ever with their token 20 HP and pathetic weight, and foes will probably kill them off as quickly as possible. So long as they get off at least one good Inner Fire, though, you can do your best to make the most of it, as their services will no longer be required anyway.
BACK AERIAL - WHIRLING BLADE
Garithos spins his axe behind him for a potent multihit attack, dealing many flinching hits totaling to 22% with the final hit dealing knockback that kills at 165%. This attack's range is more generous than other highly damaging multihit moves of this type, but the duration of the move is quite long and the landing lag is fairly bad. It is possible to complete the attack out of a full jump, but a shorthop will always mean the attack ends early and the foe's final hit will just be a flinch, enabling them to get a reasonable punish on you like a grab.
This move's landing lag does not exist if Garithos is riding his horse, though it's quite difficult to actually hit anything while in the air on a horse, having to rely on moves like uthrow to get it done with any consistency. If unmounted, this move can still see some use in duels as a "finisher", getting in a heaping helping of damage as the landing lag comes into play with a minion to help you out.
UP AERIAL - SHIELD SLAM
Garithos holds his shield with both hands from the bottom of it and thrusts it up above his head, immediately doing 6% and light upwards knockback that KOs at 220%. Garithos then proceeds to let gravity do the rest of the work for the attack as he falls over frontwards, attempting to smash foes with his shield, dealing 16% and knockback that kills at 120% in a spike on par with Brawl Ganon's dair, but the fact the move is filled with lag makes Ganon's the superior version.
If Garithos lands during the start of the move, he will skip the second portion and be free to move again very quickly compared to the long ending lag of the second half. This lets Garithos use the move as a traditional uair to fit his defensive anti-air needs, and the move's fantastic range makes it great at its job. Unfortunately, the fact Garithos has to stay close to the ground to be able to cancel it means he can't use it offensively. If Garithos is on his horse, he will only do the portion at the start instead of slamming it down, enabling him to take the fight to the air. While it's hard to get anybody high enough to be hit by it, being above a mounted Garithos is a very dangerous place to be and lets the first half of the move shine.
If Garithos triggers the "landing lag" of the second hit of the move, the power will be boosted to 20% and any grounded foe hit by it will be pitfalled with strength comparable to DK's Side Special in SSB4. This will barely be long enough to cover Garithos' long landing lag until extremely high percentages - the appeal here is getting a free hit for any minions/the horse, considering you have to be dismounted to use this part of the attack anyway.
DOWN AERIAL - LORD'S BOOTS
Garithos claps his legs together below himself as an audible clang is heard from his leg armor. This deals 16% and a fairly strong spike, on par with SSB4 Ganondorf's heavily weakened dair. The spike only occurs if the foe is hit by Garithos' feet, with his legs dealing a weaker 12% and a bit less knockback, making him not as good as using it for gimping as Ganon, though the move is a bit faster.
If Garithos is mounted when he uses this attack, he will kick the horse with both legs on either side, causing it to cry out in pain and use its Up Z immediately, covering any ending/landing lag Garithos may have had. If Garithos is unmounted and this attack overlaps with where he would usually ride a horse, he will automatically mount it when he uses this move. This will also cancel any momentum Garithos had, potentially saving him from a near death attack and encouraging him to keep his back to his horse at high percentages. If Garithos hits the horse elsewhere where he couldn't immediately mount it, the horse will still spontaneously use Up Z regardless. At lower to middling percentages, it's possible to knock a foe off the ground into the horse's flailing legs for a combo.
FINAL SMASH - THE CROSSING
Garithos says "Whoever kills that heathen will be a hero!" as he summons a suicide squad of 6 Pandaren slaves. These 6 Pandarens are based off the ugly Furbolg recolors as in Warcraft 3 rather than the furry anthros they later became, making them even uglier than the real suicide squad. The Pandarens have barrels strapped to their backs, but this isn't the usual Pandaren booze, but explosives.
The Bowser sized Pandas will chase after the nearest foe at Dedede's dashing speed and an extremely powerful first jump that goes up potentially 3 Ganondorf heights. On contact with a foe, the pandas deal 22% and knockback that kills at 105% as they blow up in a 1.25x Bowser sized explosion, causing any other pandas they were in contact with to also explode. It's very possible for the foe to be hit by multiple Panda explosions, but the Pandas can't overlap each other so it's not super easy. The Pandas will all explode after 5 seconds.
Garithos is able to interact with the Pandas like his normal minions. They are immune to dying from being taxed, but will die instantly to a bthrow as it causes them to explode while Garithos remains immune to the explosion. Dthrowing a Panda to chain it down can be useful to make it not get caught in a useless mass explosion and not be casually baited off stage. If Garithos gives the panda another explosive with fthrow, it will renew the timer to a fresh new 5 seconds.
Pandas are allowed to duel, in which case they will survive the explosion due to the superarmor. This will deal 11% to themselves, but they'll still have 39 HP leftover as a generic minion. The 11% self damage will not count towards the damage the foe needs to deal to win the duel. With no explosive, the Panda gains generic attacks that consist of Bowser's fair and ftilt, along with a jab esque attack that has the Panda bite en mass in front of him, as powerful as the Koopaling jab but healing the Panda for all the damage dealt. If the Panda wins, his "promotion" is gaining the hat and keg of beer from the Pandaren Brewmaster, gaining the ability to drink like Garithos' dwarves. The Panda will spam his very powerful dueling jab during the brief time he lacks an explosive, but he can given a new one with Garithos' fthrow, which will be just as powerful as their original one. Pandas' 5 second explosion timers only start whenever they spawn/get a new barrel.
* A protagonist in Mega Man Battle Network 5, and an antagonist in its sequel, Colonel.EXE is based off of the Reploid of the same name from Mega Man X4. His no-nonsense, emotionless personality makes him an effective combatant and commander, and his laser-focus on his goals make him a good match for his reserved Net Operator, Baryl.
His history is mostly unknown during his first game appearance, where he leads the task force to reclaim control of the internet from the "Dark Chip Syndicate" Nebula and its "Darkloid" net navis. Colonel aided the protagonists in eliminating the Darkloids and defeating the Nebula's ultimate weapon, "Nebula Gray", once and for all. However, a scene plays after the others have escaped that reveals that the previous main villain, Dr. Wily, is still alive, and is the one who prodded Baryl to arrange the destruction of Nebula.
Colonel reappears in Battle Network 6 around its mid-game, revealing that he and Baryl are in command of the villains who have appeared up to that point. He makes several attempts on Mega Man and (with the aid of a new technology that allows net navis to control and occupy blank mechanical dolls called "Copybots") Lan's life shortly after, coldly refusing to answer their questions.
At the end of the game, the reason for his and his operator's betrayal was revealed. Baryl had actually been adopted and raised by Dr. Wily on request of his father, an old friend, before he left for war. Colonel himself was made by Dr. Wily as the 'perfect' netnavi, with genius that rivaled his own, outstanding power and speed, unrivaled compassion, and even the ability to control machinery with ease. A netnavi named "Colonel".
However, time passed without word from Baryl's father, and eventually news arrived that he had died in the war. The loss finally rekindled Wily's desire for revenge against the world, that he had set aside for the sake of his friend; he took Colonel from Baryl, and when he returned him, he had lost his kindness (and become more subdued emotionally in general), as well as his ability to control machinery.
Those removed components were used to create Iris. She would be the final ingredient in his plan to control two massive, monstrous "Cybeasts", collections of bugs and glitches given a cohesive form, and inserted into correspondingly massive Copybots, which she would then control and use to burn the world down. The plan failed, as Iris had grown fond of Lan, and instead used her abilities to assist him and Colonel in deleting the Cybeasts.
At the very end, the two were worn down, and faced with the remaining Cybeast. With few other options left, they attempted to combine- knowing that Dr. Wily had planted code into both of them that would delete them if they did so. Despite both Wily and Lan's protests, the two used their resulting power to subdue the Cybeast, allowing the detonation caused by the program meant to kill them to destroy it with them.
Baryl, being unconscious from injuries sustained during an attempted coup, was not there to witness Colonel's deletion. However, Colonel asked Lan to pass on his last words: "I was deleted along with the Cybeast. But, it's not "fate". It's of my own "will"."
* Like many (though not all) NetNavis, Colonel is humanoid in build, albeit a fairly commanding build compared to his peers. He stands eye to eye with Ganondorf and shares his rough shape, though while moving he leans forward enough to slightly compress his hurtbox by comparison. His stats are fairly typical of a heavyweight, aside from his above average jumps.
= = = = Specials ++++++++++++++++++++++
= Neutral Special
* Colonel raises his sword to the sky, a Rock Cube appearing directly in front of him half a brawl stage builder unit ahead of him, descending at Fox's fast fall speed if not on the ground. Rock Cubes are common destructible obstacles from the Battle Network series, light greenish-gray cubes made of what seem like stone brick, with a square indentation on its side.
This Rock Cube is roughly 1.5x the size of a standard crate, immobile, and is capable of soaking 14% damage before being destroyed. While falling, it is a hitbox that deals 10% damage and pushes foes back half a BSBU on contact. Besides cluttering the field, Colonel's Rock Cubes house a surprise that appears when the cube is broken- a special type of virus.
The Colonel Army soldier virus appears from a foxhole in the ground (or midair) to attack the enemy when the Rock Cube is destroyed. It appears from beneath where the cube sat, facing the culprit's direction and attacking with one of two weapons- a bayonet stab that acts as a long-reaching disjointed hitbox, if the enemy is within its reach, or a burst of three machine gun shots.
The former deals 9% damage,and the latter 3 hits of 3%. The bayonet is a horizontal hitbox with decent reach. With the machine gun, a cursor appears over the opponent's position at the moment that the soldier appears, and the shots hit there and only there. There is a half second window between the virus' appearance and its attack, giving the opponent a window to attack or retreat. If the virus is damaged or completes its attack, it vanishes instantly.
Colonel's own attacks can damage the Rock Cubes, with a resulting Colonel Army soldier facing the nearest opponent. The cube can also be moved by any attack that deals enough knockback to move Bowser at 50% more than the Rock Cube's width, sliding a distance equal to that distance (rounded down to the nearest multiple of its own width), the cube falling if it is not on solid ground afterwards. If that attack breaks the cube, it does not break until it finishes moving.
He can also choose to hold the input, causing the Rock Cube to break upon landing; it does not count towards the number of active Rock Cubes in this variant. Regardless of his choice, the Rock Cube appears quickly, but Colonel suffers extensive ending lag as he resumes his normal combat stance
Rock Cubes can be stacked (without the newest damaging the one it falls on), and there is an upper limit of 3 Rock Cubes on the stage per Colonel. Summoning a Rock Cube when 3 already exist causes the oldest to break open. If high enough off the ground, the side of the Rock Cube can act like a ledge. [10%] [9% or 3% * 3 or 10%]
= Side Special
* Colonel transforms his sword arm into his answer to the Mega Buster: the Colonel Cannon, an arm-mounted cannon that resembles a tank's barrel, with an electronic targeting sight mounted onto it. It's as powerful as it appears, firing a single projectile that moves the same distance and speed as Fox's Neutral Special projectile.
The projectile deals 15% damage and light knockback on a hit, continuing through any destructible objects it breaks, and finally stopping with a crate-sized explosion for an additional 10% damage and heavy knockback when it impacts something the initial hit didn't destroy or reaches the end of its range. If in the air, the recoil actually pushes Colonel back slightly in the opposite direction of where he fired.
Summoning the cannon and leveling it takes even someone with Colonel's strength a moment to do, the lag on both ends only just faster than a Warlock Punch, during which he can angle the Cannon's shot up or down 30 degrees from its default aim of straight ahead. Slow, though it's worth it for firepower that can literally affect the field; the projectile also passes through fall-through platforms, and both it and the explosion will damage any ground struck.
A spiderweb of cracks spread out from the center of where the hitbox struck, twice a crate's width. On fall-through platforms, the ground will give way and drop anything that lands on it, and on solid ground, movement speed is reduced and landing lag increased by 1/4th. Enemies touching a cracked area when it breaks or a hitbox strikes that area flinch. Colonel himself can move across them without being affected, though the former will break once he moves off of it. The terrain modifications last 8 seconds. [15% + 10%]
= Down Special
* Colonel grips his cape with a sweeping motion and flings it forwards, a projectile roughly half again Kirby's hurtbox in size and moving Robin's run speed, reaching 1 Brawl Stage Builder Unit ahead of himself before falling to the ground and fading away.
The projectile does no damage or knockback, though it is a grab hitbox that passes through destructible terrain and fall-through platforms. It inflicts a small amount of stun that does not begin to make up for the lengthy end lag from Colonel pausing to re-materialize his cape.
The delay is comparable to a taunt, and it may as well be- if used on its own. If he performs any non-Special input before the cape vanishes, Colonel snaps out of the lag of this move and blurs into position to use the attack on its current location immediately, forgoing the starting lag and guaranteeing a hit if the foe was caught by the cape. If the attack has a sweet spot or can be charged, it'll hit using that sweet spot(or as close as is possible), and with no charge, respectively.
Due to the effortlessness of the motion, Colonel can even perform this input out of the ending lag of one of his other inputs- provided that it wasn't an input performed through the above effect. Colonel still suffers the remaining ending lag required to regain his cape regardless of if the attack hits or not, which occurs after the ending lag the attack itself possessed (if any), meaning he cannot immediately use his Down Special again.
Overall a little risky, but Colonel can essentially chain any two hits together with this as the glue, or ensure he hits with any one of his attacks in the best way possible, and positions himself to a more ideal spacing while doing so. [N/a]
= Up Special
* Flashing out of existence and reappearing again, Colonel's recovery move steals the animation for a navi moving from one panel to another in the Battle Network series, as well as the basic concept of Zelda's own. However, while the teleport has mildly less start up, though it teleports him a only 2/3rds distance in exchange.
During the teleport, the player can hit the Special or Standard input to have Colonel appear at the end with sword at the ready. He immediately performs long reaching, downward sword swing that deals a solid 15% damage and moderate knockback to a 120 degree radius in front of Colonel. There is a brief pause between his reappearance and the attack itself where he is vulnerable, which isn't present if he does not attack.
Colonel suffers very little ending lag without the attack, and noticeable ending lag with it. Should he reappear on the ground, he is free to act with only slight delay if he did not attack, or cancel out of his attack with his Down Special, making this move a decent approach option. [15%]
= = = = Standards ++++++++++++++++++++++
= Neutral Combo
* A three swing combo of reasonable speed, creating a glowing green gash of energy in the air ahead where the tip of his blade passes. The first is a high horizontal swing, roughly eye-level with Colonel (though the energy widens the hitbox enough to hit smaller opponents), the second a diagonal cut that starts where the first ended and ends low to the ground by Colonel, and the third another horizontal swing, forming a 'z' shape in all.
The swings themselves are fairly quick and can be chained together easily, but ending the combo (regardless of which attack it ends on) carries slight end lag as Colonel shifts back into a more neutral stance. Each hit does 4% damage, the first two doing light knockback away and then towards Colonel, respectively, and the third doing moderate knockback. [4% * 3]
= Forward Tilt
* With a mildly exaggerated swing, Colonel generates a '>' shape slash of energy a stage builder unit in front of himself that is half a unit long, the open end closest to him. The energy deals a solid 10% damage and mild knockback, while the swing itself deals only 7% and flinching.
By angling the control stick, Colonel's initial swing can hit further up or down, and the slash of energy adjusting in shape and position to match. Angling the stick up creates a diagonal slash of energy with the high end away from him, hitting foes out of the air, while angling it down hits the ground he stands on and produces a diagonal slash with the low end being away from him.
In both cases, the knockback is angled accordingly, and the range of the energy hitbox is closer. The damage and timing remain the same. Notably, it is possible to hit a large opponent or object (such as a Stone Block) with both the swing and the energy with either angled option if positioned right. The slight delay compared to Colonel's neutral combo makes this less effective at close range or against fast opponents, but let him better control. [10%] [7%]
= Down Tilt
* Colonel stabs the ground in front of him with enough force to send a spiderweb of cracks across it. The stab itself is angled awkwardly, requiring the opponent be very close, or Colonel to be looming over them.
On hit, it inflicts an impressive 13% damage, very light knockback (just enough to put the enemy out of reach of another hit), and enough hitstun that, combined with Colonel's quick execution of the input, leaves them at a slight frame disadvantage.
More than an attack, this also serves as a tool- the cracked area has the same properties as those generated by the explosion portion of his Side Special, if only half the size. This gives him a much quicker way of adjusting the playing field, though it suffers in its quality as an attack, except with specific set-up and execution. [13%]
= Up Tilt
* An overhead sweep of Colonel's sword, covering a 77.5 degree cone above him with impressive reach. The input is neither too fast nor too slow, dealing a reasonable 12% damage, though its flinching knockback prevents it from juggling anyone. Its claim to fame is in stopping those it hits in place for a fraction of a second longer than normal, causing them to drop (possibly into another of Colonel's attacks). [12%]
= Dash Attack
* One of Colonel's slower inputs, he skids to a stop and channels his momentum into his sword arm. The attack has great reach with him leaning into the swing, though noticeable start up and lag for the same reason. However, as Colonel plants his feet and braces himself, he has a generous window of super armor, making this input a somewhat safe approaching tool.
The swing itself is useful enough; 12% damage, flinching knockback. The hitstun of this move lasts enough to leave Colonel at a slight frame advantage with whoever he hit- helpful for follow-ups, as the slight skid as he performs the input carries him forwards enough to leave them in reach of his faster inputs. [9% or 12%]
= = = = Smashes
++++++++++++++++++++++
= Forward Smash
* Pulling his sword back and putting one foot forward to brace himself as he charges, Colonel swings with surprising speed and force, his blade moving too fast for the naked eye. The sword swing itself does a set 12% damage and mild knockback, acting as the sourspot for this move.
The actual hitbox is the pair of diagonal lines of energy that appear in an 'x' formation, starting half a brawl stage builder unit ahead of himself. Each line is roughly half a unit long, inflicting 14-19% damage and moderate knockback. At very center of where the lines meet is a sweet spot where the damage from both lines stack (28-38%), and the knockback instead KOs at fairly low percentages. [12%] [14-19% + 14-19%]
= Down Smash
* A low swing of Colonel's sword, hitting behind him as he draws his blade back, then in front as he carries through with the attack. The former is a sourspot that deals only 5% damage regardless of charge, but ensures they will be hit by the latter- a solid 15-21% hit that deals set knockback of roughly 1.2 brawl stage builder units, causing the opponent to fly back at twice the speed that Mario's F.L.U.D.D. pushes someone.
While moving this distance, the victim is treated as a hitbox themselves, doing half the damage they received on contact (and suffering the same), stopping prematurely when they hit something.
This input is performed very quickly and has little ending lag, though the foe is moved quickly enough that they cannot be hit with a follow-up attack straight out of this move. Unless, of course, something is there to block their flight path. [5%] [15-21%] [7.5-10.5%]
= Up Smash
* Colonel's sword flickers and is replaced with a normal hand, a missile launcher appearing in its grasp that he is forced to use his other hand to help support. He angles the attack diagonally upwards by default, though while charging and during the brief start-up, he can angle the rockets as Yoshi does his Up Special to anywhere between straight up and straight forwards.
Upon release, he fires a trio of rockets one after another a distance of 1-1.5 brawl stage builder units in the direction he has aimed (depending on charge), which move at a rate of Fox's Neutral Special projectiles. At the end of this range, the rockets adjust their aim towards the nearest enemy, slow to half speed, and move an additional unit before detonating (or until contact). Each rocket does between 5-7% damage and has a smash ball-sized blast radius, as well as moderate upwards knockback.
Colonel himself is stuck in place as he fires each shot, and suffers extensive ending lag from using this smash attack. Start up is much less severe, but still noticeable, giving Colonel additional time to aim, and enemies additional time to evade. It is unlikely that more than one rocket will hit due to the knockback, though Colonel could conceivably juggle an enemy that is directly above him. [5-7% * 3]
= = = = Aerials ++++++++++++++++++++++
= Neutral Aerial
* An underhand swing, starting low and hitting just above Colonel at the end of its arc. When the input is repeated, he swings again, hitting the same area from top to bottom instead, and will continue alternate between the two with each input. These swings do 7% damage and flinching each, being somewhat quick, but a little lacking in reach compared to Colonel's other moves.
Colonel can cancel out of a Neutral Aerial swing at any point, and they are his bread and butter for aerial combat as a result of their speed and flexibility, letting him slip in an extra hit. [7%]
= Forward Aerial
* Colonel blurs forward roughly the half again the width of Kirby, slowing to a halt, and performs a downward swing with decent reach ahead and some limited reach below himself. The swing does 10% damage and moderate knockback, angled horizontally, but leaves Colonel unable to move for a brief period.
This move works well as an anti-recovery attack, and can give him a (very limited) aerial chase game, but the lag prevents Colonel from using it to aid his own recovery in any way aside from dealing with someone too close to the ledge when guarding it, as he'll have fallen further than he would have if he kept moving normally by the end of the lag.
Notably, those directly in contact with Colonel prior to him moving are pushed back with him and stunned into the follow-up hit. However, the lag and the limited range of this effect makes it risky to use in this manner. [10%]
= Down Aerial
* Colonel bolts downwards and slightly forward, swinging below him for 14% damage and downward knockback. He falls with a speed comparable to Fox's fast fall, and after falling a set distance of half Kirby's width, he performs the attack, which acts as a fairly potent meteor smash.
Lining up the shot such that it hits the foe off stage and doesn't send Colonel right after them is difficult, but it works as a surprise approach option for how sudden it comes out. There is little lag at the end and, uniquely, Colonel does not suffer additional lag if he lands on the stage in the middle of this move.
Using it while recovering is difficult, as Colonel remains in his faster fall state until he lands or jumps again, making it harder to attack someone directly below him (though easier to escape). Instead, it's best used on stage against opponents who stubbornly refuse to approach over a Rock Cube and instead try to punch through. [14%]
= Back Aerial
* A short range but surprisingly quick sweep of Colonel's blade, swatting aside anyone behind him. Only dealing 6% damage and flinching knockback, it's the weakest of his attacks in terms of raw damage, aside from his pummel's individual stabs. However, much like his up tilt, it cancels the momentum of anyone it hits, and unlike his up tilt, it inflicts decent hit stun.
Besides acting as an oddly effective way to block a recovery or protect against an aerial chase, it's a viable response to someone getting behind him as he jumps, such as those who dodge roll around a Rock Cube. [6%]
= Up Aerial
* Colonel raises his sword up high, then brings it down in a quick swipe for 9% damage and light knockback. The hitbox actually does cover a short distance in front of himself as a sour spot dealing 7%, but the very start of its path is a sweet spot that hits foes away with high knockback and deals 11% instead.
Though he suffers from start up lag, Colonel can hold the pose for as long as the input is held or until he lands, jumps, or suffers hitstun, and can move left and right as normal- removing start up from the equation at the cost of locking himself into the input and telegraphing his attack. [11%] [9%] [7%]
= = = = Throws ++++++++++++++++++++++
= Grab and Pummel
* Colonel swipes his hand in front of himself, seizing his opponent by the throat and lifting them off the ground (assuming they have a throat/aren't taller than him, respectively). The grab itself is on the slow side and lacks the reach his attacks boast, requiring his enemy be fairly close to him. If he lands it, however, his grab duration is a bit longer than his contemporaries.
His pummel sees him pulling his sword back and stabbing the blade into the immobilized enemy for 4% damage. A bit on the slow side, but his extended grab duration affords him a bit more damage on average compared to other pummels before the enemy would escape. [4%]
= Forward Throw
* Colonel lifts the foe further off the ground, transforming his free hand into his Colonel Cannon and firing it point blank. The foe is sent flying diagonally upwards from 12% damage and heavy knockback, making it one of his better KO moves when wanting to work around his own Rock Cubes instead of expending them for his Down Special.
Colonel suffers only minor ending lag despite the power of the attack, but the heavy knockback and angle make it impossible for him to combo off of this move regardless. Its use is as a finishing blow, or to reset the distance between him and an opponent while giving Colonel enough time to re-position or prepare. [12%]
= Down Throw
* Colonel throws the foe down and stabs through them with his sword, pulling it free with enough force to slide them back and require he take a step back himself. Aside from 14% damage and a very small amount of set knockback, this leaves the opponent prone, and Colonel at a minor frame disadvantage.
Opponents will be able to roll away or start an attack from prone before Colonel can react, but he has enough time to react defensively with a shield or dodge. This provides Colonel a way to return the opponent to the edge of his reach and inflict some damage doing it, resetting in the more immediate sense than his Forward Throw. [14%]
= Back Throw
* Colonel swings the foe behind him by the neck, slashing with his blade as he releases them to send them flying horizontally. Does 12% damage and decent enough stun that Colonel is left at a notable frame advantage, though the opponent acts as a somewhat weak projectile and damage whatever they hit before they come to a stop by the same amount they took.
Colonel could conceivably hurl a foe into a Rock Cube to capitalize on his frame advantage, using this to go on the offensive while they're still weak and pin them in. The throw itself could also conceivably trigger the appearance of a soldier or bomb by destroying an already damaged cube, giving him additional combo options. [12%]
= Up Throw
* Skewering the opponent, Colonel then swings his blade upwards with enough force to launch the opponent straight up into the air. Not much damage for such a ruthless animation, only 10%, and just moderate knockback.
Though unlikely to KO except at high percentages or near the top of the stage, Colonel can act shortly after the throw, much like with his back throw, and will be able to follow up on the opponent at lower to middling percentages. This throw makes for a decent catch-all when his others aren't particularly appealing, and can in some cases work for the start of a combo. [10%]
= = = = Final Smash = = = = Complete Colonel ++++++++++++++++++++++
* An image of Battle Network's Iris appears next to Colonel, the two striking a pose as they are drawn together. Colonel remains standing where he was, glowing gold and expression fiercer. This Final Smash is a simple power up akin to Warioman, with Colonel gaining Super Armor against all attacks, having the lag and delays for his attacks reduced by half, and the damage and knockback he deals increased by 1/4th.
Though simple, the bonuses are less potent in the wake of how easily Colonel can chain together attacks with it that normally cannot be, or how thoroughly it removes the weaknesses from his various inputs that the opponent would be able to exploit. This transformation lasts as long as Warioman; afterwards, Colonel is engulfed by a screen-covering flash of light, returning to his normal form afterwards with some lag.
= = = = Playstyle ++++++++++++++++++++++
* Colonel.EXE is far from a lumbering brute despite his heavyweight stats; his Specials can be used to clutter and clear the terrain, then capitalize on or circumvent it, all in the name of entrapping the opponent in his powerful attacks and keeping control of the battle.
Rock Cubes act to limit the opponent's options for approach and create new angles to attack from, but more importantly act as extensions to his attacks- serving as a wall he can bounce his foe off of, and breaking after two of his own attacks to spawn a Colonel Army soldier who will cover his ending lag. His Side Special both creates patches of ground that hinder enemy movement, and wipes the stage of Rock Cubes to start anew, unleashing his army in the process.
His Up Special allows him to approach suddenly and start a combo with proper care, completely circumventing his own Rock Cubes in his approach to ensure they hinder only his opponent. It's his Down Special that shines, however, allowing Colonel to chain together any two hits and disregard spacing on his bigger attacks to an extent, or a whopping four with the help of a proper Rock Cube and its resulting Colonel Army soldier, piling on damage as punishment for a poor read by his opponent.
His KO moves also work with his Rock Cubes, each having a slight upward angle to let him blast the victim over the top of his cubes instead of against it in a pinch, then teleporting past the cubes with his Up Special attack to chase if they lack the damage to be finished off by a blow. His movement options and terraforming also allows him to force an approach, and his attack range lets him hit through his Rock Cubes if they attempt to do the same.
That said, even with his various ways to keep an enemy in position, Colonel's hitboxes vary between too slow, too precise, and other issues that prevent him from simply spamming his input of choice and being certain it will keep the foe where they need to be. Linking together attacks without the foe escaping and punishing requires careful timing and some prediction, the blocks merely acting to push the odds into his favor and open up additional options.
In a pinch, several of Colonel's approach options also serve to let him retreat and regroup- his Dash Attack letting him bait the foe into over extending, and his aerials letting him move and even switch back to a ground assault suddenly. His recovery of course is king, making it hard to predict where he will appear and what he will do when he does.
Overall, Colonel is a bit unwieldy, and requires thinking out your moves further in advance than normal. The windows he can exploit are narrower, but the results greater.
= = = = Closing Notes ++++++++++++++++++++++
* So after all that time not being able to make any progress on a set, I noticed that Colonel.EXE from Mega Man Battle Network 5 & 6 has a lot of potential and is a pretty cool character besides, and then within an hour and a half I had each move planned out, and the start of the set's organization. It felt good simply coming up with one input after another and filling the set in so quickly, and I'll admit that the quality of the set probably isn't very high as a result. Colonel.EXE is no Jodie (in any sense whatsoever).
Even so, I feel the set has a workable concept, the inputs were passable, and overall I feel it's decent at a glance (and anything I need to fix or replace, I can with relative ease). I'm happy to have a set out at all, and if nothing else it was good practice for working on a set in large chunks instead of small bursts of inspiration.
Change Log:
8/11/16: Fixed some typos and wording issues. Changed the ending lag from the Down Special into starting lag to make it a safe poking tool (Thanks Jamie). Changed the uses of the Down Throw after MasterWarlord informed me of Smash 4's regrab timer.
8/12/16: Down Special now assumes no charge instead of full charge to make it less silly in terms of power with the Forward Smash, after concern was raised by FrozenRoy. Reduced the end lag of Colonel's Neutral Combo.
8/14/16: Changed the starting lag from the Down Special back into ending lag on Jamie's recommendation. Similarly, increased the hitstun and reach from Colonel's Dash Attack, and added that he slides forwards slightly to put him in range of his faster inputs. Removed the sweet spot from the Dash Attack and simply upped the 'default' damage from 9% to 12% after consulting Smady.
Removed the bomb option from the Neutral Special and reduced the number of Rock Cubes Colonel can have from 4 to 3. He can also now simply hold the input to have the Rock Cube break instantly. Side Special now clarifies the area affected- double a crate's width at the center of the hitbox's impact, Down Tilt only half that. Changes to Neutral and Side Specials here thanks to Smady. Extended the range of the Up Smash slightly.
Foes now flinch when standing on cracked ground that breaks away or is struck by a hitbox. Colonel can now cancel out of the ending lag of a successful attack with his Down Special, excepting a move modified by Down Special. Side Special can now be angled slightly during the start up, allowing Colonel to fire down from above or otherwise angle his shots to properly crack terrain with it, and there is slight recoil that pushes Colonel back in the air (suggested by Jamie). Noted that Colonel does not start falling from using a move with his Up Special until the input ends.
8/23/16: Up Special now makes Colonel's body count as a weak hitbox right after reappearing, notable for the fact he can now set off the effect of a cracked floor or terrain with the movement itself. Forward Tilt is adjusted such that the energy hit box's shape and positioning change with how Colonel angles the tilt, also serving as another option for breaking a Rock Cubes. Both partially based on Smady's comment.
Rock Cubes can now be sent flying as a projectile by a strong enough attack made by Colonel. Adjusted Side Special knockback so that it still functions to clear away the Rock Cubes (with the explosion working to launch Rock Cubes).
8/24/16: Neutral Special changes modified; Rock Cubes do not act as projectiles while moving, but can be slid across the ground (not launched) by attacks of significant knockback. Soldiers have a specified amount of delay for their attacks now, and the machine gun attack now has a cursor that indicates the area of effect. A big thanks to DM!
8/31/16: Up Special revised with a great deal of help from JOE!. Colonel teleports and can choose between reappearing quickly and relatively safely, or attacking at the end with a moment of vulnerability and increased ending lag; the specifics of the move make it great for approaching. Down Special now does not work with his Special inputs, for simplicity's sake and due to how oddly it functions with his Side Special.
Down Special's range increased to a full Brawl Stage Builder Unit instead of half, Forward Smash range extended (start of the hitboxes are jab range instead of center) to where it should have been.
Halved the Up Smash's damage to make it more reasonable for the time being, as sort of a place holder for whenever I get around to replacing it with something else. Dropped the stamina of Rock Cubes by 1% to account for move staling (again, thanks Jamie S.). Revised the playstyle section to be less thrown together and address his main strengths. Shortened the introduction to be slightly more compact on JOE!'s suggestion.
You Could Have Prevented This. It Didn't Have To Be This Way.
Garithos is a fun concept, but with heavily flawed execution.
The moveset instantly gets off on the wrong foot with the horse execution in this moveset. I will leave aside any argument about the size of the man on a horse, as you toned it down to acceptable levels and it is something we don't agree on anyway. This is, essentially, an intensively obtuse and worse version of the mounted system you had on Thrall back in MYM15, who also happened to be smaller. Garithos has bizarreness like the fact that, for whatever reason, Garithos cannot grab foes on his horse but instead gains access to very useless and generic horse moves, one of which is just a throwless grab anyway. The reason for this is apparently because making horseback throws are hard and to make Garithos dueling like a psuedo-2v1, but I'm not buying it: Thrall had a full grab game on his wolf just fine. Rivendare also had a solid enough grab game. There's also some pretty meme hilarity to be had in these moves, like the fact that since the Footsoldiers use the horse's moveset, every single horse in the Alliance army has the ability to earthshake the ground for longer than most modern, dedicated terraformer sets.
The horse doing unmounted stuff rarely, ahem, mounts to anything. The horse attacks are probably the most generic and least playstyle relevant in the set, though not the worst. Your footsoldiers can't even, IDK, ride the horse for stronger attacks or anything. It is a complete non-starter that just makes makes the set needlessly obtuse and complex for nearly zero gain. I have no idea why Garithos could not be a mounted character like Rivendare, or just plain lose the horse. Is the horse important to his identity as a racist or something? Even if neither of these were options, just entirely ripping off Thrall would be a superior choice.
Duel is, of course, the big money mechanic of the moveset, and is the idea that drags it along the entire moveset as the glimmers of goodness. The way the duel occurs, however, is deeply flawed because if you're clobbering each other like you think will happen when they fight, the benefit for winning the duel is rather useless: Who cares for 1.1x damage when Garithos is going to be trying to deal 66% damage in one move on superarmored foes or when you're just gonna trade 60%+ damage anyway? It persists per stock AFAIK, but is it really a big deal when you're playing most of the stock's damage before then anyway? Duel also rather disappointingly doesn't give any special benefits for winning it. Look at previous sets in this vein such as The Butcher, Albert Wesker and Gluth: They don't just give straight damage buffs, they tend to add more and more to the moveset and the depth of its play. Garithos fails to do this.
The entire mechanic starts to unravel when you consider the minions and the back throw, though. The back throw gives Garithos a dueling bonus that apparently persists per stock for killing his minions and deals 13%. Two problems with this.
1. The moveset seems to feel Garithos will only kill minions by pummeling them and balances accordingly. Garithos can just go to a near dead minion from fighting and execute it for a power buff, especially since they get knocked back and Garithos can just stand back watching. He'll almost certainly pick off more buffs from this than dueling, the set's seeming main focus.
2. The throw gets power from this and the elves only have 20 HP! The ideal way to play Garithos is not to fight the foe, it is to kill a minion or two for a power buff and then just farm your elf minions. With just 4 Duels, you have enough to kill Elves with Back Throw in one strike, and at 6 can just OHKo them. The power buff means you can knock them away for GTFO purposes for doing so and it persists through stock and Garithos can use the Dwarves or even Footsoldiers to cover him. Then he just sits back, murders Elves until he reaches his desired OHKO strength and murders the foe. The elves are extremely useful for healing even if he waits a moment, and if they heal the foe it is only good for Garithos: He can tax them to kill them faster and percentage becomes meaningless when your attacks start doing 2x and 2.5x damage from farming elves.
By tying the alternate Duel method into the minions and non-interaction with the opponent, you have perhaps created the best representation of playing a farm-carry jungler in a MOBA for Smash ever: Farm Elves until you hit your late game and then run over people.
But let us ignore that in its entirity for the moment. Let us just assume the Back Throw will be replaced for this complete overtaking and marginalization of Garithos' playstyle and that it has been done. The minions highlight another major issue with Garithos as a set: It doesn't know what it's focus is! It wants to be a dueling set, but only the standards are much designed as a dueling character. It wants to be a minion character, but the minions are locked out of duels and the moveset makes no effort to weave how the minions play into how Garithos fights an opponent, such as how moves might be covered by the Dwarves. The entire minion promotion minigame feels entirely superflous and overly costly for the minions you get and the fact Garithos could spend the time farming elves or using Duel. They can't help you in Duels anyway and they don't offer enough to spend even 7 Pummels on them. The fact that this and the horse can be described as entirely pointless to the playstyle says a lot about how much of this moveset is spent on pointlessness.
Down Special and Forward Smash, along with some of the standards (Jab! F-Tilt!) U-Tilt!, are pretty good, although Forward Smash is very much a Special and should probably be swapped with the Down Special, which is only on a Special due to the tacked on stall than fall anyway it feels. Combined with things like the random earthshaking horses, a lot of times it feels like you are just shoving your usual movesetting tropes into the moveset because you do not know where else to go and the set suffers for it. Down Tilt is horribly awkward on the horse and not especially good otherwise.
Despite this all, the throws are probably the worst part of the moveset. Lay on Hands, ignoring the name joke, is something I cannot possibly see the flavor justification for, especially with the animation that is used, and while the effect is okay, it does not justify the horrifying tackiness. As mentioned, the Back Throw entirely breaks the set's spine like it is The Dark Knight Returns and then sticks him in Batman vs. Superman while he is still recovering. Down Throw is a terribly awkward tether where Garithos suddenly declares something the foe did is against the law, allowing him to tax them more (lets not get into taxing Pikachu or the like...), apparently unable to make things "illegal" for the foe to do things unless he grabs them and chains them up as an arrest BEFORE the law occurs. Why can he not just do this at any time? It is especially glaring because the reward is a very time specific benefit to the useless minion promotion mechanic, making the entire thing really an exercise in futility. This minion promotion does not hold a candle to Fassad.
Stuff like NAir show both the well running dry on ideas for the moveset and how the aerials are just not designed with a duelist in mind, not to mention the Up Aerial is randomly a super strong spike, while the Down Aerial causes Garithos' horse to hit upwards. This set also misses one of the fundamental principles that allowed The Butcher to work: As the power gets stronger for the buffing character, combos become harder, forcing different damage racking techniques and playstyles. Since duels give super armor, Garithos can happily ignore this and just wail on the foe as if every move was a jab. Up Smash and Down Smash feel bizarrely close and the Up Smash use on the horse feels far more as trying to justify the existance of the horse mechanics than as an actual move itself. Dueling should probably just afford quick grab releases and not toal grab immunity: Imagine how sad Ganondorf is that, as a grab, his Side Special fails to work and he essentually insta-loses to Garithos in a duel.
The core idea behind Garithos' duel is fun and reminds me of my own Legion Commander ideas. The minions have some neat stuff to them, mostly the Rifleman. But the entire set is flawed and nees to be almost entirely rebuilt to function properly. Perhaps as damning as it being so flawed is that outside of the concepts, there was little especially good either.
Baku the Dream Eater originates from the Japanese-only game, Cocoron, where he acts as the game's guide. His appearance is that of a fat humanoid tapir, wearing a pink polka dot outfit and flying around with his parasol, he also loves to do a spinning dance for the player, all in all seeming like a non-threatening comic relief character. He appears to the player in their sleep, calling himself simply 'Tapir,' and summons them to the dream world to help save the princess. Tapir has the power to create an avatar for the player made out of dozens of composite parts, such as a knight, a tank, and a smiley face, as well as kitting them out with all sorts of bizarre weapons like pencils and flowers alongside more traditional ones like boomerangs and shurikens. These affect the player's HP, but also their weight, making them jump higher or lower and fall speed. A low HP avatar will be able to easily traverse the dream world, but not take many hits before dying. As the game progresses, Tapir creates 5 more avatars for the player to use as they complete each of the game's 6 levels.
After completing the initial slew of levels and rescuing the princess from an egg prison, it's revealed to the player that Tapir is not what he seems, and in fact kidnapped the princess himself in the first place. Tapir, who is actually Baku the Dream Eater, created the dream world. He then kidnaps the 5 other player avatars as hostages. It is stated that Baku now considers the dream world, sated by the player's imagination, to be his "favourite food" and that if he is not stopped he will eventually eat the player, all of his friends he has kidnapped and the world. No wonder he is so fat. Before his boss fight says he has never before had such a delicious dream. He is defeated and Cocoron is released from an egg, but Tapir escapes. The last stage of the game is full of statues of Baku and other freaky dancing monsters that resemble the fat monster, as well as giant birthday cakes with candles that shoot fire at the player. Baku is finally defeated just before he can eat the dream world and everyone within it, and put to sleep forever within a giant egg prison.
Cocoron is very similar to Mega Man, it was made by a splinter team of Mega Man developers along with another obscure game called Little Samson. The player doesn't gain the boss' weapon, but can make their own character, as if taking the concept in Mega Man to the next logical step. Each boss in the game is very wacky, including a pirate in a massive ship that fires anchors, skeletons, cannons shooting cannonballs and barrels, the moon as a boss and an ice dragon who has kidnapped Santa. The player saves Christmas during the course of the game. Most of the weapons in the game are notably useless as they are thrown in a lobbing arc and tend to miss whatever is in front of the player, as if Baku is actively mocking the player with their existence. The bosses in the game are also notable in that none of them are allied and the player largely attacks them on Baku's orders, ultimately having nothing to do with kidnapping the princess, the 6 first levels are entirely a wild goose chase. I recommend watching the game, such as with this video.
STATISTICS
Size: King Dedede Weight: Charizard Air Speed: Donkey Kong Ground Speed: Bowser Fall Speed: Jigglypuff
Baku has the same general size as Dedede, to the point of having the same giant cartoonish feet with no legs and carries around his parasol like Dedede's hammer. He’s lighter than Dedede, but still a super heavyweight. His speed is just decent on the ground, but due to the parasol he always carries around in his moveset, his aerial speed is good for a heavyweight and his fall speed is surprisingly low for a heavyweight too as a result. He’s not only got Jigglypuff’s fall speed but also Samus' gravity, meaning he’s just as difficult to star KO. Baku has an egg shield that works with the same mechanics as Yoshi, it’s pink and has a white polka dot pattern. This makes Baku’s shield very good defensively considering how fat his model is and the fact it won't shrink, making him impossible to shield stab. Baku has one poor jump, and a hover where he holds up his parasol like Peach's up special, having similar mechanics to Peach's hover, with the same amount of air time and movement.
SPECIALS
Side Special: Dream Eater!
Baku extends out a grotesque, pink tapir tongue, pulling in any foes and swallowing them, dealing 7% damage. This largely mimics Yoshi's Egg Lay move. Like Yoshi's move, Baku gains launch resistance to stop the move being interrupted. Before the foe is spat out in the egg, Baku will take a moment of lag to take a big gulp, consuming the foe's dreams. Baku can't send the foe to the dream world; after all he doesn't make flies: he eats them! The foe will be spat out in front of Baku as a blue star that deals 10% and the same knockback as Dedede's exhaled star to other foes, at this point on the foe will be referred to as a “dream foe.” At the same time, an egg as pictured above is... released behind Baku, the same angle as Yoshi, to land on the ground. This has the same effect on minions or other characters, for example putting Nana in the egg but releasing her dream form to immediately return to the foe for gameplay purposes. Baku does have a limit of 3 eggs at one time, at that point shattering the first egg.
The dream foe once spat out will be coloured magenta, the same as when they are under a sleep effect, and this is in fact true. The foe's real body is hidden inside of the giant pink and white egg. They won't be released until 8 seconds have passed or the egg falls in the air for 1.5 seconds, or once the egg is dealt a set amount of damage, which we’ll get to later. Until that happens, the foe has to play as their dream self, and it's not exactly what they always dreamed of. The dream form has 15 fewer weight units, or as low as 1 if they naturally had 14 or less weight, and will have to defend their egg too. The egg cannot be abused too much, as it will break if falling for too long off stage, and only falls at half Jigglypuff's fall speed. The egg will take half damage from attacks, but this damage will go straight to the foe's own percentage, at the same time as they take full damage in dream form, meaning Baku can potentially be dealing up to 1.5x the usual damage if he's hitting both the targets at once. At the same time, the egg becomes a weapon in its own right and can be knocked around the stage, rolling around to deal 5-10% damage depending on the foe's combined weight and size, which contribute to the size of the egg. It doesn't have the physics of the Yoshi Egg, instead acting like a large egg-shaped barrel that rolls around on its top side, speeding up when it's not rolling over the top or bottom of the egg. The egg will have 30 more weight than the foe normally does due to the egg shell and will take knockback at their percentage when swallowed, so it is possible to do some knocking around of the egg, even off stage! The foe has to be aware of this.
At the end of the 8 seconds, the egg will shatter and the foe's dream form will dissipate, returning to their body that pops out of the egg. For the first frames of being released the foe has invincibility and can act immediately to make it impossible to follow up on. To shatter the egg early, its 25HP must be depleted, usually not viable when it takes half damage. Thankfully, the foe can damage it too! Baku can keep on eating the egg however to keep releasing it behind him at a high angle to keep it out of the foe's reach, who can also knock it around at a cost to their percent, but every time the egg is eaten it will deal a flat 3.5% damage. Baku can also swallow up a dream foe using this move. They will swallowed up by Baku, who finds their dream form just delicious, this works like Inhale where the foe has to mash out. When the foe is KO'd in their dream form before the 8 seconds is up, their egg and body dissipate and they lose a stock too, meaning it is possible to suicide with them given a high enough percentage. Normally Baku's fall speed isn't high enough this is easy compared to Dedede.
By smashing the input, Baku will instead puff up his cheeks as the move is charged and spit out an egg of his own! The egg will deal 10-14% damage as it hits foes away with radial, medium-strong knockback depending on its size, able to KO around 140%. The egg travels at Mario's dash speed or double that at max charge and its size will range from a small character's egg, such as Jigglypuff, to fairly large Samus’ egg at max charge. The charge goes for as long as a smash attack. The egg can build up momentum going down slopes, the egg will deal up to 5% extra damage and start to KO at max around 120%. Besides the charge time, the move has long start lag but minimal ending lag. The mechanics of the egg are the same as the foe's egg, except that it won't break after 8 seconds. It is distinguished from a foe's egg by having no HUD icon above it indicating the player, and by having inverted colours, instead being white with pink polka dots. The egg will have 25-30HP depending on size. Baku can eat up the egg and walk around with it like a swallowed character to spit it forward, severely limiting his moveset but good for approaching if the spit can be timed correctly and will send it at max speed for a little while once spat out. The egg reacts like Yoshi's Egg Roll, bouncing off of walls, even other eggs, and can be hit around by any character. It can even be hit back at Baku to make him totally unviable like Gordo’s on King Dedede- I mean, to bait a hit on the foe’s own egg! This is genius strategy.
Neutral Special: Dream Weapon!
Baku holds up his free hand triumphantly, summoning YOUR dream weapon and throwing it! Sadly thanks to the limitations of the Smash engine, this has to be done by holding the input to scroll through roulette of 9 weapons that works the same way as Pac-Man’s Fruit, scrolling the weapons by holding the input. Baku won’t take any longer to scroll through the later weapons however, as he’ll just cycle to the beginning again. Instead of being one use, Baku can press the input again and again to repeatedly throw the weapon, although the lag differs between the weapons. Baku always holds his parasol in as a weapon, but will display what weapon he has equipped in the top left of his percentage, the same way as Shulk's Monado Arts. By tapping the shield button while charging the move, Baku will laglessly switch back to the last equipped weapon, so he doesn't have to rely on the arbitrary scrolling order.
Each weapon will have a passive effect on Baku's statistics. Each weapon when equipped will add to Baku's statistics as it does to the player in Cocoron. Baku's weight sits at 115, but besides the default egg (a weapon, not the aforementioned big eggs) will always be greater than that. At the same time, heavier weapons will contribute to Baku's fall speed. For every extra weight unit added, Baku's fall speed is increased by 0.1 - his fall speed is naturally equal to Jigglypuff at 0.9, and Fox, the fastest faller in the game, falls at 2.05, the weapons pulling down Baku considerably making him easier to combo. A competent Baku player will therefore be switching up weapon use not only for their different effects but for different stages of the match. As two weapons can be switched between by a double tap, it may be a good idea to have a pair of weapons that are both heavy and light to quick switch.
Weapons!
Egg Weight: 0
The default weapon, the white and pink egg, is the same size as the one for Yoshi's Egg Toss and is thrown forwards as far as Mario's fireball before it shatters in a Bowser-sized hitbox, dealing 3% damage and the same knockback as Yoshi's Egg Toss. The egg has the same lag as Mario's fireball and is fairly easy to spam, but can be broken by any attack, making it fairly weak. In the air, the egg throw changes completely. Baku will spin around in place and toss out 3 eggs below and 45 degrees apart on each side, having the same lag as an average neutral aerial. The spin itself is not a hitbox, but uniquely for the egg weapons, the special input can be held during the spin to toss 5 eggs instead at the cost of more start lag making it on par with a slow neutral aerial, spreading them out over the same 90 degree area, making it hard to dodge all the eggs. It is still just as easy to break the eggs if the foe can land a wide arc up smash and then punish Baku. The ground projectile is one of the worst but is uniquely useful in the air for Baku, making it a good fit for his default stats. This of course is only useful when Baku is above the opponent and useless if they're above him in the air. In the least doing it over the egg and with the foe in range guarantees some zoning and small damage. This and other dream weapons will cancel the hover when used.
Parasol Weight: 4
A miniature version of Baku's main weapon, the parasol, will be thrown forward while bunched up and travel half a battlefield platform, dealing 3% damage but potentially multiple hits as it passes through an opponent. This is comparable in shape to the fan, but around half the size. It will unfold like an umbrella once it reaches the max distance and start to travel upward in an arc, before going straight up, maintaining its hitbox and continuing to go up until it hits the blastzone. This is thrown as fast as Peach's Turnip. This is the go-to weapon for trying to Star KO the foe near the top blastzone as it deals multiple hits and weak knockback in the direction it's going, working similarly to Mega Man's up aerial. The hit to Baku's fall speed from the weapon can help to get lower and hit the foe higher in the air. Any sharp/piercing attack will cause a rupture sound effect and the parasol to fall to the ground , maintaining its hitbox but now dealing 8% damage and medium knockback until it hits a solid object and dissipates.
Boomerang Weight: 8
The boomerang is the same size, speed and lag as Link's boomerang in Smash 4 and will travel half a platform before travelling back to Baku, dealing 4% damage each way. This can help to pressure the foe close to Baku and gives a decent weight/fall speed boost to help when transitioning from air to ground to get a good high angle for the boomerang to return. The boomerang will continue to chase down Baku until it reaches him or can be hit out of the air by any attack, making it a good idea to try and outrun it to keep it an active hitbox. When Baku shields, the boomerang will hit the solid egg shield and bounce back, when caught in-between the egg shield and the foe's egg after being eaten, the boomerang can go back and forth very quickly to be impossible to dodge. The opposite is also true, pushing an egg shield towards the foe from behind to push Baku in close at the right moment or to avoid an attack from the foe on either side, and multiple boomerangs can boost Baku that much more.
Shuriken Weight: 12
The shuriken is largley similar to Mega Man's metal blade but deals 6% damage, will go through enemies and travel the same speed/distance before it dissipates, but can also be angled in the same directions as the metal blade in the eight cardinal directions. As with the metal blade, the shuriken can stick to hard surfaces and be picked back up as an item to do a variety of approaches, as well as being able to KO at 200%. It can even stick to the side of the egg, and will be thrown off again when the foe comes out of it. The second heaviest weapon, the shuriken will make Baku weigh nearly the same as King Dedede, but make him by far the fastest falling character in the game at a ridiculous 2.1, meaning despite how powerful it is especially at competitive levels, this makes Baku insanely easy to combo and gimpable off stage. The shuriken puncture the parasol and cause it to instead fall straight to the ground.
Ball Weight: 5
Baku tosses a ball that bounces off the floor in the same arc and speed as Mario's fireball and deals 4% damage with medium knockback to foes. This has the same lag as Mario's fireball and is the same size as the Mii Brawler's shotput. The ball will bounce off the ground at the end of its arc, bouncing and eventually rolling off stage, but gradually becoming less powerful, eventually dealing 1% and then nothing as it slows down to a crawl. It can bounce off walls too, such as the egg or Baku's shield, acting somewhat like a ROB laser in a close proximity of walls. The ball can be hit around by Baku the same way as a football item in Smash 4 and potentially becomes just as powerful, even using other weapons such as the shuriken to launch it in any direction, or bounce it into the air with the parasol. A parasol launched at the right distance will continuously bounce the ball into the air above it as it goes into the air, although it is tricky, this can be a great aerial trap.
Pencil Weight: 2
A pathetic weapon in some ways, a thick pencil that is thrown at a straight horizontal angle, is as big as a capsule and deals 2% damage. However, it is by far the most spammable weapon, coming out a few frames shy of Fox's laser in terms of lag, and has less end lag, going as fast as Falco's laser. The pencil will deal double its damage to shields and pierce through anything, even ignoring solid walls and structures, and will deal damage every 30 frames to solid structures making it the go-to for bringing down bosses or other similar things. This doesn't apply to the foe's egg, but will make the foe careful not to get inbetween Baku and the egg if he has the weapon equipped. The pencil will travel an infinite range, the same as Falco's laser in Brawl, and will have the same effect as the shuriken on the ball, puncturing it and always sending it straight forward as a hitbox, as well as causing the parasol to start falling. The pencil adds almost no weight and thus is the best choice of weapon for maintaining an effective low fall speed, working as a great counter-balance to a heavier weapon.
Crystal Weight: 15
Baku tosses a crystal the size of Gyro overhead in a lobbing arc similar to Yoshi's Egg Toss, but with only half the horizontal range, as it then falls to the ground and shatters if it hits anything. If this manages to hit a foe, it will deal 13% damage and high knockback able to KO at 120%, but is a very laggy move at an awkward angle. The crystal has the same physics as the Mii Brawler's shotput as it will go through any attack and deal stage spiking knockback if hits a grounded foe. The crystal when it hits the ground will break in two, shooting two halves of itself into the air at 45 degree angles, these deal 6% damage and medium knockback and will travel a battlefield platform before they dissipate. This makes it a great projectile to toss onto the ball to get it into the air, or launch the foe into the air if it just misses them with the crystal's inital hitbox. The crystal is the one weapon where it may be worth the damage to just toss at the foe's egg, considering its great base damage. The crystal is by far the heaviest weapon and will make Baku's weight equal Bowser's, at the cost of falling much faster than even Fox.
Flower Weight 10
A seed the size of the Deku Nut is tossed overhead at the same arc and lag as the Yoshi Egg Toss, dealing 5% damage and light knockback to foes it hits. Wherever it lands, it will create 5 flower-shaped, glittering explosions as big as the Lip Stick's flower, spawning in a horizontal area as wide as Bowser over 1.5 seconds. These each deal constant hits of 1%, and if a foe doesn't DI away can do up to 15% damage but only 1 frame of flinching knockback every 5 hits. The seed will explode into flowers at any point if hit by another hitbox, including from Baku and his other weapons, or if they hit a shield. This isn't nearly as powerful as spamming pencils on the foe's shield, but will deal better sustained damage if the foe keeps shielding the flowers. As the flower is for some reason in Cocoron fairly heavy, this makes the pencil and flower a decent pair. As the egg can't move, this is another great option for doing the most damage to it possible.
Melody Weight: 2
Baku throws a single musical note forward, the size of a red Pikmin that deals 3% damage and low knockback. This has the same lag as Mario's fireball. The note travels in a wave pattern, bobbing up and down a Ganondorf while ignoring all solid structures, making it a great anti-ledge and poking option. It also travels at Fox's laser's speed along its pattern, making it decently fast. As the note has infinite range, it can be used as an effective camping projectile. The note is pretty weak but has a special effect on foes: after twenty seconds, the foe will fall asleep for 30 frames, the same visually as Sing. This will apply in the air as a fast fall for the same amount of time. Every concurrent note that lands on the foe will reduce the timer by 1 second. While the foe's egg is out, it will count towards this timer, transferring over from the dream form to their actual body once they're out of the egg. This won't work on shielding foes, making it a good mix with the pencil, and as both are very low weight it will keep Baku as a very floaty heavyweight.
Down Special: Recurring Dream
Baku puts his hand above him and summons up the last used weapon still on stage. He then tosses it forward as normal, at a good enough speed that reusing the projectile is only slightly slower than throwing out a new one. However, if more than one weapon is out on the stage, they will allow Baku to throw both projectiles one after the other without even having the re-equip the Dream Weapon! By tilting during the move, Baku can choose to instead summon the first used active projectile, but by default uses up the last used one. By charging the move, Baku can start to bring in up to 5 Dream Weapons all at once before throwing them forward in quick succession all at once! This is very laggy, but the actual throwing is fast and the more weapons thrown, the more efficient it becomes!
When two different projectiles are picked up using the move, the special input can be pressed again before throwing them out to absorb the two projectiles to be thrown together as one! This will combine them into an all new weapon combining elements of both. The appearance/texture, size and hitbox of the new projectile is decided by the first in order, but can be tilted to be the latter. The other projectile absorbed will then contribute its angle to the projectile, for example letting a melody be boomeranged in place, or a crystal be shot out straight up like a pencil while maintaining its powerful hitbox! Baku can do this with the foe's projectiles too as long as they are under his control from up special’s reflector, creating some truly imaginative dreams. The projectile will still be thrown as it normally is, but under these circumstances, will be thrown at another projectile’s angle.
When Baku gets more than one of the same kind of Dream Weapon in this move, he can press the special button to combine them too, but for a very different effect. This will give the weapon instead a massive power up, with greater strength depending on how many of the weapons were used up! This maxes out at five. He will still throw it in the same arc as the old weapon, or can change it to be another weapon if it’s in order after a bunch of the same weapon for crazy results, but can only do this once. To absorb together weapons in this way, Baku simply holds the special button while throwing to delay the throw further, instead holding the evolving weapon in front of him like Pac-Man’s fruit, gloating as his dreams come true and the foe’s dreams don’t!
-The mini-parasol will increase to the size of Baku's always equipped parasol, now pink and white with an icon of Baku on the white sides. It stops to perform a massive swing, comparable to Peach’s forward smash at half-minimum charge strength. The strength of this is determined by the amount of weapons absorbed. This can even be used to bat around projectiles next to the mini-parasol in midair. After swinging, it will continue on its old pattern but with its massively increased hitbox and deal 6% instead.
-Boomerang will be increased to double its size and is now visibly pink and white, with sparkles following behind it. It gains a powerful wind hitbox, working the same way as Link's in Smash 4. The strength of this wind hitbox ranges from just below Link's own Boomerang, to 1.5x at 5 boomerangs, as well as the boomerang itself now dealing 8% damage. The boomerang is a good pick for this to shoot with the star as it's travelling back at Baku, very hard to dodge.
-Shuriken now creates sparks that shoot out mini stars. It will stop in place and spin after briefly going forward in its pattern, resembling a spinning buzzsaw, dealing constant hits of 2% over a period of 1-2 seconds depending on the amount of shurikens. This is 1.5x the size of the Metal Blade and is great for dealing constant shield damage or creating a hazard on stage. The shuriken will return to its previous trajectory after the 1-2 seconds has passed; now dealing 10% damage.
-Ball will grow to twice its size and resemble the Lemmy Koopa ball, covered in stars like at the circus, and now gain weak-strong homing properties depending on the amount of balls used up. The ball will always deal at least 2% damage even when rolling with little momentum. When the ball hits a hard surface, it sends out Dedede's up special stars on either side, these ranging in size from Pokeball to Dedede’s own stars, dealing half-full damage of that attack.
-Pencil grows to double its normal length, making it much stronger as a constant hitbox going through structures. The sharp end of the pencil becomes a pseudo grab hitbox, as if it hits a foe it will stick in them and deal constant 3% damage every second until it's hit out, having 10-20HP. This can also apply to the egg, dealing 1.5% a second until the foe or Baku hits the pencil off, at which point it dissipates. If it hits a foe's shield, it will deal the constant damage until they drop shield, possibly forcing them to drop early to prevent the passive damage. If they drop shield without dodging or rolling, the pencil breaking off and dissipating will deal 5% and a few frames of flinching to the foe. The foe can also shield to get rid of the pencil if they weren’t already, but will deal half of its max HP to their shield as damage.
-Crystal grows to 1.1-1.5x its size and deals from 1.1-1.5x the damage and knockback, 18% damage and KOs at around 70-80%. The crystal will now shatter into many pieces when it hits the ground, throwing out three-five projectiles in all directions with just as powerful of a hitbox. It will not explode however until it is dealt 10% damage, just sitting on the stage until that happens, until it expires like a normal item would. This can be triggered by the foe or Baku's own attacks.
-Instead of creating the normal flower explosions, the seed will land in the ground and instantly sprout the Tree from Villager's down special, having pink leaves and a blue trunk. The sprouting tree has between half to the full size and power of the Villager tree, being a massively powerful vertical KO option at five seeds. After 1 second, the tree will quickly die and drops two seeds on each size, falling and exploding on the ground as the normal seeds do. These are a blue colour and cannot be reused.
Up Special: Tacky Parasol
Baku spins his parasol around in an elaborate swirling pattern that he seems to become absorbed in as he goes faster and faster, having the same lag as Fire Fox’s start up. After a moment, Baku spins his entire body around to become a blur and rapidly launches upwards! He goes as far as Super Dedede Jump and has constant super armour throughout, dealing 4 hits of 2% and a final 5% hit as he rises, having the same knockback as Mario’s up special. The move can only be aimed straight up however, making it incredibly predictable. Baku can use this move once per air trip. This won't put Baku in helpless.
On the ground, the move changes to instead be a weak swirl as Baku spins around, similar to Link’s up special, dealing 4 hits of 4% damage, at the end able to KO at a weak 250%. This has about the same range and lag as Link’s, if slightly worse. However by holding the input, Baku will instead charge the parasol as long as a smash attack with Dream Energy! This energy resembles sparkly magic, like some of Zelda’s hitboxes, and will stick around to buff the power of the resulting spin by 1.1-1.5x its normal damage and knockback! The parasol is covered in this amazing dream energy! This move also works as a weak reflector on enemy projectiles, having the same awkward start lag as Mewtwo’s side special to make it not the most viable reflector, but will pass on its power buff to any projectiles it reflects, making them deal 1.1-1.5x damage and knockback as they’re reflected as they’re covered in the same Dream Energy. However, this will use up the Dream Energy. In the air, this will buff the damage and power by 1.1-1.5x as well, making it a decent vertical KO move.
The charge can be cancelled to store it on the parasol. This charge is very important for buffing Baku's other moves that use the parasol, often taking them from low damage, weak moves to highly damaging KO moves, but will be used up by whatever move is next used with the parasol! This will be described within the moves. Baku can not use up the Dream Energy by double tapping the special input, Baku will stretch his tapir tongue out at his parasol and swallow up the delicious energy from his parasol and eat it! It’s so delicious it will even heal Baku by 10-15% damage. At any time Baku can charge up special again to spit out the Dream Energy, until then playing normally except looking slightly more satisfied. The Dream Energy will be spat out and return immediately to the parasol to be used up by the next move.
At any time the foe can knock the dream energy of Baku too by dealing him 25% over 5 seconds, not hard given his weight, forcing him to spit out in pain! The dream energy will be sent forwards at Ganondorf’s walk speed and is roughly the size of a Smash Ball, Baku will have to catch up to it and use his side special to it eat it back up again, or simply use a parasol move that overlaps with it to reabsorb it. This in of itself is not wholly bad, as Baku can for example hit the foe with a weaker parasol move, eat them or the dream energy, then use a buffed parasol move to go for a follow up. When the dream energy is spat out, it will also subtract what 10-15% was earlier healed, adding it back on to Baku’s percent. After 10 seconds of trying to not eat the Dream Energy, Baku will gulp it down, fully healing off the amount and healing permanently, but sacrificing the ability to use the aggressively use the Dream Energy. This is visually indicated by Baku getting puffier cheeks and his eyes bugging out a little as he tries to not eat the delicious dreams!
SMASHES
Forward Smash: Magic Wand
Baku does a goofy swing of the parasol while guffawing at the camera, in a similar animation to Villager's forward tilt, hitting more towards the ground and dealing 14-19% damage with good range and low lag. This deals a touch higher knockback than Peach’s forward smash given it’s a parasol, but has decent range, actually able to hit foes on the ledge who have bigger hurtboxes. It will deal a spike to midair or ledge-grabbing foes, giving it a dual purpose. The fast start lag and disjointed hitbox makes it a good option to punish a nearby foe and get them out of the way. The move will turn around projectiles or eggs. This can work as a good read on foes trying to roll towards Baku to dodge the lobbed projectiles, or if they're close enough, ones like the parasol or ball that are tossed forward.
When he’s got charged up Dream Energy, a magical star appears! It has the same sound effect as the Star Rod and is shot out of the end of the parasol with the attack. This star is similar to the one that comes out when the Star Rod item is swung, dealing 10-14% damage and further boosting the attack’s knockback to be as powerful as Mario’s forward smash in Smash 4, with far greater range. This works as an automatic two-hit forward smash, as the foe will always by caught by the star projectile after being hit by the first attack, this makes it Baku’s strongest KO move. The size of the star will get bigger as well, going from the size of the star created by Dedede's landing in his Super Dedede Jump up to the size of Dedede's star spat out after performing a successful Inhale. It's very easy to combo the parasol melee hit into the star hit, as with the Star Rod.
Any projectiles or eggs the star hits will be pushed forward by the force of the star, making it an even more effective poker when there's built up charge from up special. The star will travel forward 1-2 battlefield platforms and carry whatever is in front of it all that time, even groups of projectiles all together or heavy items, even creates or regular items on the ground. As the projectile has a low height, it's also great for rolling the ball around at a good speed making it hard to dodge with the star behind it, or forcing the seed to hit the ground at a later point. The star will deal considerable shield push too on foes, making it very easy to cover the end lag of the forward smash even if shielded, and dodging the star and first hit of the forward smash together is simply not possible. This also creates an interesting blend of ledge offence, as the foe may dodge the initial hit while on ledge, but if they try to back off or jump, are liable to be hit by the star, forcing them on stage for an easy read at the cost of Dream Energy.
Up Smash: Parasol Umbrella
Baku holds his parasol behind his back, and then tosses it upwards into the air the same height as Aether, dealing 15-21% damage and knockback able to KO around 145%. The parasol is thrown as high as Palutena’s up smash (or half that at no charge) for great range and keeps its powerful hitbox until it hits the top. When Baku tosses the parasol up, any foes caught at a close range in front will be dealt an additional 5% damage as they’re launched on top of Baku to be hit up with the parasol. Baku does temporarily lose access to his parasol during the throw, but this works like Ike's up special or MegaMan's down aerial as a mere aesthetic. This won't put Baku in helpless, and has the same lag as Ike's Aether.
Baku can follow up in a unique way while the move is being thrown up, working the same way as a follow up attack such as Link’s forward smash. While the parasol in midair, Baku’s player can press the standard button to cause the parasol to stop and perform an attack, before returning to him. He has five pseudo-aerials he can perform by pressing the corresponding inputs in midair. These will inordinately increase the end lag of the move to very punishing levels. If Baku is attacked in the middle of the move, the parasol will return immediately the same way as Aether.
The neutral standard input will cause the parasol to swirl around in a Kirby-sized hitbox, dealing rapid hits of 2% up to 10% damage, but with all the hits hard to land, and has the lowest lag of all the attacks. This will pull along any projectiles in midair as a Leaf Shield-like storm of projectiles, releasing them at the end of the move. If an egg was hit by the parasol and is being carried into midair, this move will continuously keep hitting it up into the air if it’s in front, as it swings in a counter clockwise direction. Likewise, any solid objects like the crystal, seed or ball will be continuously bounced up in the same way.
Forward aerial will cause the parasol to fly forward half a battlefield platform and deal one hit of 6% damage with low knockback, also knocking projectiles in that direction, but also create a weak backdrift behind it pulling any projectiles in a trail behind it. This will cause the boomerang to gain double its usual range, and therefore lifespan, as well as causing the mini-parasol to follow the trail infinitely until it hits a foe instead of going upwards in the pattern naturally, giving it a crash course to the horizontal blastzone, or other side of the stage.
The back input will cause the parasol to reveal a spike on the handle that pierces as far as Marth's shieldbreaker backwards for 5% damage, dealing twice the damage to shields or eggs and butting projectiles harshly backwards. This will be specially useful at launching the ball and pushing back the mini-parasol and boomerangs’ patterns, to make the space behind the parasol become more dangerous for the foe to enter. This will force the foe to retreat to the front or far back behind all of the boomerangs and parasols, or simply to stall them out if they can.
The up input will cause the parasol to raise and twirl upwards a Kirby height over a longer period, dealing constant 5 hits of 2% damage which can be DI’d out of fairly easy. This has the worst lag but the longest duration of any parasol move and will keep any projectiles on top of the parasol for the duration. After the parasol returns to Baku, these projectiles will fall if solid, very nice for delaying the effect of the seed or dropping a crystal to the ground, being the best for later set up in a match.
Lastly the down input will cause the parasol to perform a weaker version of Dedede's Smash 4 down aerial, dealing 7% damage and low-medium knockback, able to gimp only at 200%. These moves are fairly weak, but give a great deal of aerial pressure, forcing the foe to avoid the attack or tack on the damage. For hitting down the ball this is a great follow up as it deals the most knockback of the attacks and will give a huge knockback boost to the ball, potentially meteor smashing it back into the air at low enough heights. The pattern-reliant weapons will also be moved down considerably and dropping the crystal down so fast always has its uses.
Each parasol move can be boosted by the up special charge to deal an extensive 1.5-2x its normal damage with proportionally increased power, making them into proper KO moves, at the cost of the charge. The first hit will not use up charge, making it a safe option to while not having to suck up Dream Energy, and has good start up with only below average end lag. This is by far the move to get the most efficient use of charge considering the massive power boost, but is very risky given the foe can DI before the second hit, depending on what one is chosen, this is not the most useful finisher but a very powerful pressure tool.
Down Smash: Fried Egg
Baku poses with his body leaning forward and pointing towards the ground, causing a flurry of tiny wicks to emerge from the ground and be set aflame, dealing 5 hits of 1% damage then a powerful 14-19% damage and high knockback on par with Mewtwo’s down smash, as well as having a similar range. The foe will be hit upwards at close range, but at 90 degrees at the edge of the hitbox. This version does slightly more damage and knockback when all hits land. After the move is over, the wicks will burn to the ground. For more charge, the fire will rise off the ground up to a Pikmin height at max on top of a larger assortment of wicks, essentially raising Mewtwo’s down smash up by that much more height. The extra height will raise the fire high enough that it can be used as an effective anti-air to cover foes trying to jump over the attack.
A foe's egg caught in the flames will take damage, but as it remains on top of the fire will turn redder as it burns. When it’s heated, the egg will start to deal passive damage if an opponent touches it even when it's not moving, dealing 5-10% damage depending on how hot it was, and strong knockback that can KO at 150%. For the duration of it being heated, the foe will also take 1% a second passively if their true form is inside the egg. At the end of the move, the egg will sit where it was, but can be easily knocked away by Baku using any move to hit it towards the foe, adding its hot new hitbox to any damage it does to the foe by being knocked around. As the egg reaches higher temperatures, it will act as if it took damage and be easier to hit around. Depending on how hot it is, it can start to be knocked around as if it was 5-30 weight units lighter, depending on the amount it was burned. This alone can be useful to make any egg, whether the foe’s or not, into more of a viable projectile.
After the egg has been fried in this way, shattering it open will cause it to not only spit out the foe, but the flames that have built up inside it, having a similar hitbox to G&W's fully charged Bucket. This will deal 10-15% damage depending on how hot the egg was, as it will cool down over 6 seconds, and the shape of the hitbox varies depending on how it was shattered. If it was shattered by the forward smash for example, it will strongly resemble the G&W Bucket with a huge splash of lava that spits forward. However when shattered by the up smash, the egg will shatter to cause lava to rain around Baku. If the foe's egg is already heated up and is caught in the down smash again, it will gradually heat up until it reaches the max point again, then turn black and explode in a splash of lava that shoots upwards. The smallest egg will do this if caught in the entirety of one down smash. A bigger egg will take 1.5 down smash durations to blow up like this, but deals more damage and with a 1.5x bigger hitbox. This will shoot lava up 1-2 Ganondorfs and deal 15-20% damage to KO at 140-120%, more power and height for a bigger egg. This releases the foe if they were in the egg. This can be edited slightly by both the amount the egg was originally heated, and by letting it cool down for a longer time.
The fires will cause Baku’s crystal to be heated up and become an active hitbox even when sitting on the ground passively, dealing 5-10% when touched, and adding that to its damage if tossed around. The melody will ignore the fire. All other projectiles will catch fire when torched by the flames, leaving a trail behind them of fire that deals passive 3% damage to foes and one hit of flinching knockback, this trail is a Bowser wide, and following after the weapon. This trail will linger for 1 second. This is at the cost of the dream weapon dissipating two seconds after being lit up by the move, if it wasn’t already about to dissipate on its own. Projectiles are hit up by the move at close range, but forwards at the end, giving the option to leave the trail in the air or horizontally and with the strong knockback can leave a strong trail, especially when using a ball or pencil due to how fast they will go.
STANDARDS
Jab: Parasol Surprise
Baku shoves his parasol forward, dealing 5% damage, and pushes it as far forward as Dedede's forward tilt while gawking forwards, spinning the parasol in place to deal rapid hits of 1% damage, ending with a jab finisher that deals 4% damage and high diagonal knockback, but fairly average for knockback. The egg can be caught in the rapid fire hits of the jab at the end of the hitbox and will be stuck in place until it slowly etches its way out of range. A foe will take extra damage from the egg's hitbox, ending the jab early, but allowing Baku to build up momentum on the egg. It will eventually be hit away, but as it stands in place will continue to be a hitbox as if it was being launched. At the end of dealing rapid jab hits to the egg, it will be launched away with increasing power depending on how long it was in the jab, potentially going as fast as a barrel at its fastest going down a slope, dealing up to an extra 5% damage and proportionally greater knockback too.
The first hit of the jab will push the foe into place for the rapid fire hits, but can also hit an egg forwards then catch it with the rapid hits to keep it in place. This will cause the reverse effect on the egg, causing it to build up speed and at the end of the move, be launched backwards towards Baku, who can choose to jump, roll or dodge around it to let it go, or use his own shield as a wall to knock it back as a mix up. Technically it's possible to not do the second hit entirely as well. This can help to control the egg's position on the stage to keep it away from the foe, or to keep it close to the foe if it's rolling away and not have to get behind it to stop it, using the great range of Dedede's ftilt. This can also be handy for getting the egg into a good position to influence the projectiles, and then pull it back to not suffer the consequences of it being hit out of reach.
When the up special charge is active, any object that is being rapid fire jabbed will have a secondary effect, the charge from Baku seeming to dissipate over time as he keeps on jabbing the foe, egg or even his own projectiles. Baku will lose his charge progressively at double the rate he charged it, but whatever is being jabbed will build up with it at the same rate as if they were charging his up special. This is where the surprise part comes in! 5 seconds after the jab finisher or when the foe, egg or projectile was out of range of the rapid fire jabs, the dreamy magic will explode in a wonderful fireworks display of stars. This is as big as Ganondorf's utilt explosion, resembling aesthetically Villager up smash. This will deal 7-12% damage and can KO at 150% max charge. This is limited by how much charge Baku had in the first place.
The foe can shield this explosion much like the MegaMan side special, but leaves a foe particularly open to projectiles such as the melody and pencil that benefit from a stationary or shielding foe. Baku can keep putting the timer back by another 5 seconds if he catches them in the jab again, always losing charge. This explosion will launch projectiles sky high as if they were hit by a Bob-Omb, unless they were particularly heavy like the crystal, shuriken or seed, instead just popping them lightly upward. The egg will only lightly be lifted due to its weight, but can potentially be used to time the foe's egg demise for later like a time bomb, exploding 5 seconds later and shattering if the egg was low enough. This can be combined with the down smash to control when an egg will explode its lava in an all-around hitbox as big as a Bob-Omb explosion that deals 10-15% damage and can KO at 130% at max.
Dash Attack: Circus Animal
Baku slides forward a small distance on the heel of his freakish, giant Dedede feet, dealing 8% damage and medium knockback able to KO at 135%, then falls on his back dealing 13% and high knockback able to KO at 115%, a powerful but very situational KO move, giving the move as much lag as Dedede's dash attack. The fall even has the same pratfall sound effect. This is great at punishing rolls. This double hitbox can be useful in the context of the foe in the egg in either direction, as the egg will stop Baku in place from sliding forward to fall back on a foe behind him, or vice versa can attack the foe in front while whacking the egg far away so the foe can't intercept. Either hit works as a ledge guard too, though the kicking hitbox has greater downwards range. The move is mainly good going up slopes, as Baku will slide upwards, limiting his hurtbox size, and fall back down quickly to limit the risks of a foe's attack.
The move completely changes when used in front of the egg at very close range. Baku will run up the side of the egg and balance on top of it, like a circus tapir on a giant ball, and roll it forward. On a foe's egg, it becomes a constant hitbox that deals 10% damage as it is rolled forward at Baku's dash speed, and will go for a full battlefield platform. An egg created by charging side special will vary between dealing 5-12% damage, but will travel 1.5x as fast at smallest and have a much smaller hitbox. This is useful as Baku has constant super armour while he rides the egg and his hurtbox becomes a hitbox dealing 5-10% depending on his speed, riding a small egg being faster and making his own hitbox stronger able to KO at 130% at max. The damage can be improved to deal up to an extra 5% and knockback to KO at 120% if the egg is propelled down slopes, or by explosions such as the jab. At any point if the egg is destroyed, Baku will fall of the ball comically, having horrendously bad end lag on par with Warlock Punch. This may force the foe to potentially hurt themselves if they want to knock him off their egg. When the egg has been heated up, Baku can make it difficult for the foe to go for this even if it's not their egg, as they can potentially break the egg and cause lava to pour out that risks damaging them. Likewise, Baku can pressure with projectiles out on the stage and directing the egg into them to break the egg in a unique way while riding the egg, letting him break the egg in the air and rain down lava on the ground.
The egg can hop by pressing up, causing Baku to be left above it with bad end lag, but useful for putting Baku into the air while having the egg fall back to ground still a hitbox. The “landing lag” is minimal, making it great to use on stages with platforms or if somehow managed, other midair eggs. Getting a footstool is probably more realistic. Even though the egg will constantly wobble between its top and side, Baku remains balanced on it, the move having the same duration as Ganondorf's dash attack. This has considerable end lag as Baku hops off onto the ground or in midair, much worse than the normal version of the move. One of the best uses of the move is when the foe is about to awaken out of the egg, setting up their position to hit projectiles or be easier to attack, as Baku can end up in pretty much any position.
Forward Tilt: Dream Egg
Baku glances wondrously at an object in his grasp, then tosses an egg forward whether or not he has it equipped, which will deal 7% damage and low knockback. The egg is half as big as a capsule. The egg will uniquely shatter in a flashy explosion of mini-fireworks at the end of its pattern if it hits nothing, dealing a weak 3% damage 1.5x its size and light flinching knockback enough to fully cover the move’s end lag. The egg will travel as far as MegaMan’s megabuster ftilt, but is twice as laggy. The pattern is the same as three specific weapons, forward angled it will go in the same arc as the Shuriken, down angled will go in a low arc and hit the furthest away similar to a low thrown seed, and up angled will be lobbed in the same arc as the Melody before hitting the ground. Each version of the move has the same uniform start and end lag. The up and low angled egg will hit the ground at the end and cause a small explosion as big as the egg, lingering to deal 4% damage and light upward knockback.
Angled up, Baku will release the egg starting at the top of his model in the air, but will be mostly useless for hitting foes directly in front. The low angled version will instead release the egg very close to the ground, as Baku crouches down to release it, this will most quickly result in the egg shattering against the ground. This can be useful however to create a follow up opportunity, as the foe will be caught in the flinching of the egg at very close range. Of course this can be mixed up by doing up, middle or low angled ftilts to create a chaotic pattern, and using weapons further add to the bullet hell. This is hard to spam however given the lag. If Baku can manage to get two of his eggs to hit each other, they will shatter and create a slightly bigger hitbox dealing 5% damage, and this can be achieved by combining different angled throws, not dealing any more hitstun but lingering for a little while longer than if they hit the ground. Any weapons thrown at the egg will explode it too with the more powerful hitbox, which combined with the angling, can make the move have surprisingly good utility.
Up Tilt: Dream Sweeper
Baku swipes his parasol in an arch over his head, dealing 10% damage and able to KO at 135%. This covers 180° and hits on both sides with very high knockback, but has slow start-up and considerable ending lag. This is a reliable KOing option against aerial or rolling opponents and good to use to redirect projectile upwards anywhere in the arch. No matter what part of the attack hits the projectile, it will be hit straight up. This is good for delaying the seed hitting the ground and hitting around the ball or elevating the boomerang during its pattern. This is extremely punishable after being blocked or whiffed. As this hits near to the ground, it can hit all the Dream Weapons that Baku can equip to pop them into the air making it a universally good move for him no matter what he's using. As it hits in such a wide ranging arc, it can also shield poke effectively using the wide hitbox of the parasol. One downside of this is that as with some Dedede moves, the handle of the parasol is not a hitbox, making it have bad coverage very close to Baku that contributes to it being easy to punish.
This move gets boosted by the magic of dreams from up special too. Anything hit by the move will have the magic passed onto it, causing the sparkly magic to gather up at the bottom of their hurtbox and push them further upwards with a powerful wind hitbox. This will cause 1% damage a second and keep push them upwards as strongly as G&W's up aerial at minimum charge, up to the strength of MegaMan's up aerial at max charge. This is on top of the knockback of the move, giving it excellent base knockback with the wind hitbox to KO foes off the top, enabling it to KO up to 20% lower.
On objects such as the egg, they will be dealt set knockback by the wind and dragged into the air a full Ganondorf height above the top platform on Battlefield at max charge, then drops them. At greater heights, the egg will usually shatter and release the foe due to the 1.5 second aerial rule, being the best way to manipulate this rule. The aerial rise can lead to great set ups by dropping the crystal or egg in the middle of the stage or simply influence a projectile to a new position, such as the upgraded shuriken that deals constant damage. The foe won't be pulled up nearly that far by the wind hitbox, but in their dream form will be dealt more knockback at their lower weight, and can be positioned to be in the air right above the falling projectile, especially useful for the egg or crystal.
Down Tilt: Delicious Egg Roll
Baku summons a massive pink and white polka dot egg covering his hurtbox, having the same lag as Yoshi's Egg Roll, and rolls forward, dealing 12% damage and knockback that can KO around 120%. At the end the egg shatters and Baku triumphantly emerges! This has considerable start and end lag comparable to Dedede’s down tilt in Smash 4. The massive egg covers over Baku’s entire model and is identical to his shield egg, like Yoshi’s side special, but is obviously much bigger than Yoshi’s. This can effectively move Baku too, but will only roll at as far as Dedede’s dtilt rolls him forward unless there are slopes or other speed boosts, which will boost it to go twice as far.
When Baku hits an egg, he will roll it for the rest of the distance he would have gone having the same hitbox, but stop himself in place, resulting in much better end lag. Baku will have medium armour for the duration of the attack post start up and pre-end lag. What’s also nice is that any projectiles or other items were overlapping at the start of the move he will absorb them into the egg and fire them off again when the egg shatters at the end of the move. Depending on what position the egg shattered in, Baku can completely redirect the weapon to fire in a new direction. This can at least cover the end lag by eating up a weapon at the same time. This is a great move for winning trades with the eggs Baku makes himself too, as he can hit the egg back at the foe and use the medium armour to tank the egg’s hit.
The egg roll will be stopped by a solid wall or against the foe's egg and the foe's shield, causing Baku to be shot back for the rest of the move in the opposite direction. This can be used to get further away from the foe after dealing shield damage to avoid a grab punish. Between a foe’s shield and egg, it’s even possible to get two hits off of this, three at impossibly close range, to deal extreme shield damage. This naturally plays into the strengths of several Dream Weapons such as the pencil and crystal that deal heavy shield damage. The super armour of the move is also integral to shields, in this case Baku’s, as it gives him the necessary defensive option when he’s lacking out of shield ones. This is a very important approach option even with the end lag, a lot more integral to Baku’s set than Dedede’s even with the same lag, considering all the ways he can cover it as well.
AERIALS
Neutral Aerial: Magic Spin
Baku spins around emulating his magic dance, but ends the move without popping open his parasol to give it much better lag on both ends, dealing 10% damage and radial knockback. The hitbox of the move extends as far as Baku's hurtbox, but with greater vertical and less horizontal with how the spin contorts his body. This deals good horizontal knockback on the sides, an effective gimp move off stage due to its fast start up, has bad ending lag but has much better landing lag, making it a great air-to-ground attack, as well as a good ledgeguarding move. Used out of a short hop, the move can be cancelled in the first few frames landing back on the ground. At any point during the move, the standard input can be pressed again to cause Baku to spin his parasol around horizontally, doing a full graceful turn, and deals an additional 7% damage with medium knockback. This technically could cause up to 17% damage combined with the neutral aerial or more with projectiles, but like such aerials as Bowser's neutral aerial, it's almost impossible to combo the two hits. The additional parasol hit will add painful lag to the end of the move, as well as its landing lag, and making it unable to cancel.
The move can absorb projectiles flying around the stage in the same way as Rosalina's down special. This only works on opponent projectiles that deal 12% damage or less. Projectiles will orbit around Baku like the Gravitational Pull, going around his head and back again for the duration of the move at their regular speed while maintaining their active hitbox towards any foes. They will like Rosalina's move become Baku's property until after they are shot out at the end of the move and return to their normal patterns. Projectiles will be shot out away from Baku at the speed of Falco's laser in a straight direction, depending on where they were when the move ended. Baku can use these to cover the end lag of the move, and do it in a unique way by shooting out projectiles at an unusual arc before they retain their own patterns, leading to fairly wacky set ups where an arcing projectile will be shot out at a straight angle then return to its arc, landing on a far away foe. As the foe's projectiles are under Baku's ownership for the duration they're absorbed into the move, he can also use them to manipulate his own projectiles in this way, or use them against the foe, all depending on what projectiles the foe can fire off This will rotate the projectile with an active hitbox and brought under Baku's ownership, and will shoot it back out in the direction it came if the move is allowed to finish. The timing for when the projectile is shot back out can be edited very easily by cancelling the move out, either by hitting the ground or using the ending IASA frame, or by timing to absorb projectiles into the spin later in the animation. The extra 180 degrees below Baku can be particularly useful in the air to shoot back down at lower opponents along with his default egg weapon.
The full spin can also help to hit both the foe and egg, buffeting the foe or egg on one side then shooting the projectile with the right timing to hit the other wherever their position on the stage. The egg is particularly useful in this regard, as it can double as a wall to cancel the move on at the same time as being hit by the attack and any projectiles that have been pulled into the attack. The spin can't be DI'd, but will be influenced by Baku's aerial movement before starting the move, very useful out of the hover to set the exact direction and speed for the spin afterwards. It can also be used out of the hover to better position it. This combination makes it into a great vertical KO move. At the same time, when heavier weapons are equipped, it can be used in the other direction when falling fast towards the foe, and the different falling speeds can lead to a variety of more angles and possible arc for the projectiles to be thrown. The parasol can be used to bat any projectiles forwards or backwards, and due the ability to trigger it at any point during the move, leads to mix ups with the order of when projectiles are launched in either direction. On top of that, with the Dream Wand buff, the parasol will deal an additional 3-7% damage and become a primary KO move, able to KO at 120% at max charge. Projectiles will be knocked with much greater power too, like the dash attack. A starry effect will stay on whatever is hit by the move that lasts for 3-7 seconds depending on the Magic Wand charge, if this includes a foe or egg, this will cause any projectiles to have a weak homing effect on them as strong as Samus' regular side special missiles.
Forward Aerial: Parasol Hammer
Baku performs King Dedede's forward aerial with his parasol, swinging it downwards for 9% damage, not nearly as damaging or powerful, but still a useful gimp and has slightly better lag on both ends. The lower knockback can make the move better for on stage aerial combat, as while the move combos into itself off stage as Dedede, Baku prefers to hit the foe down more weakly and follow up directly when he lacks the jumps and Super Jump. The move will naturally send all projectiles back down to the ground and the straight vertical knockback is useful for knocking the foe into the egg or stationary projectiles such as the dream wand shuriken and the flower seed. This works well as a combination with the up tilt, getting the projectiles, foe or egg high into the air and sending them back down. The knockback isn't any different as an angle, but will drag projectiles or the egg over to the front of Baku during the move and hit them down from his current position, at the end of the move. This means that Baku can again use his air speed and hover, as well as other attacks that move him in midair, to give him momentum in the air then pull whatever he hits along with him before sending it back down. Caught earlier in the attack, the foe or anything else will take slightly longer to be sent down, while at the bottom of the hitbox will be launched immediately, giving a bit of wiggle room for creative follow ups.
The move is different when used with the Dream Wand charge, as whatever is hit will be covered in blue stars as a visual effect. This buffs the power of the move to deal an extra 3-7% damage, eventually outscaling Dedede's forward aerial, making it a much better gimping move off-stage. On top of that, if a foe hits solid ground within the next second, the stars will prevent them from teching and bounce them back into the air as a meteor smash. This can potentially KO if the foe was hit by the move at close range by Baku, normally never power enough, but becomes as powerful as Ganondorf's down aerial at medium power, and as powerful as Ganondorf’s down aerial in Brawl at the max of 16% damage. This can work to KO the foe horizontally too, as hit off of a solid surface like the egg or a solid projectile; the foe will be rebounded off at a radial angle. If they do hit off the egg they can tech the landing. As the egg is round, this can even hit them back diagonally into the ground to pop them up again, or diagonally into the air, or even straight up if hit into the top of the egg. This will all work on the egg or dream weapons too, forcefully bouncing them off the ground with varying success based on their weight.
Up Aerial: Magical Explosion
Baku points upwards with a chuckling expression, causing an explosion above him to occur with the same hitbox as Zelda’s, dealing 15% damage and equal knockback to Zelda’s up aerial. This will KO from around 90% on the foe, but requires them to be above Baku, favouring him being at a higher weight and fall speed to get below them in midair. This is possible to follow up on out of the forward aerial when it’s hit on a foe close enough to the ground to get them high in the air. The other easy follow up for it is when the foe is let out of the egg in midair after 1.5 seconds have passed, while they do have invulnerability for a small amount of time, this can still catch them out. This makes it a good move to use after the up tilt or with the parasol that will hit the foe upwards. More generally, Baku can zone out the foe by use of his dream weapons pretty effectively to set up for this even if at that point he’s not best equipped for it with his statistics.
This can also be effective in conjunction with the down-angled forward tilt to hit the beneath of the egg or a foe standing on a higher platform, or shielding near the ledge, which is less rare given that Baku can bait the shield from afar with certain weapons. The explosion carries the same basic effect of Zelda’s with the smaller stars appearing at the end, and the explosion itself is in fact one giant star exploding over the same duration. Used on dream weapons this move won’t actually hit them up, instead it does a similar effect to the down smash and destroys them in the explosion, leaving a trace of fire behind them dealing 3% damage for the same amount of time with the same attributes. The projectile will be launched sky high, but by getting very close, will instead be caught between the explosive hitbox and Baku’s hurtbox, causing it to fall slowly to the ground instead. This is mostly useful for getting use out of weapons that were heading off the top blast zone.
Back Aerial: Bad Dream
Baku grabs the parasol by the open end then jabs the handle back, which is revealed to be spiked at the end, dealing 9% damage and able to KO at 160%, but having a sweetspot at the very tip visually indicated by a sheen, dealing 13% and able to KO at 140%. This is one of Baku's fastest attacks and has good range. The ending and landing lag are both decent, making it a good air-to-air or air-to-ground attack. The move is great for both hitting foes on the ledge and poking shields. The sweetspot requires smart positioning to pull off that comes easier when Baku can control space using the foe's egg as a hostage or his weapons to zone them out. This will deal up to 20% damage with max up special charge, able to KO at 90%, this is one of the most basic but powerful uses for the charge.
The sweetspot of the move has a unique effect on eggs and enemy shields alike, creating a shatter point on them caused by the spike that is visually represented by a crack. This has a different effect on both, but lasts for 3 seconds either way. The result when used on a foe’s shield is that any attack that hits that shatter point will deal double damage. As it can be used in the air, it can hit the foe’s shield from a variety of angles. When used at a low angle, this will require the use of projectiles such as the melody that has a wonky pattern or the parasol on a foe shielding on a higher platform to take advantage of. A higher attack would also be good for the melody, but likewise for lobbing projectiles such as the crystal or flower, and the parasol at ground level.
The egg will first pour out any lava that was inside of it, creating a very low trap on the floor wherever it rolls that deals 1% damage a second to any foes that stand on it, lasting for 5 seconds. Not only that, but where the crack is will affect the egg when it eventually shatters. This will cause any lava to shoot out in the direction where the back aerial was used on it, enabling Baku to splatter it in any direction! Another effect it has on eggs is that any moves used on the crack will deal double the damage to the egg, but not the foe. This will not deal any extra damage to the foe but instead means Baku can destroy the egg more quickly if he wants! Make believe can get old after all. This will make it difficult for the foe to keep a track of when the egg will eventually break, on top of simply making it easier to break it within the allotted 8 seconds before it breaks on its own. If it can cause the egg to explode towards Baku, he can trap the foe between the move’s hitbox and the explosion’s hitbox.
Down Aerial: Dream Statue
Baku turns into a stone statue and falls to the ground at double his normal fall speed dealing 14% damage when he hits the ground as part of a shockwave and can KO at 150%, and 18% in midair to KO at 105%, the same power as Kirby's down special. This is based on the statue of Baku from his palace, emulating Kirby's down special, Stone. This will make Baku impervious to damage with super armour, but is just as vulnerable to grab hitboxes. This is very useful for avoiding the up special charge being hit out of Baku and for trading with the eggs. As the move is varied based on Baku's fall speed, it can be used defensively at a low fall speed and more aggressively at a high fall speed. The stone body reacts to Baku's own projectiles as a solid object or wall, causing them to be pulled along with him at this new speed if they were slower and knocked forward like his Crystal, while maintaining their hitboxes.
When Baku weighs more, it will add more damage to the attack, but will only get to 25% when he equips the crystal if he hits the foe in the air. This will KO at 90%, and is one of the only ways to break the foe's egg by landing on it in midair. This is pretty situational, but at least forces the foe if in range to knock their egg out of the way, although it will make Baku fairly easy to punish as well. When the move has less weight, at 115 or less, the move gradually will get less end lag, at default only having as much as Bowser's down aerial, but being as bad as Kirby's down special at the max weight, being a fairly significant trade off.
There is one change from the statue in Cocoron, the parasol is still present during the move, held up like an umbrella while he is in stone form. This is not turned into stone but maintains a unique hitbox for the duration of the move, hitting foes upward with 12% damage and medium knockback, as well as any projectiles or weapons in the way. This makes for a good way to both approach the foe and hit your own weapons into the air at the same time, but also creates a nice sour spot. Weapons will not just be hit up, but re-angle themselves to face up as well. It's an excellent combo to follow into the up special. Weapons and the up special charge can also be thrown into the mix for a very versatile approach on the foe.
GRAB GAME
Grab: Consume
Baku sticks his tongue out as in side special, but differs from Yoshi in that his tongue will extend far beyond what it does in side special, equivalent to a normal tether grab with the same range and lag. That’s not so dreamy! The tongue will be intangible for the duration of the move, Baku’s main hurtbox is still vulnerable while he grabs and the lag is as punishable as Samus or Lucas. A big advantage to this is the pivot and dash grab, getting a boost out of the range while moving Baku to keep his damageable body out of danger. A negative of this is that he can be easily camped asonly the tongue has an active, grab hitbox during the move, but this can be made easier by the presence of his own projectiles to pressure other campers or long range hitters.
Baku can’t eat eggs with the grab, as that’s what side special is for, but can grab dream foes just as easily as normal ones. In fact he seems to find dream foes fairly delicious to eat judging by his animation, all that tasty dream energy. When a dream foe is inside of Baku, besides during the initial grab and throw animations, they will constantly tick down the timer for when their egg naturally breaks and they return to their normal bodies. If that happens while they’re inside of Baku, a grab release is forced, in this case Baku spits out air and the foe is released like normal from their egg. The egg itself can play an important role in rebounding the foe during throws and placed well, can be used to follow up on the foe after they’ve been thrown too far to usually keep up the pressure, though no true combos or easy follow ups exist because of the foe’s invulnerability when coming out of an egg.
Pummel: Eat
Baku chews on the foe, dealing 1% damage, but healing for 2% each time, in a slow pummel. The speed of the pummel increases to a moderately fast speed if it’s a dream foe that has been grabbed. This is the deliciousness of dreams! Baku will consume the foe’s dream energy with his eat, which is where all the nourishment comes from. The foe will lose 10% of their max shield HP for each pummel, not wearing off if they return to their normal body. This won’t shatter the foe’s shield however, only able to bring it down to 1% health. At the same rate, Baku builds up 10% of his max up special charge per pummel. This makes the already tasty pummel quite the delectable choice from the grab game. That extra charge will help for when the foe is out of the grab game, and when they can potentially be manipulated to end up anywhere with the egg, this can be surprisingly versatile to do a shield shatter attempt or whatever else Baku has in mind. The only limit to the follow ups is your imagination!
Forward Throw: Dream Cartwheel
Baku happily gestures his hand up in the air, causing a wheel of 4 of his currently equipped dream weapon to surround him the same way as Leaf Shield does for Mega Man. After summoning these projectiles, he spits out the foe and points forward, causing the wheel of projectiles to follow the foe as they're flung as far as Bowser's forward throw and dealt a decent 7% damage, landing in prone. The projectiles will continue to circle them and lacking collision detection to go into the floor or walls, until the foe regains control at the end of the throw animation. Oh look, he's trying to protect the poor foe! After a brief moment, the weapons will all go forwards, working the same way as Leaf Shield, going the same distance and potentially hitting foes if they don't react correctly by using their get-up invincibility. This is very telegraphed, and basically impossible to miss if the foe is paying attention. The direction the cartwheel will send the projectiles at the end of the move can be changed however if the Baku player presses a direction before the end of the throw, causing him to point up, left or down instead. This will cause the Dream Weapons to go up, left or drop immediately. The projectiles will continue to have no collision except against walls or the stage. Baku telegraphs this with his point, and even at the last second gives plenty of time for the foe to see it and react accordingly, but may catch them off guard.
A real usefulness inherent in the move is that the dream wheel can be used to hit the foe's egg or rebounded back to Baku himself, as the Dream Weapons can hit anything on stage as well as the foe once they're tossed at the end of the throw. They will remain intangible for the duration of the throw animation. However if the foe does end up hitting into an egg on the way or anything solid, the dream weapons will continue to follow them until they regain control and the throw technically ends before being thrown in the given direction. This can allow for the dream weapons to be launched in the air, to make more use of sending them down, or even upwards if the foe is forced off stage to help with a gimp attempt. Each weapon will have a different speed and power once launched at the end, based on their properties as a weapon. For example the pencil will travel the fastest as Fox's laser speed but deal only 2%, being the easiest to directly hit the foe unless they do an immediate dodge, but the crystal is extremely slow, but still useful given its mighty damage and now 3 other crystals in close vicinity. The dream weapons can be manipulated by Baku and this can lead to immense set up, but he has a limited time to do this considering the limited reach on par with the Leaf Shield. The foe can most of the time stop this just by shielding most weapons, which will dissipate them no matter their weapon type, but potentially deal a lot of shield damage. This is riskier though especially if Baku has pummelled them during the grab.
To vary up the patterns of the Dream Cartwheel, Baku can press inputs at the start of the throw. By pressing forward, Baku will speed up the turning of the wheel to rotate twice as fast. This will result in the Dream Weapons being picked off if they hit any dream eggs or other structures, such as other solid projectiles in midair, essentially cancelling out the effects of the ending launch. At the same time, this can cause the eggs to roll forward and act as their own follow up on the foe at the same time as damaging their Dream Egg, or instead get them stuck in places for if the foe is about to appear out of the egg, rather than wasting them further away. By pressing backward, the wheel will rotate in the opposite direction, this will cause the wheel to rotate in the reverse position and is a simple mix up, reversing the positions of the four projectiles from what they would usually be. Pressing the standard input will cause Baku to dissipate the four nearest projectiles, if there are any, and put them next in line for the Dream Cartwheel instead of what would've been the equipped weapon. This only works if there is a Dream Weapon currently owned by Baku out on stage, but can be performed up to four times, to fill up all four slots, to create a variation of Cartwheels. This works against pummelling the foe however, which will make it more likely for these Dream Weapons to dissipate.
Then there's pressing the special input, and there is a certain tack to this dreamy choice of input, as Baku will instead not put the Dream Cartwheel on the foe at all! They're not worth the effort. Instead, Baku will give himself the Dream Cartwheel, it's all mine! This will then act pretty much the exact same way as MegaMan's Leaf Shield but with all those projectiles. This is not as powerful as it sounds however, as it only works depending on how the foe has been hit by Baku's Dream Weapons over the last 20 seconds of the match. If they were not hit by 4 Dream Weapons, then 1-3 will appear around Baku instead, and they perfectly replicate the last Dream Weapons that hit the foe, filling out in chronological order from the first to the last. This can potentially be a huge waste if there was just one, although it certainly has its uses when it rotates around Baku. This is good for getting a footstool on the foe from running up and onto a ledge hanging foe, but potentially even more powerful, but as with Leaf Shield will limit Baku's movement, forcing him to throw it forward if he presses the special, grab, or standard input. How he sacrifices for his dreams. On the plus side, Baku can hold onto his shuriken or other items to toss them as the one reprieve, the same way as Leaf Shield allows, so he's not totally limited. Needless to say, in the right circumstances this option can be absurdly powerful, but as it's feeding off the foe's experiences, it's not consistent or reliable.
Up Throw: Disposable Umbrella
Baku spits out the foe upward and leaps into the air before opening his parasol, causing him to shoot upward with the foe twirl in pain on top! This deals 3%, then twirls the parasol causing it to shoot upwards. This will deal 5 rapid hits of 1% damage and a final hit of 4% with moderate upwards knockback, able to KO at 230%, scaling very quickly but starting with low base knockback. This move is very similar to Peach’s up special, in terms of animation. It will leave Baku in the air a Ganondorf off the ground, enabling him to get into the air out of his grab game while also putting the foe into the air at the same time. Overall the throw deals 12% and has decent combo potential at lower percents. This is specially useful when a platform is overhead, as it can put the foe on it while leaving Baku below to hit them with moves like up special, up aerial or up smash that all have great range.
During the start up where he's spitting out the foe, by pressing the special input again, Baku will use the energy to shoot himself much further up, greatly increasing the base knockback of the move and the height that Baku ends the move, able to KO off the top at 180% fully charged while the last hit deals an increased 8% damage, now dealing 16% as one throw. This isn't as powerful as Ness' bthrow, but can be made to be when used on high platforms, making it the most powerful vertical throw in Smash 4. This will shoot up Baku further into the air, at minimum a Mario height, at max two Ganondorfs. This will deal outsiders, including eggs, 10-15% damage and high knockback upwards able to KO at 130%, while the normal version deals 5% damage. Both can be useful, especially with the rapid hits, to damage the eggs to shatter in the middle of the throw to use the lava, the egg hitbox or the foe being released early to pressure and position for a good deal of stage control.
The move gains further application when taken into account how, if Dream Weapons are nearby at the start of the move, basically on top of Baku or overlapping him, they will be thrown on top of the parasol as it rises too! A foe’s dream egg is included in this, but can break in midair due to the 1.5 second rule. The projectiles will be carried up wherever they were on the parasol and at the end of the move are turned 90 degrees up before returning to normal patterns. For solid projectiles like the crystal or seed though, they will simply fall to the ground again. This can even pick up smaller eggs that Baku creates or his enhanced Dream Weapons, not to mention creating them in midair possibly with the use of up special, to make it difficult for the foe to come back down if this is well utilized. The foe’s dream egg can be a great way to force the foe back into the air even if they use a fast falling move, if the egg timer runs out, making the foe re-appear at the height for Baku to attack. This can be a great set up into a aerial follow up by Baku, or he can use his eggs to further zone out the foe by knocking them in certain patterns.
Back Throw: Egg Tower
Baku grins as three eggs pop out behind him, dealing the foe a flat 8% as they fall on the floor in one of these eggs. These are all the size of the foe’s egg from the side special and sit one on top of the other, with Baku able to choose which the foe is put in by pressing the standard button earlier in the move, otherwise defaulting to putting them in the top egg. Baku then kicks the bottom egg, causing it to be knocked back with decent power dealing the foe an extra 5% if they were in that egg and can KO if near the ledge. This will increase the amount of knockback the egg will take to scale with the foe as normal, otherwise the egg goes a set battlefield platform. If the egg does go off stage, it will shatter, but the top two eggs will remain intact. After a moment, the foe’s egg will shatter open, causing them to take weak flinching knockback and a final 2% damage, overall dealing up to 15% if the foe was put in the bottom egg. A moment after that, the other two eggs will shatter, revealing two of Baku’s currently equipped weapons in both eggs, launching as if they were thrown by Baku at that height, but will only linger until they hit the ground or a hard surface, though the seed will still cause its flower hitboxes.
When the foe is in a higher egg, this makes it much easier to hit them with the lobbing arc of the crystal, melody or to land a situational seed. The middle egg will be in the most danger potentially, as the bottom and top eggs will shoot projectiles both below and above the foe. This will force them to dodge around them, largely going backwards to not get hit by either projectile. The bottom egg will take the most damage and functions easily the best as a direct throw to get the foe off stage, but is the easiest to dodge the lobbing arc projectiles. On the other hand, it will prevent the foe going into the air towards Baku, as the projectiles will be shot forward towards him, largely blocking the air and allowing for Baku to be largely uncontested in controlling the air space. All the eggs will shatter before Baku can get to them, but the foe can potentially be dealt outside hits while momentarily in the eggs if Baku has other weapons lying around in the way.
When an egg is in the way, right behind Baku, the eggs will be thrown to balance on that egg, be it a small or large egg created by side special or the foe’s dream egg. This will cause Baku to instead kick that egg backwards, not dissipating at the end of the move. This will result in the foe ending up higher in the air when released from the throw. This will speed up or low down the speed of the egg once its hit, going between 0.5-1.5x as far depending on how large/little the egg was, resulting in the foe ending up at a close or farther range. This also will make the foe be higher up on a larger egg, or closer to the ground, which will help with certain weapons. When the foe’s dream egg is used, this will deal them the hit damage halved at 2.5%, and if they come out can force them to dodge the falling projectiles from much higher up as they fall, maybe even after dodging them out of the egg, depending on how little time is left. This can be manipulated fairly easily to have a small amount of time left for the foe to come out just by keeping the foe in grab, and when they come out near to the ground, this can be good for making the shield a not viable option.
Down Throw: Elegant Dive
Baku spins in place, rising up into the air two Ganondorfs very quickly and has super armour, dealing 5 rapid hits of 2% to outside foes like in his up special. At the peak of the jump, he poses and then does a belly flop, falling back to the ground at double his fall speed. This can be DI'd by Baku slightly left or right, but can't go off the ledge. He finally hits the ground and crushes his swallowed opponent against the floor, spitting them out in the process. This deals the foe 10-15% damage depending on his weight, dealing more damage if he is heavier, and can KO at max damage from 180% at the Sakurai angle, a powerful KO throw. As with similar throws such as Kirby's up throw, this will KO earlier if used on top of a platform, but can also KO earlier by landing on top of an egg, which will act as solid ground for the duration of the slam. At low damage and low percentages, the move will be a decent follow up, having rapid scaling knockback. Due to the Sakurai angle, the foe will end up in prone at the end of the move if they were low in percent, which can lead to a good follow up opportunity with Baku's side special, forward smash or projectiles that can all check some get up options, or all of them with enough up special charge.
The move's damage and speed are both affected by Baku's weight, as the heavier he is, the quicker he will perform the grab like other throws in the game. This will cause Baku to stall for a longer time before he falls, and allow for the foe's egg timer to tick down. On top of that, the falling part of the move when it slams against the ground will deal heavy damage to the egg, even halved dealing a decent 5-7.5%, and if the egg was closeby at the start of the move, it can be hit by the initial 5 hits for a further 5%. This can lead to the egg breaking as Baku falls on it, allowing him to DI left or right on top of them, or jump into the air to do a variety of follow ups as they come out of the egg. Using the DI, it’s also possible to simply land in front of the egg and shoot a foe at it, which will cause them to knock the egg forward while staying in close range of Baku or being shot behind him, although they can tech hitting the egg or any other kind of wall. If it was an egg full of fire from the down smash, it’s possible to use the damage from the fall to break the egg and fire the lava upwards into the foe to make it into a vertical KO throw. The strength of this of course depends on the egg that exploded. An egg that was very close at the start of the throw can even be pulled up slightly into the air then landed on mid-throw to launch the foe at an even greater height as if they were on a platform.
FINAL SMASH
Dream Buffet!
Baku spins in place and poses with his parasol opening, summoning forth a big filter over the screen like in Peach's final smash, covering the outside of the screen in polka dots. In front of Baku a massive cake is summoned as pictured. The cake is as tall as Ganondorf but hugely wide, at its largest the size of half of Final Destination, but will simply increase from where it is summoned to that width, parts of the cake that go over the edge falling down to the blast zone or lower parts of the stage. The cake will stun anyone who was hit by the first part of the move, but due to Baku's laggy taunting this is easy to jump or dodge. This stun is only temporary, lasting as long as Zamus' down smash in Brawl, but will keep the foe from jumping out of the cake. The cake will halve their jump height, double their fall speed and significantly reduce their recovery, and cover them in cake! Baku will heal 5% if he eats the foe with his side special or grab game while covered in cake. Baku will gain the same 5% heal if he uses his side special in front of the cake, taking a big slice out of it proportional to where his tongue landed and then some. The foe by comparison simply has to trudge through the cake, though can eat the cake if they have an eating move like Inhale or Chomp.
Besides the cake itself, a couple of props are summoned on top of it. The layout of the cake is randomized, having lumps of extra cake on top and a random splattering of 3-5 strawberries and 1-3 candles, always having at least the maximum number of one or the other. The strawberries are the size of Kirby and will heal 10% health to Baku or any other player who eats them. They also have 20HP, and can be knocked around like crates, or eggs, to damage foes for 15% damage and high knockback, able to KO at 120%. The strawberries and cake can be eaten in one tonguing by Baku along with the foe to give a ton of healing! Aside from the strawberries, the candles are another Ganondorf height on top of the cake, and a solid wall. This alone can be useful for Baku to combo against, although he's just as vulnerable against it particularly given his huge size. The candle will constantly spit out a flame as in its level, building up and dropping off in a lobbing arc at the nearest foe, dealing a massive 20% damage and able to KO at 80%. The flame is the size of Mario's fireball and comes out once a second. The cake itself will last for 15 seconds along with the candles and strawberries before melting into the ground.
This final smash isn't too great so far against characters who can also eat the cake or take advantage of the walls or strawberries, but what gives Baku a massive edge is that he summons two minions for the duration of his final smash and beyond, Tapir Dancers! These eating cheerleaders will spawn next to Baku or at random parts of the stage if there is no space, have 50HP each and will dance with their pom-poms upward and downwards, dealing 9% damage, and have constant super armour against weak attacks, as well as being immune to grabs. The tapir cheerleaders can jump as high as Falco and will deal damage passively when falling, 8% and a powerful gimp move off stage, which the dancers are more than happy to use in a suicide attack if the foe is off stage. This makes them fairly easy to get rid of by planking, but leaves the cake open for Baku to eat. On top of all this, Baku can eat them using his side special and spit them out as Dedede's "exhale" stars, a transcendent priority projectile, dealing 12% and strong knockback able to KO at 130%. When the Tapir Dancers are around Baku, they will inspire him to eat, so within a Bowser width will give his side special and grab double speed and super armour as long as they're around. Go forth and eat the world, Baku!
PLAYSTYLE
Dreamy Controlled Diet
Baku's playstyle revolves around putting the foe into an egg and attacking both the egg and foe at once, or setting up to punish the foe as they get out of the egg due to their new positioning, giving him a strong amount of stage control and presence. Baku can use a multitude of moves, such as his up special, side special, forward smash, up smash, projectiles and grab to have powerful stage control in one form most of the time, then transition to KO later on using certain projectiles, his down aerial and grab game by switching between his Dream Weapons. Earlier on, he'll want to focus on lighter weapons to do more damage and get around the stage quickly, but once he's in danger, can quickly swap to the others, also working into moves such as his back throw with the heavier weapon such as the crystal. At the same time, the weight directly buffs his down throw and down aerial to be stronger KO moves, but also helps him from being vertically KO'd, but will lead to easier gimps off stage. Baku's recovery is fairly decent, but quite punishable at the same time, comparable to Ike's Aether, relying heavily on his hover for horizontal recovery.
The weapons have a profound effect on how Baku fights the foe, and while the investment in changing between them is minimal, it is not possible to fight competently while cycling through them constantly to get the best effects. Baku has to choose what weapons to focus on at different parts of the match, largely coming down to the match up. Against certain characters Baku will want to focus more on what will simply help him survive, whilst others he’ll want to focus on the aggressive part of his game. One distinct weakness in Baku’s set is that his moves tend not to be too powerful outside of his smashes without help from his up special, including most of his standards and some of his aerials, but earlier on this can actually be helpful in the Smash 4 engine to go for more combos. The egg is of course heavy enough to go crazy with attacks and rack up damage without any fear of it being hit away, and besides charging his up special, this is where Baku can spend his earned pressure, forcing the foe to try and bring it out of his range.
The stage control with Baku varies from existing characters as it doesn’t create a huge construct or attacking hitbox to pressure, but forces the foe to be wary of how they will end up being positioned when they come out of the egg. They’ll want to not only knock if out of his range, but use moves that will do as little damage to themselves as possible, while watching for when Baku could potentially break the egg with a powerful enough attack to fully shatter it, as all of these options are heavily telegraphed. Baku can try to separate the foe and the egg on either side, to the benefit of moves like the up and down smash, his back aerial or his neutral aerial that will hit both sides, or in general his grab game with moves like down and back throw. Or he can try to put them on the same side, benefitting some of his projectiles such as his pencil, parasol or melody, as well as attacks like forward smash or most of his standards. The opponent generally doesn’t have to worry too much about the egg being used to directly KO, but will aim to as passively as possible knock the egg out of the way. Depending on the character, they may just keep going on the aggressive, or go defensive if the egg will thoroughly mess up their own playstyle.
All that said, this is assuming the side special can be landed in the first place, and in many circumstances the egg is simply a reward for a good read or a lucky hit, as it’s just as hard to land as Yoshi’s, certainly not a guarantee in a stock. Without landing the side special, Baku will instead have to focus on meshing together his projectiles and making his own eggs by charging side special, which can have a varied impact depending on its size. Either it can be a fast or slow construct, high or low HP, changing the priority for which certain foes will want to attack it. It’s not as good a stage control as the Dream Egg, but in combination with the dash attack, the down smash, the up smash, it can be used to just as much effect. On top of that, when it has no 1.5 second duration in the air, it can be used for more aerial follow ups, which works well into Baku’s default statistics as a fat, but elegant flyer. Alongside that, the up special will work a lot better when used with a regular egg over a Dream Egg, able to help stretch the space it will cover as the foe falls to the ground.
Baku’s aerial game is very important, as at the same time as being a floaty heavyweight, he can be a fast faller too depending on what weapon is equipped. Both have positives and negatives inherently, as the floatier Baku will be easier to vertically KO, while the fast faller will be more combo food than normal. The aerials change in function drastically, with the down aerial being the most obvious example, but extending to all aerials as either Baku can linger in place with the attack for longer when not falling, or use the move to trade effectively from higher up as he falls, as well as being easier to hit a grounded foe from the air. Baku is strong against foes either from below or above, but doesn’t like too much being on the same horizontal stretch as the foe unless he has up special charged that will boost his forward aerial or being a set distance for back aerial’s sweetspot. The up aerial is one of Baku’s best KO moves with its huge disjointed hitbox, further accentuating liking to be below foes, as he can gamble on not hitting the foe to trade for more Dream Energy. This helps in aerial combat to allow Baku, when surrounded by any of his projectiles, to fluff one aerial, side special to eat the energy, then go for another within the same air trip.
There are some quirks to Baku’s playstyle. He can’t use up special out of shield due to it being Yoshi’s, his out of shield game is basically non-existent as a result. The trade-off for no shield poking means that Baku will err on the defensive side from a neutral position, and instead aim to space himself out a little from the foe before attacking, as his super close-range attacks are not too great. Some of his best moves for this are his jab, side special, up tilt and down tilt, and these largely will be how the match is fought early. Baku does have a couple of great defensive options to make up for the deficit with his shield, in the down tilt and down aerial, giving himself super armour so that he isn’t totally vulnerable in the air or on the ground. As Baku can effectively make himself into a wall for his shield when combined with his shuriken and can effectively create massive stage control with the foe in a Dream Egg, he works very well in a teams or FFA setting. The various projectiles all have a steep skill ceiling such as using the metal blade and laser as inspiration, drastically changing how they play into Baku’s playstyle. Of course without eating the foe, it’s all a much bigger drag. Baku will always wants to sate his appetite!
EXTRAS
Entrance
Baku has an overjoyed expression as he descends from above with his parasol, as he does at the start of Cocoron. He elegantly puts away the parasol and spins into a ballerina pose where he opens his parasol! For the start of the entrance, Baku is surrounded by Dream Energy and an aura of polka dots, he's gone from one feast to another!
Win/Loss Poses
Win Pose 1. Baku is surrounded by small blue-striped eggs on the ground that shake on their own. He has one in hand and throws it into his mouth, eating it and then rubbing his stomach in satisfaction.
Win Pose 2. Two of the Tapir Dancers from Baku's final smash appear on either side of a giant cake also from the final smash. After a moment of them posing with their pom-poms in other directions, they gesture towards the cake. Baku then bursts out of the cake with and poses alongside the two Tapir Dancers who shake their pom-poms, while taking a bite out of the icing.
Win Pose 3. Baku resembles Doc Louis in Little Mac's winning poses, as a randomly-generated Cocoron protagonist throws a randomized Dream Weapon forward. Baku encourages them and puts his hand on their shoulder at the end in an act of further encouragement. The protagonist is the same size as MegaMan, but will have a randomized head and body. This will make for a delicious meal later!
Loss Pose. Baku doesn't get to clap, as after the match he was locked away for good! Now he's the one in a giant blue egg. The rumbling of the egg could be clapping or trying to escape.
Kirby Hat
Kirby inherits Baku's night cap and his ability to eat opponents and create eggs, but will have less range and faster lag. Kirby will have the same mechanics of Baku, able to give him a taste of his own medicine. When Baku specifically is put into an egg by Kirby or an enemy Baku, he will be put into a blue-striped egg specifically, while all other characters are put into the normal, pink polka dot egg.
Colours/Alts
Baku's got a baby blue colour, a green ult and an assortment of alt costumes where the ? faces are on a giant bib he wears over his normal outfit, like before ranging from the smiley face, clown and pumpkin. These three alts also have a different night cap that has the Tapir Dancers' pom-pom instead of the usual fluffy bobble, ranging in colour from yellow, to bright blue, to orange.
MATCH UPS
VERSUS VECTOR
Baku and Vector are similarly focused on their projectiles, while Baku has the edge in terms of overall size Vector’s tend to be more powerful. Another boost to Vector is that he can use his Umbral Horror Masquerade to absorb Baku’s own projectiles to boost his smashes and other attacks, working against Baku’s usual projectile spam he might want to do, but doesn’t completely counter his set. This largely just makes it harder for Baku to do any kind of camping and is forced on the aggressive from early on. Baku does have his own minor projectile redirection in his neutral aerial, but this won’t be enough when Vector can save up his projectiles to use at far above the cap that the neutral aerial can withstand. Whereas most characters also won’t have the capability to follow Baku off stage to gimp him that hardcore, Vector’s insane recovery means he can easily tether to his Great Sword of the Heavens to follow Baku into the air and easily return from anywhere. Baku will probably lose if Vector can land his tether, but then he will be easy pickings for the Dream Egg side special, where this match up can turn around.
Vector largely will lose once Baku gets off his side special on Vector and can use the bullet hell in his favour, by throwing the egg all around to soak up the damage. He can do this without needing Vector’s Dream Egg, but at the same time this will doubly help in actually being able to KO Vector and rather than just soak up the projectiles, directly damaging him is far more useful. At the same time, Vector can augment his own moves too in the same way as Baku and use this to get around Baku’s eggs. Vector can instead focus on giving himself in forward smash for example, super armour, double his shield damage to attempt a shield break on Baku’s unpokeable egg shield, or create a sweetspot to make sure only Baku himself is hit by the most powerful portion, making a sourspot hit on the egg worth the damage. The other two smashes are more useful for getting a direct KO than the forward smash with an outright power boost, but Vector more than most can adjust to fighting Baku. Not that Baku can’t adapt too just not on the scale. Nonetheless, by limiting Vector’s potentially huge attack hitboxes and projectile hell by using his own dream egg as a hostage, Baku can avoid being drowned out.
This will often come down to an aerial battle when Vector wants to avoid all of Baku’s eggs, his grounded moves buffed after up special and any projectiles on the floor. Baku and Vector are surprisingly comparable, as while Baku can use his aerials out of his hover, Vector can use his out of the Great Sword to have a similarly moving aerial hitbox. Vector tends to have a range advantage with moves like forward aerial and back aerial is equally as annoying to deal with when getting back to stage. Baku’s advantage is his neutral aerial, which he will likely be using a ton of in this match up to keep Vector’s projectiles in order, and his down aerial to tank and trade. The forward aerial will be a primary KO move when it’s powered up, but otherwise loses out heavily to Vector’s especially when the powerful sweetspot will space him out in the air. Another thing to keep in mind is how Vector is basically the anti-Little Mac, even if the egg were to glitch down to 1mm above the blast zone before it shattered, he will recover, so there’s no cheesy finish here. What may be crucial in the match up for Baku is his up special, using those moves to hit away at Vector in the air while not sacrificing the ground game.
A fairly even spread of salt and pepper, this is a balanced meal, but one that has some bite to it!
VERSUS GARITHOS
When it comes to duels, it largely depends on if Baku has charged his up special, which gives a massive damage boost to his forward smash and makes it easier to use the lobbing arc projectiles when Garithos or his minions are stuck in the duelling arena. On the other hand, his lack of out of shield options really hurts him in this close range situation and without the dream energy he’ll find it hard to win against Garithos’ meticulous duelling playstyle. The best bet may be to not use side special at all outside of duels and then use it to eat the other character, leaving them in the egg until the end of the duel and winning if nothing is landed beforehand, although Baku can wail on the egg for the duration of the duel when fighting the sleeping character. While he can’t take anything outside into the duel, the egg will prove an indispensible aid when using it to wall the opponent of the duel off in such a confined space as well as being able to bat it around, all while adding damage to the opponent to help win the duel. Still, not being able to use side special outside of the duel is a massive negative and makes it quite difficult to get a foothold in the match, so it’s best to simply stay far away from Garithos to avoid the duels all together, instead focusing on using projectiles like the pencil to hit both his minions and him as well at the same time. When Garithos relies on attacks becoming heals on minions or vice versa, the egg can be a real pain as it sucks up the damage and blocks off these healing projectiles, creating just another troublesome interaction with the idiot elves.
This is going to be a match up where Baku wants to stay as light as possible to keep away from Garithos, opting for the melody, pencil or default egg, and using moves such as up smash, forward tilt, down aerial and down tilt for their long range and good defensive capabilities, mostly wanting to stage control and force Garithos on the approach. This is not averse to Garithos’ normal playstyle however and Garithos can if anything get more out of stalling the match with his taxation. By comparison, Baku can charge his up special or get more projectiles out on the field to use in his down special or get further range to attack Garithos, but it’s basically just enough pressure to keep Garithos from taxing his minions. Garithos’ one foible comes in analyzing his air and ground combat. He definitely has an edge over Baku on the ground due to duel and his powerful forward smash and minions, but is lost if he’s put into the air out of an egg with up tilt or up smash, as well as the many options to leave him or Baku in the air out of Baku’s grab game. When Baku scores a grab, he’ll likely aim to put Garithos in the air to either go for an air-to-air or ground-to-air approach, which will give him some strong opportunities to get the advantage over Garithos. For the most part though, Garithos will be able to get the better of the inhuman Baku. He simply can’t compete with the forced close range fights of duel unless he’s been preparing for it and Garithos has many great options to close the gap in an approach.
I was told there’d be tasty beasts but all I see is a horse, and Garithos war stomping on my tacky parasol.
VERSUS TREVENANT
Baku and Trevenant is a fun match up, as both excel in peculiar gimmicks to win and gain from some spacing, so neither especially wants to engage given their long range options. By comparison though, Trevenant’s long range grab will get the better of Baku more than Baku’s projectiles and egg. Trevenant plays are going to be used to avoiding damaging their own egg when they play with a Shadow every match, but it does create an opportunity to have two eggs at once if Baku can eat two Trevenants. Fittingly enough, Trevenant will want to root himself to the centre of the stage to avoid being thrown off and ledge guarded by Baku’s forward smash, much like Villager’s forward smash can do, as Trevenant’s recovery can be easily gimped from off stage without any hitbox. Of course Baku is happy to follow him off stage too, and this comes down to spacing more than most match ups. Trevenant is good at smacking the fat Baku away at a close-mid range, while Baku has a great time at a mid-long range. Trevenant doesn’t even have to approach given his grab and other long range options like Curse or Phantom Force, making it hard for Baku to gain much out of doing pure set up from a neutral stance, so he will want to instead approach to a hittable range of Trevenant instead. It is there that Baku will ground himself, and largely fight over the middle of the stage to force Trevenant nearer to the ledge.
As Baku is so fat and such a large target, his minimal healing will largely be outdone easily by Trevenant with the use of Horn Leech, another reason why Baku is forced to approach in this match up. This isn’t as easily done on the ground as it would be on the air, especially when Trevenant can gain medium armour at the same time from Horn Leech, which also passes some light armour to his grab at the same time, which will be terrible for Baku if he hasn’t got charged dream energy to buff some of his weaker parasol moves, limiting him to simply peppering Trevenant with his projectiles when they can be landed. Not only that, but Trevenant has a few tricks up his sleeve with a transcendent forward tilt, a massive disjointed hitbox in the dtilt that outranges all of Baku’s non-projectile moves horizontally that forces him in and some nasty aerials. As Baku is pretty large, he’ll also get hit by most of the down smash, especially when pushed up against his own egg, making it a real danger to be next to one and Trevenant. This will lead to more importance put on the down tilt and down aerial to get super armour against Trevenant, but usually at an uncomfortable range. Whereas super armour is reserved for when Ganondorf would do a dash attack or Little Mac with his smashes, Trevenant has such good range it will be used even when trying to approach from afar, and if this fails he’s liable to use Horn Leech on Baku to get a strong heal off. When fought from above, it’s also important to look out for the transcendent up aerial shadow ball and up smash with great range, these are two of the moves that give great vertical range.
Probably the best strategy to dealing with Trevenant is trying to keep above him and rain down eggs, lobbing arc projectiles, balls, down aerials, funnily enough the seed dream weapon is a good choice against Trevenant. The tree’s range is mostly horizontal in moves such as forward smash, grab, down tilt, but his vertical range is not so good, but he has plenty of strong up facing moves if Baku gets too low. When Trevenant hasn’t got the best aerial movement, he can largely be locked out by Baku attacking from above just using the eggs, but as it will cancel the hover, is then easy to punish if the weapons don’t land a hit. When close enough, Trevenant easily wins close trades and is in fact built to win such trades, even in the air, and particularly when there’s a Shadow in play. It is pretty much required to not have the heavier weight and fall speed to stay above Trevenant, but this creates an issue as Trevenant is not built to combo anyway plus the heavier weight will be most useful when close to a KO, staying above Trevenant is most important at that point. There’s no ideal choice here, but it may be good to at least use a very long range weapons to build up damage first and ever force an approach by Trevenant. On the other hand, relying on switching weapons is going to only end in disaster for Baku when Trevenant can pin him down and do serious damage in quick time.
Wood’s not tasty at all! I’d rather eat zero calorie meals.
VERSUS GLUTH
Gluth’s a far more straightforward match up than the previous two. It comes down to a couple of things: the zombie chows are easily dispatched using the side special and the slopes tend to work in to Baku’s playstyle to his advantage. His egg moves and eggs themselves work as normal items, while Baku has no way to take advantage on his own, he easily can when fighting Gluth. This largely puts the down smash on shaky ground, on top of that Gluth’s Jaws mechanic will find it much harder when he can’t reliably eat his own chow, especially when lacking the usual approaching slopes in combination with his movement to get closer to Baku, who will simply reply with an egg in the face. Not to mention the awkwardness of trying to fight if Gluth gets side special’d and his own egg is falling into range of his own attacks, and while he gets stronger this works actively against him for dealing himself more damage, as you’d expect, let alone with Decimate. It’s not completely clear how this would work on an egg, but I’ll assume that Decimate would do half of what it usually would on an enemy Gluth when he attacks his own egg, making it another precarious option.
It’s not as though Gluth doesn’t have plenty of other options for a close range rushdown, but when it comes to that Baku largely has every answer with his long range projectiles, forward smash and so on. It’s a fairly big struggle to get progress when the whole stage is covered in zombie eggs. In fact the amount of zombie eggs may be Gluth’s saving grace, as he can create enough to force Baku to un-egg the earlier ones, and force a limited amount of zombies into place. By comparison, Baku’s playstyle takes a while longer to kick in than Gluth’s due to needing projectiles out, to land side special, land a grab or charge his up special to get real leeway, whereas Gluth simply needs to chow down. It’s easy enough to just sneak in some hits on Baku, but he can position an egg next to where Decimate might land on a zombie even without putting them in an egg, making it awkward when that move is so heavily telegraphed. This all basically results in Gluth having to directly attack and defend his zombie chows, but that isn’t easy when Baku has his dream weapon projectiles, his down tilt to approach and down aerial to approach in the air, to make the distance and attack from long range. For Baku it’s easy to snipe away at the zombies for the bonus they give, and his own playstyle of playing separation will work just as well with Gluth and his zombies to make sure he rarely gets the Jaws buffs.
Zombie dog is super tasty and easy on my jaws!
VERSUS ZOMOM
How could I not include Zomom with the taste rating? Zomon and Baku have much in common! They love to eat, but Baku is more about eating his opponent and dreams than actual food, which is where this match up begins to get interesting. Zomom can get far more out of set up than Baku by eating the food and making it into unique weapons, some having amazing range such as his giant sub sandwich. At the same time, Baku camp from far off, but has no real answer to this besides getting close himself and trying to fight Zomom from the air or a medium-long range, as close up Zomom has many options out of his own weapons. He is a bit limited though in that his telegraphed down aerial, his boulders, mustard and so on only help to make him hit his own egg, and will help push around the egg too using the mustard’s own mechanic. Once Zomom gets too greedy, it’s easy to lull him into a false sense of security to punish that same set up that he was trying to use against Baku. Moves such as the up special tornado and hitting through the stage with Dig become extra difficult to utilize if an egg is in play. At the same time, as Baku has an eating move he can readily eat up Zomom’s food whenever possible much easier than having to pick it up, similar to Dedede, Wario and Yoshi.
Zomom has far stronger capabilities to buff his own weight, while sacrificing his speed with his Onion Rings, as well as gaining super armour based off his food passively being on the stage. This is largely hard to stop when Baku will want to be in the air for much of the match, especially when Zomom can rain down debris using his forward smash, or run around his boulders using dash attack to avoid Baku’s projectiles. Zomom isn’t easy to gimp either with his through-the-stage recovery. At his heaviest, Zomom can weigh up to a ridiculously fat 200 weight points, far above what Baku can do, meaning that Zomom can always potentially out survive Baku if he eats enough. This is actually a big problem for Baku. He has a defensive deficit with his shield, and while it can’t be poked, Zomom largely doesn’t care, and will go on the offensive with slurry of his own super armoured attacks. Multiple food items will give more super armour faster and gives Baku the job of clean up. Zomom is fairly great at knocking any eggs Baku creates on his own around with his own variety of weapons, always having one for the occasion, but at the same time this is not tempered enough to avoid having Zomom’s egg used against him if it’s out. This is one match up where the opponent wants to avoid being eaten at all costs, as it spells disaster for Zomom’s brand of Sonic momentum and huge, powerful hitboxes when Baku takes his real body hostage.
When it comes to separation, Baku’s largely going to be using it to separate Zomom and his food, and this is just evil considering the characters involved. Baku can fight off Zomom handily in the air if he can land his up smash or up special, or even his up tilt or up aerial. On the other hand, he can use the same moves to keep the egg, items or projectiles away from Zomom, although as it’s only lifted up vertically it will count towards his food for the speed boost. There are certain parts that can’t be influenced at all though such as the mustard, but it does create a dilemma when this will just as well boost Baku’s eggs, his down tilt and his dash attack. What Zomom merely needs to do is to keep up with Baku at a close range however, as even without too much rushdown or combo fodder in his set, he can still likely do a number on him using his huge neutral aerial, down special and up special hitboxes whenever Baku gets a higher weight. Likewise, Zomom has plenty of ways to check Baku’s recovery and will put the pressure on him to maintain only the lightest weight. Diet and exercise for both of us!
A workout buffet for Zomom, where can I get a second serving of sub sandwich dreams?
Shirogane might be the most fun of the Mugen Souls sets I’ve read up to this point, its core concept of summoning a giant mountain is very over the top and has tons of application despite the set’s relatively short length. There are plenty of moves that hit down and up, like the forward tilt, or moves that interact with the mountains, like the down smash or up special, that’s all good stuff. I did find some of the interactions a bit too much, like the down smash randomly moving the entire mountain across the stage and the idea of a foe landing in prone on top of a mountain after it crashes on top of them, but for the most part it was very solid. One amusing element I found was with all this talk of mountains and HMAs when Warlord has made a set for The Mountain, and Lord Morgan is all about the slopes/hitting above or below his car. Shirogane’s match up with him is hilarious as Morgan just drives his car up the side of the mountain as a hitbox and defends it from on high. It’s a plus point for the set that when played against other slope-y characters, it’s very fun to imagine.
I did like your way of implementing the mountains in a fairly straightforward way, then the specials do a nice job of setting up the playstyle with a projectile that goes up or into the mountain, a good way of slicing up the mountain and finally a spacing Eruption move. It could be a little better however, as I feel like for example the down smash could easily be a special when it moves the mountains. The grab game was not the greatest, such as an up throw that first throws the foe down at the ground to then hit them into the air. I can imagine plenty of scenarios, like on platforms or other constructs where he’d just throw them down. There’s also some animations like down aerial being a drill sword and being able to jump off a slanted mountain to get traction that are a bit testing, but nothing serious. If there was one major complaint it’s that this playstyle of hitting up or down a slanted surface like a slope is a bit tired at this point. This is definitely a good set though, mostly carried by the fun concept of mountains and also by the pretty great writing style it has, it’s an efficient little set considering what it actually comprises. Good job on this one, Kat.
Marina was very fun, I was a bit pessimistic after the specials it’d not be restrained enough, but the effects were overall well executed. The neutral and side special are good at setting up the playstyle by allowing Marina to absorb any projectiles then experiment on them directly, while I wasn’t a fan of the randomness in the up special, seems fairly pointless. The down special was fun; I wish you did some Uka Uka whirlwind stuff with that or something, seemed like it could’ve been more central. However what is central, the projectile manipulation is really creative and complex. You have the time slowing stuff, the Pocket from Villager on the neutral aerial and a vortex that can make a huge powerful laser. The aerials as a whole were some of the best I’ve seen you post in a while for a set, as every one has a new effect that was very fun. I would say the actual hitbox could’ve been better handled, as mostly the effects are somewhat separate from the attack in function. The throws were also fun considering, never seen a special pummel that heals before, though it does work.
Ultimately this set reminds me a lot of the set I just posted, Baku, with the experiment idea, but as the whole focus. It’s certainly a cool experiment and because of your restraint it’s actually pretty well balanced too, despite the fact it’s so out there with the concepts. It’s hard to nitpick too much, but I will say that some effects are a bit weird. Namely the up special for again, the pointless randomness, summoning an icicle on down tilt and like the Ice Climbers special, not sure if I appreciate the dash attack even if it’s chock full of legitimate fan service. I’m pretty sure Bionichute won’t read this set or my comment but he will definitely not approve of this move and find it perverted, I personally think it’d be served better as a taunt. The throws are probably the one area where it feels too much to be creating the up throw tornado that lingers after the throw, but not much else I can say felt out of place. The trap on the down smash was a bit confusing, and I do wonder if you’d want to have a reflector of some sort on stage, you do have a slowing spell though so you can probably catch up to all the projectiles. On the whole I’d say it’s the new best and better than Shirogane, making this overall already a good project of sets.
My first thought on Welsh was how strange it was to create a tree that’s essentially, a treehouse for small characters. I guess all those ******* and stuff are treated like children for the sake of this set, like Olimar. It started to make sense when I realised this is a set for a character who acts like a monkey in a tree. You could probably have just cloned Diddy Kong’s side special, would feel more natural than a grab for this character to be jumping around literally just like a monkey. The up special is good for setting up simple momentum building, and obviously works into the side special and tree, but I don’t see the point of down special within these mechanics. It’s fairly weird for a down special to essentially be a recovery and could easily be combined with the side special into a new side special. This would be Diddy Kong’s side special except maybe able to charge it and leaving you in the air, leaving room for something more than the fruit throwing and vine swinging, that while fun, are not a great base. It’s also pretty weird how a tree is not solid, even Villager’s tree is solid, and it doesn’t sprout new branches and fruit, as well as being able to swing off it!
The standards were okay, but honestly kind of lacking, I feel like you could’ve gotten some better use out of them given you have a whole tree, vine and fruit to take advantage of with those inputs. They for the most part just further produce rushdown using the tree’s fairly simplistic stage control. It’s also odd for me that the forward smash seems to slant the tree, but maybe make it solid? This isn’t too clear, but it’s some very specific tacky logic that a bone being smashed into the tree is powerful enough to slant it compared to smashes that not only look much more powerful, but do far more damage like Dedede’s forward smash. It was already pretty odd having the tree not be solid, but then making it solid through a single move’s interaction is making that hard to overlook. The last two smashes work a bit better, but don’t particularly add much to the set, and damaging your own tree isn’t the best idea in hindsight. Villager’s down special cutting down the tree is more fun than simply destroying the tree in this set to get stuff to fall off it, and happens without needing so much interaction to make it happen. You simply cause a massively damaging tree to fall and hit the opponent, I feel like this could be at least as satisfying as that example.
After finishing the set off, the last couple of input sections do an okay job of rounding out the playstyle with some tricky moves that make sense for the character. They’re not bad, but the set feels like it’s relying on questionable elements. The tree is just super confused in how it’s not solid, but becomes solid in forward smash and largely goes without explaining how a slanted tree works for many of the mechanics like up special, I’m not sure how a vine even benefits from a slanted tree branch when you can make more branches. I was hoping the fruit might develop into something like, IDK, throwing seeds to create hitboxes on the ground that could’ve been an interesting approach to the rushdown here. It’s mostly just banking on the vine momentum. My major problem with the set is you didn’t need to create the tacky tree, whip a vine onto it then dedicate two more specials to get momentum from off the tree, to simply use the tree as stage control for most of the set. Overall I wasn’t impressed by this set as I have been by Shirogane, Marina or Tsukika, but it wasn’t bad, it did have a good characterisation and creative little quirks. I can’t help feeling the way it’s executed is pretty wasteful and not well thought out.
First, a moment to honour the worst named character of all time, Esty Dee. This set’s writing style reminds me of a famous Mr. Plinkett quote: brevity is the soul of wit. You force these massively long descriptions over what could be handled in a single paragraph, or even sentence, all in the specials for the most part. It’s not fun to read and I can’t imagine it was fun to write, but of course has some decent ideas, just not seemingly confident enough to let them play out without smothering them with extra details? Maybe you weren’t confident enough that a rushdown character like this could be enjoyable, but I know you can do great sets and you didn’t need to go this insanely over-detailed, it detracts heavily from the whole set. The duplicates alone were enough to build a fun rushdown set around. I don’t mind you going into detail in general, like Judge Nemo or Marina as great examples of doing it well, but this is way too extreme, to the point I seriously have to weigh whether I ironically enjoyed Pseudo-Vorgis more than this set. Every move here reads like 3 moves put into 1, and it’s almost impossible to keep track. It’s also not as though the extra stuff in the move adds a lot of substance, it’s really just adding another move’s worth of basic functionality to the end lag or aerial version of an existing move that was already too complicated.
The set does calm itself down after the specials section and gets into superior territory. It’s hard to recover though, as your sets tend to have a strong start and add to it as the set goes on. The up smash returns to the style from the specials and is just as indecipherable. I do find it odd given straight up invincibility on a forward smash too. I think if you wanted to do a set with the concepts in this set, you’d want to replicate Wesker, or for a recent, non-biased set, Anti-Mage, a set all about teleports and movement. These sets tended to be pretty simple though, in fact I wrote Wesker in a few hours, granted I did big edits later on. I can’t say I like the Nair being so weak, 5% on a multihit move? The mechanic of doing more damage from behind on aerials also isn’t nearly enough to save moves like forward aerial. The bair is just terribly balanced, forcing a guessing game on the foe along with the sweetspot making it very OP with the 18% hitbox, at the same time as doing a somewhat UP 4% damage if hit with another part of the move. I think this would end up being annoying in practice to pull off as desired and for a foe when they get KO’d by the sweetspot because they DI’d the wrong direction. The uair is actually well balanced, but on the UP side, probably one of the better moves in the set alongside the forward smash and standards, but this is not good stuff at all in the greater picture. The bthrow was legitimately clever, though I don’t know if you needed the second paragraph; you could have elaborated some on re-grabs instead, something along those lines. The grab game in general is a good reprieve from the earlier parts of the set and doesn’t have nearly as many mistakes, but this set overall is very bad.
AlRex
I remember your previous sets, Magneto is a decent improvement over them, however you basically need one thing: detail. You are talking about some concepts here like the forward smash that could have a lot of flare and creativity to it with simply the size of the hitbox, but even an interaction with the down special or other projectiles could be fun, and Magneto seems like the kind of character who’d have tons of interactions given his magnetism. I was surprised you didn’t do what MvC3 did and use the magnetism on the foe, I know it’s not logical but it’d be very forgivable in this context. You have the right general idea with your sets but you just need to be more ambitious, as Magneto doesn’t really play to any particular playstyle, it’s all fairly basic stuff. Even his “rip off” Mewtwo has a stronger purpose, let me just quote the SSB Wiki for this as they explain it in great terms.
Generally speaking, Mewtwo is an odd hybrid of playstyles: it fits the archetype of a speedy glass cannon that sacrifices attack speed and range for sheer damage and power, yet typically relies on bait and punish tactics and defensive maneuvers to keep opponents from performing rushdowns and capitalizing on its very tall frame and extremely light weight. This does not mean Mewtwo is forced to turtling, however, as its outstanding mobility, excellent aerial game, good frame data, and all-around powerful moveset make it a force to be reckoned with. Ultimately, this classifies Mewtwo as a "high-risk, high-reward" character due to it boasting numerous KOing options that have capable reach, yet being burdened with very light weight and a susceptibility to combos and juggling, it will have to capitalize on reads more often than not, giving Mewtwo a surprisingly high learning curve as a result.
You should aim for something if not on that level of depth, at least aware of the playstyle, and Magneto could easily be based around rushdown, zoning, projectiles, and stage control. Pretty much anything you wanted based on his high potential and creative power set. I hope you do come back with some more sets though as I’m interested in what you decide to do next after Superman and Magneto.
Altais
First I’d like to apologize that no one’s gotten around to commenting your set until now, it’s a shame as this set for Elmahas a lot going for it despite being your first submission. The most obvious thing it’s missing is damage percents. If you’re concerned they won’t be accurate, you can just visit a site like the SSB Wiki to compare numbers, in this set the clearest comparison would be Shulk, especially when moves are similar to his moves. The second obvious thing is that this puts sections in a strange order. Specials should go first, and should feel more special to ground the later parts of the set, as well as the grab game here not bringing much depth compared to earlier parts of the set. A minor point is also if possible, you could’ve gotten some images of Elma doing these attacks or what they were inspired from, as I recall Xenoblade X has some flashy attacks that’d be cool to see in a set.
What you said in author’s notes was very interesting, seeing your design process and having played the game I think you did a good job transitioning Elma to Smash 4. The mechanic from the down special is probably the actual most important part of how she plays, and it’s a shame it comes near the end, as if it was at the start you’d be able to discuss not only how it affects her specials, but how those specials then affect how she plays with her other moves. One nitpick I have is the down special could also have its own upgrade, similar to Cloud’s Limit Break where he gains access to Finishing Touch when it’s active. You could put a new, cool move here when she’s in Overdrive. I am actually fairly impressed how much you seem to care about doing the character justice, even changing up moves to focus on the “offense” rather than zoning, and considering how to make the set more original. I hope after all this time you’ve not moved on as I’d love to see another set from you.
@der Rabe Good to see this was finished! You have an interesting perspective with all the thumbnailed videos and obviously have a big affinity for Dark Samus and Metroid. I basically main Samus with that alt so I was intrigued to see what can be done here, and overall it’s a good attempt for your first, though it has room for improvement. The up special is pretty OP considering its damage and very safe execution when it can rebound off shields and seems basically unpunishable. This probably stems from the fact you don’t go into very much detail. The other specials tend to be fine, although again could do a lot more if you wrote more about them, and I get the feeling you could think of a bunch of fun ideas based off your Metroid knowledge. I really do see some great potential in how you analyze your characters here to find the best place for all their most noteworthy moves, it only needs some refinement.
One set I think you’d enjoy is Metroid Prime [link here] done a few contests ago, a set for the smaller form of Prime so it’s playable in a match. This set interprets Prime’s powers in pretty elaborate ways while staying true to the character, so it might give you some tips and hopefully be enjoyable. Dark Samus actually has the makings of a good solid playstyle, but is very simple. When you analyze the original Samus, you do a good job of retaining moves but changing others to fit Dark Samus, but Samus’ playstyle is kind of lost in translation. If you focused more on moves like the down special which could probably have a creative effect on the rest of the moves, or the ways you can land neutral special, or so on, that would help to add some depth to the set, which is what it most needs. Hopefully you make some more, and I really do highly recommend Metroid Prime as a read because I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
That’s all my comments for now. I’m going to leave off the rest of the comments, including Gaige, Sandslash, Riki, Garithos and Colonel.EXE for another day, possibly as soon as tomorrow as it’s super late.
@Smash Daddy
Thanks for the input. I agree that DS' up special is very safe and unpunishable. I suppose it'd be best that the rebound causes some lag when DS lands, as she does exhibit this in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Of course, in the game, she has a bit of invincibility before she can get hit. Still, that could be removed so that it is possible to be punished. I had a lot of ideas to use for DS. I was thinking about giving her Stealth, since she's been able to turn invisible in the games, but I thought considering her main method of KO'ing seems to be edge-guarding, I thought it wouldn't be fair to be unable to see DS. Sure, I had the idea that a fully charged Scatter Shot would have the flashing muzzle on her arm cannon like Samus', but then that could be ignored to ensure unpredictable edge-guarding.
I really wanted to remain true to DS' character and abilities. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, we see that she has Rundas', Ghor's, and Gandrayda's abilities in the final match, which is why I went with specific names like Phrygisian Pillar, since Rundas is a Phrygisian, and Gandrayda's Jovian Bolts, since she is likely from the planet, Jovia XII. Ghor, of course, had the plasma beam, and we do see this in the final battle as well, but not as often as the first two. From how I've created DS, I feel that she would be a character who would prefer range, but with a jab with more hit stun compared to Samus', she would be able to hold her own in close combat.
I feel that in even Sm4sh, a character like Dark Pit isn't so far off from Pit. Sure, he deals more damage, he has a different forward special, and his arrows don't turn too well. Still, people in the past have complained about clone characters, so I felt there should be a number of changes. But these changes weren't entirely based on my own preference, but rather just how DS as a character in the Prime games worked. There will be drastic differences, but a few noticeable similarities like there is between Mario and Luigi. I admit that I had trouble trying to figure out what DS' aerials could be. I personally think the abilities Samus has in the Smash series is perfect compared to her abilities from the Metroid series.
I also apologize for not putting out as much content as I possibly could. I tried to give some specifics for damage percent and angles. I think one thing that is kind of a problem with my DS is I really haven't found ways for her to do combos, so I could try to work on those as well. I also forgot to put in her speed, weight, and falling speed. I was thinking of making DS a little heavier than Samus, only because from the scan data themselves, DS is said to be better than Samus. I currently have some personal struggles, so I apologize for not getting back to working on DS for some time. I would like to improve the information about her some more. Thank you again for your input. I appreciate it.
Edit
I made a few changes for Dark Samus so that she has a little more attacks like that of Samus'. These include her forward tilt, forward air, and forward throw. Her Phazon Sphere is also now punishable, should the attack be blocked. Damage required to get rid of each "dark echo" is only 12% instead of 14%. Damage dealt by the shock wave from Phazon Sphere is now 10%.
Altais
First I’d like to apologize that no one’s gotten around to commenting your set until now, it’s a shame as this set for Elmahas a lot going for it despite being your first submission. The most obvious thing it’s missing is damage percents. If you’re concerned they won’t be accurate, you can just visit a site like the SSB Wiki to compare numbers, in this set the clearest comparison would be Shulk, especially when moves are similar to his moves. The second obvious thing is that this puts sections in a strange order. Specials should go first, and should feel more special to ground the later parts of the set, as well as the grab game here not bringing much depth compared to earlier parts of the set. A minor point is also if possible, you could’ve gotten some images of Elma doing these attacks or what they were inspired from, as I recall Xenoblade X has some flashy attacks that’d be cool to see in a set.
What you said in author’s notes was very interesting, seeing your design process and having played the game I think you did a good job transitioning Elma to Smash 4. The mechanic from the down special is probably the actual most important part of how she plays, and it’s a shame it comes near the end, as if it was at the start you’d be able to discuss not only how it affects her specials, but how those specials then affect how she plays with her other moves. One nitpick I have is the down special could also have its own upgrade, similar to Cloud’s Limit Break where he gains access to Finishing Touch when it’s active. You could put a new, cool move here when she’s in Overdrive. I am actually fairly impressed how much you seem to care about doing the character justice, even changing up moves to focus on the “offense” rather than zoning, and considering how to make the set more original. I hope after all this time you’ve not moved on as I’d love to see another set from you.
Yes, I was worried about damage percents being either too small or too high, which is why I never include them in mine movesets. But I think I'll do some research. Also, admittedly some of Elma's normal attacks were inspired by Shulk's moveset.
I considered using a YouTube-to-GIF website to help others understand the moves better, as well as make the moveset more entertaining, but in the end just didn't want to go through the trouble.
I have to agree with your statement on specials. In Smash, a character's specials are pretty much the core of their playstyle--ergo, it does make sense they should come first. In pretty much all the newcomer trailers, the first thing that is revealed is the specials. That said, I think I'll reconsider the order in which the moves are presented.
Lastly, I'll see if I can come up with an Overdrive move.
I've written plenty of other movesets--some good, some terrible--so I might post more for critique in the future.
I have something to say about Elma, while we're on that topic: it's odd how you go out of your way to remove projectiles such as sword beams because you want her to focus on offence rather than zoning, then give her a multi-hit NAir with by far the greatest disjointed reach and area coverage in Smash 4. That looks like a pretty great zoning tool to me. That said, projectiles are far from impossible to incorporate into an offensive style. For example, what if Hundred Shells kept its sword beams, but could have its endlag cancelled into a forward dash like that of Ryu's Focus Attack? That would be an excellent approach tool for Elma, because it would allow her to fish for openings and close in when the time is right, such as getting a foe accustomed to shielding it and then eventually dashing in with a grab.
(Sorry I haven't been around for a while guys; haven't had computer access. I'm posting from my Wii U right now. Will hopefully add more comments whenever I get some time on my computer.)
Elma Altais
So this set actually was pretty solid, especially as first sets go. The main obvious problem I will say is the lack of damage percents, as barring absurd numbers that indicate no knowledge of what Smash is actually like its better to have those numbers than not. When you get past that, you write some very solid, well thought out animations that make it feel like a pretty natural transition to Smash, and generally demonstrate a decent idea of what does and doesn't work into an aggressive playstyle like you were going for. Its not remarkably creative, but I get a pretty strong idea of how the set would play even without kill and damage percents. That said, it really does hurt my ability to understand exactly what your moveset would play like not knowing those values, and while the Author's Notes explaining the origins of the attacks is nice it feels out of place alongside the main moveset, I'd probably keep that stuff in a spoiler tag at the end. And a final nitpick, which I guess is rather petty but still bugs me, I'm not a fan of changing the music of a match outside the final smash, so the random soundtrack change on Overdrive is odd to me. I could maybe understand it more on a music based character though.
Dark Samus @der Rabe In any given Dark Samus set, you have to take a certain amount of inspiration from Samus' existing moveset to make it feel at all natural. This set certainly does that, while having a few unique concepts to itself like the Dark Echoes, a move I actually thought was pretty cool and I wish the fact that the clones orbiting you imitated your attacks was expanded on. That's a pretty big deal and would heavily influence how she plays, and could potentially be very strong, but its mostly just treated like a cliffnote. I will say its also kind of weird how many of Samus' abilities you introduce from outside her existing set, rather than making as strong an emphasis on Dark Samus' own unique aspects. Using stuff like the boost ball for what is basically Sonic's Down Throw just feels off to me. I'm being nitpicky though as I have my own visions about how this character would work, yours certainly has a fair few ideas on how to make her more interesting than just a clone. Just sometimes it feels a little more like a Samus remake than a set for her corrupted counterpart.
Dark Samus @der Rabe In any given Dark Samus set, you have to take a certain amount of inspiration from Samus' existing moveset to make it feel at all natural. This set certainly does that, while having a few unique concepts to itself like the Dark Echoes, a move I actually thought was pretty cool and I wish the fact that the clones orbiting you imitated your attacks was expanded on. That's a pretty big deal and would heavily influence how she plays, and could potentially be very strong, but its mostly just treated like a cliffnote. I will say its also kind of weird how many of Samus' abilities you introduce from outside her existing set, rather than making as strong an emphasis on Dark Samus' own unique aspects. Using stuff like the boost ball for what is basically Sonic's Down Throw just feels off to me. I'm being nitpicky though as I have my own visions about how this character would work, yours certainly has a fair few ideas on how to make her more interesting than just a clone. Just sometimes it feels a little more like a Samus remake than a set for her corrupted counterpart.
I will add more information regarding Dark Echoes. I suppose I prefer to be succinct for the most part, so it kind of makes me wonder why others write so much. Still, I'll add more so that it doesn't seem like cliff notes. Like I said in my last post, trying to come up with different ideas for certain attacks, especially aerials, was a struggle for me. I wasn't sure what to put out, and during my creative process, I then began to realize that Dark Samus doesn't seem to have anything combo-oriented. Rather, she's turned out to be a character who would be excellent at edge-guarding. This wasn't intentional, but more of a byproduct of Dark Samus' abilities from the Metroid Prime trilogy.
I really like the idea of Boost Ball, simply because Dark Samus will never enter her morph ball mode like Samus does when she uses her down special or when she rolls. I'm sure I could come up with something else, but a lot of attacks have already been done throughout the Smash series that I feel there isn't much novelty in what attacks could be made. While, for example, Kirby, Cloud and Shulk are different from Ike, just look at their up special. The properties are different, but the appearances are the same. Or Ike's Great Aether and Greninja's Secret Ninja Attack are essentially the same thing. When I was thinking of Boost Ball, I was thinking about Samus' down smash, quite honestly. I wasn't thinking of Sonic's down throw. If, on the other hand, you mean to say that Dark Samus' down throw is essentially Sonic's, then I can come up with something else that doesn't involve the boost ball. My only other idea is Stealth.
Edit: Maybe I can make an attack like Mewtwo's Disable with down special. I would call it Corruption and if it comes in contact with Dark Samus' opponent, the opponent's controls will be backwards and special will be replaced with normal and vice versa.
I will add more information regarding Dark Echoes. I suppose I prefer to be succinct for the most part, so it kind of makes me wonder why others write so much. Still, I'll add more so that it doesn't seem like cliff notes. Like I said in my last post, trying to come up with different ideas for certain attacks, especially aerials, was a struggle for me. I wasn't sure what to put out, and during my creative process, I then began to realize that Dark Samus doesn't seem to have anything combo-oriented. Rather, she's turned out to be a character who would be excellent at edge-guarding. This wasn't intentional, but more of a byproduct of Dark Samus' abilities from the Metroid Prime trilogy.
I really like the idea of Boost Ball, simply because Dark Samus will never enter her morph ball mode like Samus does when she uses her down special or when she rolls. I'm sure I could come up with something else, but a lot of attacks have already been done throughout the Smash series that I feel there isn't much novelty in what attacks could be made. While, for example, Kirby, Cloud and Shulk are different from Ike, just look at their up special. The properties are different, but the appearances are the same. Or Ike's Great Aether and Greninja's Secret Ninja Attack are essentially the same thing. When I was thinking of Boost Ball, I was thinking about Samus' down smash, quite honestly. I wasn't thinking of Sonic's down throw. If, on the other hand, you mean to say that Dark Samus' down throw is essentially Sonic's, then I can come up with something else that doesn't involve the boost ball. My only other idea is Stealth.
Edit: Maybe I can make an attack like Mewtwo's Disable with down special. I would call it Corruption and if it comes in contact with Dark Samus' opponent, the opponent's controls will be backwards and special will be replaced with normal and vice versa.
I have not read Dark Samus yet to give any comment of length, but in general, something like the Corruption idea you mentioned is not considered a good idea, as it mostly adds signifigant annoyance but little gameplay value.
Gaige is a nice sequel to Zer0, a conscious effort to do an entirely different playstyle, most clearly in how Deathtrap is utilized, a very direct minion that’s balanced around a time limit. The anarchy mechanic is an original take on an upgrade system, instead building it into the gameplay of Gaige, it’s a fun idea. At the same time as introducing the new approach, you have all these buffs and effects that were the soul of Zer0’s playstyle. Gaige by comparison doesn’t have it as tightly worked into her playstyle as Zer0, who lived and died by these effects, instead she gets a change to her set as her Anarchy Meter builds. There are problems trying to focus the playstyle when Deathtrap, the Evie Pistol and Grenades largely don’t work together other than zoning with projectiles. Deathtrap’s simplicity makes for a big fat minion to come help for half the match, but doesn’t excel any part of Gaige’s playstyle in particular, mostly just barn storming the foe. It lacks the finesse that was in Zer0, but it does have some of its own charm. It’s a set aware of its snowballing balance and the attention to detail in making it work is great. The mechanics and gadgets used are imaginative and smartly executed.
There’s decent interaction stuff like Shock Storm, Explosive Clap and Buck Up, but I’m not sure how to feel about one-time user moves such as One, Two Boom or Robot Rampage. On one hand, moves limited to one summon or stock always strike me as kinda lazy balancing, but on the other hand it’s good to see the flashiness of these attacks incorporated into the sets. In the least, being able to control these attacks rather than everything being AI does add plenty to the set. The smashes were fairly interesting for attempting flashy moves that lack any interaction but instead play off small, but significant impact of the Anarchy Meter. This ended up being the best section. The grab game falls pretty flat after the smashes. Most of the anarchy changes simply make the throws KO earlier and not much else. Overall this set had great points like the general depth, every move can go through huge changes based on the Anarchy mechanic, and these are well balanced and take into account how Gaige’s playstyle evolves. Deathtrap just isn’t incorporated past the specials and electrifying hitboxes of standards/aerials. It’s commendable how loyal you are to the source material and including every minor interaction, I would’ve liked you to add more of your own to give a greater sense of personality to Deathtrap. Gaige largely utilizes him as just another gadget, I’m not sure if he’s that generic in-game, but it was hard to gauge [no pun intended] any character and was a big detraction, especially when he’s absent later in the set. This set was still good, albeit not as good as Zer0 I can see the argument for it having a deeper playstyle.
How did you do these great embedded videos?
Riki's my personal favourite of all the Xenoblade sets to come out, I will say yet again that Metalface would make a great new addition to this apparent contest-long project you have going, Slavic. This archetype's not one I've seen in ages, the "make gas, move gas around" playstyle, here in the form of pollen. First of all I have to address the strange weight value given Riki is apparently a heavyweight in-game, I guess this is an "in-joke" as you say in the introduction but logically it would be kept for a crossover, plenty of weirder things in Xenoblade than Riki's fat ass. The specials are decent besides the down special that is terrible, this move is ridiculously punishable and suggested to be used when the foe is KO'd. I'd rather you got rid of everything but the heal and made it a taunt when it's that useless when Riki is under any pressure, it is literally useless outside of a 1v1! I can't help but feel this exists due to the 1 weight stat that was also unnecessary.
The moveset besides that has what you'd expect out of this type of playstyle, use the pooper-scooper to take powder from one part of the stage and move it to another, all the while baiting the foe on using the effects given by the various powders, aiming to get as many effects going as possible before hitting Say Sorry. It's just a shame that these effects are all there is to the smashes, the powder effects in general aren't relevant and could seriously be reduced to a pure aesthetic without much of a loss, when Riki doesn't play to any of their strengths in particular. I can also see why Roy wouldn't like this set when the core powder, the neutral special, adds on freeze frames and slows the foe getting up their shield, this sounds fairly annoying to play against. The majority of the set correctly focuses on Riki's mobility to keep out of harm's way as he spreads his pollen, the good throws focusing on moving the foe into the powder and was one of your best grab games period, the standards were also solid. It's a shame that all the negatives exist as this could be a great set if you had a better grasp of how to make these effects challenging rather than frustrating on their victims, and generally improved the smashes/deleted the down special. Genuinely, I'm fascinated to see where you take these series of sets after this one.
Sandslash was good. To start it has a strong base of Sandstorm to blow sand around the stage, then the three other specials that take advantage of this sand, on top of mild terraforming in Dig, Bulldoze for greater mobility and rounding it off in a powerful Eruption-like move, Magnitude, that was all well done. The smashes manage to make the most of the sand in Crush Claw, also interesting to see how you create a brawler playstyle using the sand and ground-focused aggression. The scooper up smash was fun and I like the theme around Sandslash tossing the sand and foes around off of his dirt. The boost it gets in sand is good and I liked these moves in general with the set, it's very fitting that Sandslash does these animations to also defend himself using his ammo here, as though Sandslash is defending his environment. It's not a camper, but the set does well at establishing Sandslash wants to keep his distance. The specials did this too using the tunnels and Magnitude, as well as the threat of a Magnitude on a buried foe being incredibly powerful. There's a nice primal feel to the pressure Sandslash can exhert using these simple moves that makes for a well characterised Pokémon set.
Dig is a bit questionable for balance considering all the defence it gives Sandslash, I wonder if you'd be open to editing its power down, as while I do like some of what you do using the tunnels it probably would be best to make it a dirt track as opposed to a full terraformed tunnel. I'm not opposed to terraforming one bit, Sandslash simply doesn't get much out of it that couldn't be done without ripping up the stage. The standards were decent, I mostly enjoyed the dash attack and down tilt. The options given by jab, forward tilt and up tilt are not particularly cohesive, essentially giving Sandslash more space, pressure and combo potential. These would be improved if they were centralized by reducing the strength of the Dig tunnels, plus the combo potential is fairly irrelevant, unless we assume every utilt is Mario's from Smash 4. You should at least offer some ideas as to what would combo. The aerials weren't bad for Sandslash's playstyle, although they get a little redundant as Sandslash does seem to struggle for aerial potential, leading to some moves more resembling superior grounded ones.
The grab game had a few problems, but I actually didn't feel like the bury throw was one of them as it essentially rewards Sandslash for building up Magnitude with a KO out of a throw, so in essence a KO throw, at over 100%, not all that bad. If you're going to conserve the Magnitude's massive range and instead go for the pitiful grab range, it seems fair to get a KO at such a high percent, though maybe you should specify the KO percent. While I wasn't a huge fan of the fthrow or bthrow, I liked their implementation with the tunnels, though as stated before this could work just as well making the tunnels into a dirt track or something to that effect. The dthrow largely gets a pass for the good animation and it does have any purpose as a throw, if one that is very simplistic and not far above a generic KO throw. In all though, Sandslash was a nice change of pace to read and a little underrated, your sets this contest have been really solid Joe, nice work.
I'm definitely a big fan of Garithos, the set and character, he's the most relatable of the Warcraft 3 protagonists! This set intelligently combines the potential of Garithos, the DotA character and ideas from the WC3 custom games like tower defence or Uther Party, where Garithos makes other glorious appearances. The horse should be there, in my opinion, as it's not as though he ever leaves the horse in any appearance, the only time I've seen that is in mods, compared to Thrall who leaves his wolf all the time. The horse may have been too big at first, but after the nerf to its size I think it's fine. The horse moves are there for the sake of being there, it's a shame that his grab can't work on the horse. I know it's a stretch for the height off the ground he's at to grab at the ground, just keep in mind how exaggerated some grabs are already, like Marth's grab in Melee. Garithos could definitely justify a disjointed grab hitbox to have a grab on the horse. When you have the dthrow, you could also make it a tether grab using handcuffs. If anything, I would prefer if he never got off the horse, just like in Warcraft 3. If he was always on the horse, the best parts of these moves involving the horse's animations and existing moves could be combined to give a good amount of potential that he didn't have before. The character is already low potential, it would seem like the best choice.
The core of the set that makes it good is the dueling system and the minions. I was concerned at first about how the duel may end up being tacky or relying on too much stun to work, but the way it's presented is very simple and works easily without detracting much from gameplay. Now that all the balance changes have happened, I do think it works as intended, both parties want to win the duel not just abuse the super armour. All of the moves that work into the Duel tend to be good additions to the playstyle. The recovery is fairly generic and would not exist if not for being able to dismount the horse, I do like the down special and smashes though. Whereas the down special is mostly an obligatory Shockwave to reference his Warcraft 3 spells, the handling of Holy Light in this set is a real highlight, healing and damaging, largely taken to its full satisfaction in forward aerial. Aside from that, the leaping counter up smash, quasi-counter down smash, damage reduction on his forward aerial, neutral aerial being improved by being in close proximity to the foe and so on all add something unique to the set's playstyle. The minions and their interactions in the grab game may be the highlight of the whole set. Obviously it's pretty tacky to tax Kirapikachu, but on minions it's very nice characterisation.
There are some moves I just didn't like, for example the jab that changes as Garithos takes damage like Rage, but only for this one input. I could understand Garithos being enraged, but if only for one move, I'd expect it to be a special or smash. Minions being able to walk up the shield in down tilt is fairly tacky. I also feel bad that I missed in previews what was pointed out, that the down aerial hits up and the up aerial hits down, it strikes me as highly similar to the original version of Thrall that I did catch out. I'd also say that the Holy Light is worthy of a place in specials over Shockwave, both for promoting Holy Light and making it better fit the input, but also because I feel that Shockwave itself benefits from being on a smash where it can have the proper limitations to justify its amazing power. I also would've liked to see stuff like Mortar Team more outside of the promotions, a charge summon special might not've been the worst thing, as the promotion system is very simplistic and means you rarely get to see the knight or mortar team. I wholly approve however of this set finally putting the elves in their place. Absolutely inhuman!
Colonel.EXE got notable improvements in the way the terraforming and cubes work, I'm glad that now the Rock Cubes can be simply destroyed to get the minion, the trap being gone certainly helps. Now that foes flinch when the crack is hit, it makes the move fairly important in his playstyle to set up combos. One way this set could've gotten more use out of that is generally more moves that hit the ground or aim lower, as currently that extends to when it breaks away or he lands a down tilt, down smash and maybe up smash rockets. You could've naturally extended it to ftilt and fsmash given they can angle, and that would be a simple change. The current up aerial would suit the up special more, and I still think you could do with replacing the down or up special, one or the other. If you could charge the up special, this would let colonel hit the ground to create something like a shockwave for the sake of the new flinching hitbox.
This set largely focuses on rushdown as the minions aren't used outside of the fact they are summoned by the Rock Cube, and it could do much more if it tried to incorporate the neutral special in general. The Rock Cubes could both function as reversing knockback as a wall if the moves made something of said angles being reversed for interesting results, or the fact you can self-damage them may be useful for expanding the playstyle too. For this set to be good, it'd need the specials to be more impactful, as the rest of the set isn't bad, it's just very bland to be quite honest. It might make a big difference if you expanded on certain moves being useful with one of the teleport-ish specials and changed the other, all the while asserting their relevance later in the set. In any case, it is of course always good to see a new set from you and I look forward to the next.
Cool, so I got about 3 movesets to show you guys. Two of which I came up with when I was working with the PMCC guys.
To kick things off, I'll be showing off Golden Sun's Isaac. I'll be keeping this one pure, as I wrote the document. So no wait animations, or any of that. Bear in mind that this moveset is based around the build of Isaac that was leaked with the 4.0 leaks, however, I took a lot of creative liberties as well, as I had a different vision for him all-together. Call it bias, but I much prefer the direction I took him in than what the PMDT had left us (though to be fair, they were trying to work within the contraints of what Brawl can do, whereas I was already looking ahead toward a WiiU port), it was also rather popular during our little hand out before it all fell apart. Who knows though, maybe this will see the light of day on WiiU SOME day...
Art done by yours truly btw.
Isaac
The basic concept behind Isaac’s moveset is that he’s a terraforming character that specializes in stage control primarily, and zoning second. As a result, he’s rather frail up close and must rely on his Geomancy and Psyenergy to block attacks and keep opponents away in order to set them up for up close finishers or off-stage combos. Isaac’s moveset places a lot of focus on controlling the positioning his opponents for set ups through the use of pillars and earth mounds. As a result, a lot of his moves are either utilitarian, or have utilitarian secondary effects. All of his moves are rather powerful, however, they suffer from slow start up (little endlag for most though, meaning he can act out fairly well), thus in order to use them effectively, Isaac must keep his distance, and set up his foes. A side effect of this slow start up however, is that Isaac’s aerial offense suffers greatly from it. Thus, the benefits mostly from staying grounded. His ranged earth-based attacks also make for great anti-air. Most notably his Up Smash, which is one of his few moves with little start up lag. Finally, because Isaac has a ranged grab, he can’t shieldgrab foes from up close. He does however have an advantage over ranged opponents in various ways.
He casts a psyenergy hand that moves forward and pushes opponents away doing no damage. The hand remains active for as long as you hold down the B button, or until it runs out of range. He can control this hand in various ways depending on a variety of inputs pressed while holding down the B button.
Tilt the stick BACK, and he’ll use SLAP, which will damage the opponent and knock them toward Isaac. The hand will slap from behind and hit the opponent in the back.
Tilt the stick UP, and he’ll use LIFT. This allows him to carry debris or pick up items left on the ground, holding onto them telekinetically. LIFT is unique in that it allows Isaac to pick up items from afar. Likewise, it can be used on items tossed at him in order to catch them midflight.
Tilt the stick DOWN, and Isaac will use POUND. This is a move that does a fair amount of damage, and can even be used to KO foes off stage as it can spike them. However, as, MOVE can only be used on a horizontal axis, and is relatively slow, POUND isn’t overly powerful off-stage. That said, unsuspecting opponents would be unwise to approach the stage horizontally while Isaac is edgeguarding.
Press the Z button, and Isaac will GRAB instantly. This grab is unique in that it is immediate compared to his usual grab, and it can happen at any range, rather than the set range that his regular grab has.
Vines come out from Isaac’s hands to ensnare foes and trap them. It has a slight paralyzing effect similar to ZSS’s Paralyzer, and can be used offstage as a tether. The base move has very limited range and stun, and only works up close, however if you Smash Side B, you get the more powerful Mad Growth, which has increased range and stun, however, the start up is longer, thus making the move easier to read. This version is ideal for recovery. The Smashed version can also be charged, thus allowing Isaac to cast Wild Growth, which gives dramatic range to the attack, and a slight stun increase. Due to the long charge, this version of the move isn’t very good for tether as it’s a bit of a gamble.
Isaac Terraforms the stage casting a wall of Earth that carries him upward. If done in mid-air, the wall is cast below Isaac’s feet giving him a platform to land on. If used on the ground, the attack is just a little taller than Bowser. If used in mid air, the wall reaches to just below Isaac from the ground. Isaac can hold B during this attack, and releasing it will cast the Earth pillar. Holding down the B button can allow Isaac to reposition the magic circle forward or backward if he chooses, thus allowing Isaac to cast the wall infront or behind him and use it to either block attacks, or even propel opponents upward in order to control their placement. If done off-stage, the magic circle will appear in midair, and the pillar will appear in midair from the magic circle. The wall of Earth isn’t invincible, and will crumble into debris once it takes around 40% damage, or if it’s hit by a QUAKE move like DK’s Down B, or Isaac’s QUAKE attack. Hitting GAIA with a quake attack will instantly destroy it. Likewise, Isaac can use his neutral B, MOVE to reposition GAIA on the stage, and can use LIFT to instantly turn the wall into a boulder and pick it up telekinetically. He can then toss this boulder at his foes the same way you would toss any item (The boulder essentially has the same properties as a Barrel). Isaac can also not cast another Gaia while one is active. Gaia stays active until it is destroyed by either Isaac or his foes. So the placement of this attack must be carefully planned out. Especially since it’s his primary form of recovery while off stage. Finally, it should be noted, that Gaia has ledges that both Isaac and his foes can use to grab on. This should be noted in case the player wants to use it to gimp recovery, as they might instead use it to aid their foes rather than hinder them.
Isaac’s Down B causes him to place his palm on the floor, and then shake the Earth below him. In principle, this move is near identical to DK’s Down B, except it is considerably weaker, doing less damage, and mostly stunning foes rather than tumbling them. The move lasts approx 2-3 seconds, and giving Isaac time to attack foes caught in it. However, there’s more. Like his Side B, this move can also be Smashed and Charged. If Isaac Smashes his Down B, his will concentrate a bit longer, and unleash the more powerful Earthquake right in front of him. This move is essentially a more powerful version of DK’s Down B, done in front of Isaac, the attack also lasts longer. However, it is more difficult to act out of this move, and the player must be precise with this. Finally, the Smashed version can be charged, and this creates Quake Sphere. This move causes the terrain in front of Isaac to really shake, launching his foes upwards. At high damage, this move is a KO move, as it’s very telegraphed. Isaac’s Down B can also be used on GAIA. Using this move on a pillar of Earth with cause said pillar to crumble, creating the move (Rockfall/Rockslide/Avalanche). These attacks will then leave various Rocks and Boulders on the ground that Isaac (and foes) can use to throw at each other. The version of Quake that Isaac uses on Gaia will determine which of the three Specials Gaia becomes. With Avalanche being the most powerful, it leaves no debris as pebbles are sent flying in all directions, like an explosion. The combination of these two can set up a very powerful attack to KO foes with. If Isaac uses his down B in midair, he points his palm downward and send a shockwave that shakes the earth below him. Midair foes are completely unaffected by this attack.
Isaac strikes his foe with a massive energy sword that swoops down from the sky and crashes to the ground in front of Isaac. It is a powerful move, but difficult to land. The energy sword then dissipates into various particles after the attack. Very flashy. Likewise, when landing the attack, Isaac slashes his sword downward, thus also allowing him to his upclose foes. However, it's not very powerful for a Smash attack.
Isaac squats placing his palm on the floor and large jagged thorns come up from the ground below Isaac and attack right above him. The hitbox of this attack is rather large and it has a sweetspot right at the tip where all the thorns intersect. This move is also very utilitarian, as it has a long duration and can be used as a protective move.
Isaac concentrates and a magic circle appears. Upon releasing the attack, and spire appears from the ground in front of him at 45*. The longer the charge, the larger the Spire and bigger the hitbox. Like Gaia, this Earth Spire remains on the stage until destroyed or a new one is cast, and thus, can effectively be used to block attacks, projectiles and so forth. However, the spire will break upon receiving 15%-25% damage, and it doesn’t leave any debris behind. Like Gaia however, it can be manipulated with Lift.
Isaac casts a protective barrier on himself that lowers hitstun, damage taken, and knockback, while increasing gravity for a limited amount of time. After it runs out, it needs to recharge a bit before being reused.
Down Tilt -
Isaac stomps the ground and a series of spikes rise up from the ground travelling about a meter forward in front of him. This is great for set ups as it forces foes to jump to evade and it gives Isaac the power to react easily.
Dash Attack -
Isaac crouches and “Rides” the earth as a small mound/wave of Earth propels him forward in order to tackle his opponents. He can jump off the mound to cancel the attack, but carry the momentum in order to use an aerial instead.
Isaac opens his palm in front of him, and creates a wave of electricity that stuns foes (similar to Mewtwo’s Jab).
Grab- Psyenergy
The same hand from his neutral B comes up a bit in front of Isaac and grabs a good distance away from him. It has slow start up, and is a bit unusual as you must position yourself perfectly in order to use it. It is overall much faster than his Special grab, and more unsuspected. However, the start up of his grab can be reduced to n
othing is MOVE is already cast. Likewise, the range can be more easily manipulated, allowing Isaac to grab from any distance if he’s using move before pressing Z. All of his throws use his Psyenergy hand, and his pummel is a strangel a la Master Hand.
Aerial Attacks>
Isaac’s Air game isn’t very great, as he specialized on stage control, and Earth Magic. He can use a lot of his tools to reposition foes, and as anti-air, but his overall aerial assault is notably lackluster due to its slow start up, and can be seen as one of his main weaknesses.
Isaac turns around and fires a bolt of lightning behind him from his fingertips (he points his hand like a gun - Think Yu Yu Hakusho). It’s got fairly good range, and it’s his fastest aerial, however, it also lacks in power what it makes up for speed.
Nair -
Isaac casts a stone boulder and fires it right in front of him. Fairly weak, but with good range.
Alright, and that's pretty much it. It's very undone because I left a few things up for experimentation as we worked on it, and as I said, I wanted to keep this as a I first posted it.
Also, that Isaac Render is unfinished. I'll be posting the finished one on my blogs when I get around to doing the final touches.
Next moveset will be more polished and "showoffy" I'll be posting Lyn. Rather than using gifs, I'll be posting the drawings I did for all her moves, as well as some Maya gifs, as I was in charge of animating her. Till then.
I can't believe I forgot about Dark Samus' b-air! I removed z-air, expanded more on Dark Echoes, and made several more changes. I ran short of time to continue. I'll get back to it.
Hey Dryn! Good to see you again. It's awesome to see you join the community – knowing you, this is a very fitting first set, haha. Your affinity for Metroid really shows in this set, and you put your familiarity with the series to good use with your visual aids and references to the Prime games. Moves such as Down Special are pretty interesting; the idea of a Leaf Shield that you can also command to attack opens up a lot of possibilities. The set also feels suited to Dark Samus, with a focus on high-power, Phazon-overloaded moves. The presentation is very nice overall, as the various visual aids cut a lot of the fluff out of the move descriptions and make each move easy to get the gist of.
With that said, the presentation is in some ways too fluff-less. Damage percents are perhaps the most glaring omission, but there are also some moves which the visual aids don't fully convey. Up Smash, for example, is very vague in its description. You compare it to Timber, but in which way is it similar? Is it a multi-stage move, where Dark Samus can knock it down by using the move again? Can this be done with any attack, like Pacman's hydrant? Or is it only similar to Timber in that it creates a hitbox upon "sprouting" (in which case I would have compared it to Palutena's usmash)? And where does it come from; does it come up from the ground, or fall from the skies? TL;DR: Detail is everything.
Some of the move placements also strike me as odd. While Up Tilt is an interesting take on Samus' Missiles, this seems like an odd place for it. Perhaps it could be moved to the non-smashed Side Special, which would not only make the two missiles more distinct from one another, but also reflect Samus' missiles but with a twist? Also, Down Tilt and Down Smash feel like they should be swapped, as the current Down Tilt hits to both sides and "feels" like it should be powerful like a smash attack. Boost Ball could also work wonderfully as the attack Dark Samus would use out of a Morph Ball-esque crawl!
Overall, this was a pretty solid moveset. While it has some kinks that could be worked out, and it has some definite room to improve, it also does a good job at translating Dark Samus' abilities and general character into a moveset.
Hey, a former Brawl modder! You and Joe should get along nicely, haha. Welcome to MYM! I've actually got an Isaac moveset in the works too, but let's see what you've brought to the table.
The basic playstyle you lay out in the beginning of the moveset is a good fit for Isaac, and is similar to what I had in mind. As a magic user, it makes sense that he would fight best at a distance, and I like how his specialty in earth- and plant-based Psynergy is reflected in how he fights best when firmly rooted to the ground. The base of the moveset is solid, although I can't help but notice the similarities to other Isaac movesets (but then again, that's sort of inevitable). I like how each special move can be used in a variety of ways, especially the interactions between Move and Gaia. Like Dark Samus, you also put visual aids to good use, with pictures and gifs conveying exactly what you want to get across. The smashes aren't bad either, though I feel that the up and down smashes should perhaps be swapped – up smash is a sword coming down, and down smash involves vines coming up from the ground.
You make good use of Isaac's signature Venus Psynergy, with moves like Down Tilt and Dash Attack coming to mind as nice uses of the element. However, some other moves don't fare as well. Up Tilt is the main sore thumb, as it's a buff on a tilt attack and doesn't even have a hitbox. Generally, standard attacks should be an option that you can use if you just need to hit your opponent, not a buff that's like the opposite of Palutena's Lightweight. Y'know? It also seems odd to have jab and bair be a bolt of electricity on an earth-magic-based character, especially when Isaac's sword is extremely underused in this set (appearing in only one move, Forward Tilt). A projectile for nair also seems very odd to me, as does for an uair.
The amount of detail in the specials is good to see, but it also makes the barebones writing in the later moves all the more jarring. I'm sure you can go into more detail for the standard attacks. You should of course add details such as damage, range, and speed, but also try and think of uses for the moves. Are they good spacing tools? Edgeguarding attacks? Get-off-me moves? Maybe talk about some potential combos or something? It helps make each move feel relevant, and like it's part of Isaac's overall gameplan. You do this in some moves, such as Down Tilt and Down Smash, but it really helps to give a brief blurb about why each move is useful and important.
Overall, Isaac is a good start. It's got some definite room to improve, but you've shown that you can make a pretty solid base for a moveset, with a focused playstyle and interesting special moves. You just need to work on the stuff that goes on top of that, such as making good moves that help feed into that playstyle as well as detailing the attacks themselves and their uses. I can't wait to see Lyn, and I hope you can build on Isaac's solid foundation (so to speak).
Finally, we have Elma... even though it was the first moveset posted out of these three. Anyway, Elma has some cool ideas and really nice touches, but a few issues hold it back and keep it from being as good as it could be.
Elma does a lot of things well. The presentation is nice for the most part, with everything being very nicely organized. The author's notes also add a nice element to the moveset, both adding some personality to the writing and adding some insight as to why certain decisions were made. However, there is also a lack of detail regarding damage percents and the like. Additionally, the move order is a big hindrance to the moveset. It's quite awkward to bring up Elma's power meter-type mechanic, but not actually elaborate on what it does until the very last non-grab, non-Final Smash move in the set. The effect of notes such as the Up Special kill confirm off of uair or Dash Attack is also diminished when the reader doesn't even know what Sky High is. The power meter itself, though, does fit in quite nicely with Elma's aggressive playstyle, encouraging Elma to keep on the offensive and link together a lot of chain attacks to keep the power boost going. It's a great example of conveying a character's personality and fighting style using game mechanics, by making the player want to fight like Elma would.
The animations for the attacks are very nice, with detail put into the intricacies of how Elma performs attacks. You've also put a decent amount of thought into the uses of each attack, and again I like your thought process with moves like fair. You've definitely got a good grasp on how to make moves relevant to a character's playstyle, although you could still improve in terms of doing that for every move. Additionally, I feel like some moves go against Elma's up-close-and-personal playstyle. Nair is a move that could easily be abused for godlike spacing, given how it has high hitstun, insane reach, and low lag. Fair also seems like it could be a bit too powerful, with its fast startup, long range, and KO power. And as a bit of a smaller nitpick, a kicking-based Up Special seems slightly out of place in a moveset that revolves entirely around Elma's dual swords / guns.
Overall, though, Elma's pretty good overall. It has some flaws that should really be fixed, but it also has some great aspects to it, such as the animations, utility to the moves, and the wonderful meter mechanic that gets across Elma's personality very elegantly. (Or at least, I would assume it gets across Elma's personality. Never played XCX, haha.) Keep up the good work!
Finally, we have Elma... even though it was the first moveset posted out of these three. Anyway, Elma has some cool ideas and really nice touches, but a few issues hold it back and keep it from being as good as it could be.
Elma does a lot of things well. The presentation is nice for the most part, with everything being very nicely organized. The author's notes also add a nice element to the moveset, both adding some personality to the writing and adding some insight as to why certain decisions were made. However, there is also a lack of detail regarding damage percents and the like. Additionally, the move order is a big hindrance to the moveset. It's quite awkward to bring up Elma's power meter-type mechanic, but not actually elaborate on what it does until the very last non-grab, non-Final Smash move in the set. The effect of notes such as the Up Special kill confirm off of uair or Dash Attack is also diminished when the reader doesn't even know what Sky High is. The power meter itself, though, does fit in quite nicely with Elma's aggressive playstyle, encouraging Elma to keep on the offensive and link together a lot of chain attacks to keep the power boost going. It's a great example of conveying a character's personality and fighting style using game mechanics, by making the player want to fight like Elma would.
The animations for the attacks are very nice, with detail put into the intricacies of how Elma performs attacks. You've also put a decent amount of thought into the uses of each attack, and again I like your thought process with moves like fair. You've definitely got a good grasp on how to make moves relevant to a character's playstyle, although you could still improve in terms of doing that for every move. Additionally, I feel like some moves go against Elma's up-close-and-personal playstyle. Nair is a move that could easily be abused for godlike spacing, given how it has high hitstun, insane reach, and low lag. Fair also seems like it could be a bit too powerful, with its fast startup, long range, and KO power. And as a bit of a smaller nitpick, a kicking-based Up Special seems slightly out of place in a moveset that revolves entirely around Elma's dual swords / guns.
Overall, though, Elma's pretty good overall. It has some flaws that should really be fixed, but it also has some great aspects to it, such as the animations, utility to the moves, and the wonderful meter mechanic that gets across Elma's personality very elegantly. (Or at least, I would assume it gets across Elma's personality. Never played XCX, haha.) Keep up the good work!
I'll definitely be rethinking the order in which I introduce moves. As of now, I've been editing mine movesets so that the specials always come first, unless there's something in the jabs or smashes that link to the specials.
I think I'll modify Elma's neutral-air so that it has less range, and maybe some kind of punishable drawback. Now that I've rethought it, its defensive properties DO differentiate from her otherwise aggressive array of moves. That said, it is possible I'll change the move altogether.
Also, you have an excellent point on f-air being too powerful. That said, I think I'll take away the high knockback and make it into a combo move (d-tilt, f-air, double-jump, f-air). That would make more sense, given Overdrive.
Overall very insightful input. I'll definitely be keeping it in mind.
Hey, a former Brawl modder! You and Joe should get along nicely, haha. Welcome to MYM! I've actually got an Isaac moveset in the works too, but let's see what you've brought to the table.
The basic playstyle you lay out in the beginning of the moveset is a good fit for Isaac, and is similar to what I had in mind. As a magic user, it makes sense that he would fight best at a distance, and I like how his specialty in earth- and plant-based Psynergy is reflected in how he fights best when firmly rooted to the ground. The base of the moveset is solid, although I can't help but notice the similarities to other Isaac movesets (but then again, that's sort of inevitable). I like how each special move can be used in a variety of ways, especially the interactions between Move and Gaia. Like Dark Samus, you also put visual aids to good use, with pictures and gifs conveying exactly what you want to get across. The smashes aren't bad either, though I feel that the up and down smashes should perhaps be swapped – up smash is a sword coming down, and down smash involves vines coming up from the ground.
You make good use of Isaac's signature Venus Psynergy, with moves like Down Tilt and Dash Attack coming to mind as nice uses of the element. However, some other moves don't fare as well. Up Tilt is the main sore thumb, as it's a buff on a tilt attack and doesn't even have a hitbox. Generally, standard attacks should be an option that you can use if you just need to hit your opponent, not a buff that's like the opposite of Palutena's Lightweight. Y'know? It also seems odd to have jab and bair be a bolt of electricity on an earth-magic-based character, especially when Isaac's sword is extremely underused in this set (appearing in only one move, Forward Tilt). A projectile for nair also seems very odd to me, as does for an uair.
The amount of detail in the specials is good to see, but it also makes the barebones writing in the later moves all the more jarring. I'm sure you can go into more detail for the standard attacks. You should of course add details such as damage, range, and speed, but also try and think of uses for the moves. Are they good spacing tools? Edgeguarding attacks? Get-off-me moves? Maybe talk about some potential combos or something? It helps make each move feel relevant, and like it's part of Isaac's overall gameplan. You do this in some moves, such as Down Tilt and Down Smash, but it really helps to give a brief blurb about why each move is useful and important.
Overall, Isaac is a good start. It's got some definite room to improve, but you've shown that you can make a pretty solid base for a moveset, with a focused playstyle and interesting special moves. You just need to work on the stuff that goes on top of that, such as making good moves that help feed into that playstyle as well as detailing the attacks themselves and their uses. I can't wait to see Lyn, and I hope you can build on Isaac's solid foundation (so to speak).
Well, I have a confession to make. I've actually never played GS. Well, I've played a bit of the first (got up to the Mercury Lighthouse but had to stop cause my ROM kept glitching up - I have it on WiiU, but I can't be bothered to play it). I wouldn't call myself a fan of the series though. I just like the idea of Isaac as a character because his style of magic lends itself well to Geomancy and and stuff, and I'm a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, and I felt Earthbending was unique for Smash and fit well with his character.
I did do a lot of research into his abilities before I wrote that up however.
Anyway, yeah, I purposely left out his sword in most of his attacks. Only Ftilt, and I think we were considering Uair for sword as well, but we were still playing around with it (that's why it's blank). Anyway, yeah, it's intentional as there are plenty of sword focused characters in Smash, and giving Isaac a ton of sword moves kinda takes away from his main draw. Likewise, Sword-based slashes only make a small portion of his moveset in GS as well. I think it really undermines Isaac's potential as a unique fighter if you give him generic sword moves beyond just a bit of filler here and there. His primary focus should really be terraforming, with his secondary focus being magic. Sword is really just there to fill a few blanks.
Also, a lot of data is left out, such as damage and such, since this was mainly a pitch to get cracking with things. Most of that stuff is really sorted through playtesting. It's the workflow. The main idea of this moveset was mainly to pitch a concept for the character that properly converyed his general playstyle, while still leaving plenty of stuff for changing it up. 90% of game design happens DURING playtesting and programming, not in preproduction. There's only so much you can do through plain visualization, when actually creating a character, details like those, same as combos, have to be worked out through playtesting. All in all, in the end, many of his moves would also change during development based on what works best and what doesn't. Regardless, it's easy to see how all of his moves, just in plain concept, already have a certain flow to them, with certain strengths and weaknesses. I wrote it in a way that it's easy to visualize how his Dtilt for example can help him set up opponents for Gaia, or Ragnarok, etc... Which brings me to Granite:
For starters, I'm a huge fan of "non sequitur" moves, or rather, just plain breaking patterns and conventions. One thing for example that really peeves me about Smash 4 is how predictable many characters are built, with Down B pretty much being relegated to counters. It's almost like a standard at this point, and it's very boring an uncreative imo. Utilt works good for a buff move like Granite, since it's an input that's one of the more difficult ones to press in Smash (on standard controller setups), meaning players would be unlikely to input it by accident. Granite is unique in GS that it's one of the few buff moves Isaac has access to (it also has that Earth theme to it), and giving Isaac the ability to buff his defenses is critical actually, as Isaac, as I've proposed him would be very effective against other ranged fighters, and fairly good against heavy characters, but would be extremely vulnerable to fast rushdown characters, especially those who thrive in the air like Marth and Falco. Thus a move that can increase his weight, and decrease the damage and knockback he takes is absolutely critical with this build, as Isaac's close range moves are few, and very slow. Granite is essentially his last line of defense, there by allowing him to set up opponents who get in close, as he could then tank their moves for a bit. Keep in mind, that Isaac is rather lightweight character in general, thus Granite is important to his build. In general concept, Granite is KINDA like Shulk's Monado Shield, but also not really, as it doesn't slow him down, aside from perhaps his walk speed. But what it buff exactly, it'd be hard to say without playtesting it. In general, Hitstun, Damage, Knockback, Weight, and MAYBE Power, but it really depends.
Most other characters have Utilt as an Anti Air move, but Isaac doesn't really need that as his Usmash does that job fairly well already. Thus, it's best for Granite.
Ranged Nair is also following the similar convention of giving Isaac something that no other character really has, and i suits his fighting style. Too many characters have a Nair that's basically combo filler "hit both sides in midair" or "the sexkick." I really like bringing new and unique ideas to character builds rather than following the design patterns established by Sakurai. In fact, in my own opinion, Samus could go through a whole redesign in that she needs plenty of ranged Aerials to be honest.
As for the Lightning stuff, he uses Thunder based magic in GS as well, iirc Earth, Plant, and Lightning are Isaac's main shticks. Also they're both fairly interesting moves. A ranged Bair is certainly unique, and his Jab is useful in the same way Robin's jab is useful. For a character that relies on spacing, such a jab is the best type to go with.
Anyway, that was just a bit of clarification. Thanks for the feedback though. Lyn will be a lot more fleshed out, since I was more actively involved in her development than Isaac. The moveset I made for Isaac was more of a general concept that I pitched to the guys as he still needed a lot of work. Lyn also needed a lot of work, but she already had a solid base to go off of. Plus, the PMDT were working off the moveset I wrote here at MYM like three years ago. So I knew what they were going for already.
Well, I have a confession to make. I've actually never played GS. Well, I've played a bit of the first (got up to the Mercury Lighthouse but had to stop cause my ROM kept glitching up - I have it on WiiU, but I can't be bothered to play it). I wouldn't call myself a fan of the series though. I just like the idea of Isaac as a character because his style of magic lends itself well to Geomancy and and stuff, and I'm a huge fan of Fullmetal Alchemist, and I felt Earthbending was unique for Smash and fit well with his character.
I did do a lot of research into his abilities before I wrote that up however.
I'm in mostly the same boat, actually – sans Full Metal Alchemist.
Anyway, yeah, I purposely left out his sword in most of his attacks. Only Ftilt, and I think we were considering Uair for sword as well, but we were still playing around with it (that's why it's blank). Anyway, yeah, it's intentional as there are plenty of sword focused characters in Smash, and giving Isaac a ton of sword moves kinda takes away from his main draw. Likewise, Sword-based slashes only make a small portion of his moveset in GS as well. I think it really undermines Isaac's potential as a unique fighter if you give him generic sword moves beyond just a bit of filler here and there. His primary focus should really be terraforming, with his secondary focus being magic. Sword is really just there to fill a few blanks.
At the same time, it seems very odd to leave Isaac's main weapon out of the moveset. Isaac is meant to be a ranged fighter, so a sword is also a perfect fit, seeing as how it's naturally a long-ranged weapon. Psynergy is his primary focus, yes, but he should also use his sword if he's going to use it in battle. After all, we don't want another Ganondorf on our hands.
Having a sword would also not detract from the Psynergy element of his moveset – take a look at Robin or Corrin. Their main focuses are Tomes and dragon transformations respectively, but also get good mileage out of their swords by using them for attacks. Not only that, but their swords are also integrated with their unique traits – Robin has a Levin Sword that has limited uses like a time, and Corrin's sword is often used in conjunction with dragon transformations in moves like nair, dsmash, and fsmash. The answer to making a sword character unique is not to remove the sword from the moveset, but rather to put a "twist" onto it that also meshes with the character's other unique traits. For Isaac, this could mean anything from attacking simultaneously with Psynergy and his sword in different directions or using both in a two-hit combo, or even powering up Isaac's sword with Psynergy to fire a beam! Get creative with it.
Also, a lot of data is left out, such as damage and such, since this was mainly a pitch to get cracking with things. Most of that stuff is really sorted through playtesting. It's the workflow. The main idea of this moveset was mainly to pitch a concept for the character that properly converyed his general playstyle, while still leaving plenty of stuff for changing it up. 90% of game design happens DURING playtesting and programming, not in preproduction. There's only so much you can do through plain visualization, when actually creating a character, details like those, same as combos, have to be worked out through playtesting. All in all, in the end, many of his moves would also change during development based on what works best and what doesn't. Regardless, it's easy to see how all of his moves, just in plain concept, already have a certain flow to them, with certain strengths and weaknesses. I wrote it in a way that it's easy to visualize how his Dtilt for example can help him set up opponents for Gaia, or Ragnarok, etc...
And that's a great mentality to have when you're developing an actual mod – but in MYM, it's all hypothetical. So the mentality is more "what if this character were in Smash," rather than "how are we going to mod this character into Smash." As a result, movesets probably won't be perfectly balanced – but it's all just for fun.
Which brings me to Granite:
For starters, I'm a huge fan of "non sequitur" moves, or rather, just plain breaking patterns and conventions. One thing for example that really peeves me about Smash 4 is how predictable many characters are built, with Down B pretty much being relegated to counters. It's almost like a standard at this point, and it's very boring an uncreative imo. Utilt works good for a buff move like Granite, since it's an input that's one of the more difficult ones to press in Smash (on standard controller setups), meaning players would be unlikely to input it by accident. Granite is unique in GS that it's one of the few buff moves Isaac has access to (it also has that Earth theme to it), and giving Isaac the ability to buff his defenses is critical actually, as Isaac, as I've proposed him would be very effective against other ranged fighters, and fairly good against heavy characters, but would be extremely vulnerable to fast rushdown characters, especially those who thrive in the air like Marth and Falco. Thus a move that can increase his weight, and decrease the damage and knockback he takes is absolutely critical with this build, as Isaac's close range moves are few, and very slow. Granite is essentially his last line of defense, there by allowing him to set up opponents who get in close, as he could then tank their moves for a bit. Keep in mind, that Isaac is rather lightweight character in general, thus Granite is important to his build. In general concept, Granite is KINDA like Shulk's Monado Shield, but also not really, as it doesn't slow him down, aside from perhaps his walk speed. But what it buff exactly, it'd be hard to say without playtesting it. In general, Hitstun, Damage, Knockback, Weight, and MAYBE Power, but it really depends.
Most other characters have Utilt as an Anti Air move, but Isaac doesn't really need that as his Usmash does that job fairly well already. Thus, it's best for Granite.
While doing something new is obviously a good thing, putting a move in an unconventional spot just for the sake of breaking conventions doesn't accomplish anything. These standards are here for a reason – a shared set of button inputs and the simplicity of them is part of what makes Smash so accessible and intuitive. A is your attack button, hold a direction to attack that way, smash the stick to perform a more powerful attack. By assigning a non-damaging move to up tilt, that sense of cohesion is lost, and it simply doesn't fit in with other Smash characters on a fundamental level. "I'm pressing A, why am I not hitting people?"
There are also much better spots for Granite. Rule of thumb: if a move doesn't deal damage, try to put it on a Special. That's what the input was made for, after all. Personally, I'd put Granite on Down Special, put Quake on a smash attack (with the variants, perhaps, depending on charge), and give Isaac a new sword-swing up tilt, possibly with some Psynergy alongside the swing like I talked about earlier. This gives Isaac a good anti-air option – up smash, while long-ranged, is a big commitment, and its long duration means that the opponent can more easily punish Isaac. As for which smash attack I'd replace with Quake, I think that Down Smash would be the best choice, as Spire is in effect just Gaia but with less power and durability.
Ranged Nair is also following the similar convention of giving Isaac something that no other character really has, and i suits his fighting style. Too many characters have a Nair that's basically combo filler "hit both sides in midair" or "the sexkick." I really like bringing new and unique ideas to character builds rather than following the design patterns established by Sakurai. In fact, in my own opinion, Samus could go through a whole redesign in that she needs plenty of ranged Aerials to be honest.
At the same time, it seems like a projectile would be much more fitting on a "forward" air than on a neutral air. Or perhaps it could be kept on nair, but Isaac could perform a Marth-style swing and hurl the stone while swinging? Or perhaps he could throw two rocks, one to either side.
As for the Lightning stuff, he uses Thunder based magic in GS as well, iirc Earth, Plant, and Lightning are Isaac's main shticks. Also they're both fairly interesting moves. A ranged Bair is certainly unique, and his Jab is useful in the same way Robin's jab is useful. For a character that relies on spacing, such a jab is the best type to go with.
Fair enough – though for Jab in particular, a ranged sword swing followed by rapid, Mewtwo-style Psynergy could accomplish a similar task, especially as you compare the move to Robin's jab.
Anyway, that was just a bit of clarification. Thanks for the feedback though. Lyn will be a lot more fleshed out, since I was more actively involved in her development than Isaac. The moveset I made for Isaac was more of a general concept that I pitched to the guys as he still needed a lot of work. Lyn also needed a lot of work, but she already had a solid base to go off of. Plus, the PMDT were working off the moveset I wrote here at MYM like three years ago. So I knew what they were going for already.
Well, Mr. Number 3 shouldn't be too hard to figure out for anyone who's ever followed my stuff
After all, Knuckles was actually completed by the PMDT, and he's a very well made character, nothing I would change about him personally. As for Sami, she was always intended to be a Snake semi-clone, and I mostly left her tweaks and animations to the other guys as I had my hands full with Lyn.
@ManlySpirit: Actually, Isaac does not use lightning-based attacks normally. A simple look at his base class, Squire, on GSWiki would tell you that. Also, as far as Golden Sun characters go, Isaac has a melee focus compared to say, Ivan or Mia or even Jenna. On top of that, Isaac has a distinctive (and surprisingly aggressive-looking) fighting stance and it's fairly easy to imagine an interesting melee kit based around it; personally, I'd be inclined to include shoulder tackles and kicks. I'm not saying he shouldn't have AoE attacks and terraforming, far from it. But these should be used in tandem with weapon attacks. And one shouldn't forget Golden Sun's unusual Weapon Unleash mechanic when building a set for a Golden Sun character. It's quite easy to fill in inputs with unleashes a character has access to. For example, the Terra Strike unleash is a melee attack that raises a tall stalagmite for a second hit. This would be a solid choice of Up Tilt, and could even leave the stalagmite behind after the attack is completed as just one of many terraforming tools in Isaac's arsenal.
In addition, I, personally, prefer to stick to a theme for each input section. So if you're going to include Djinn such as Flint or Granite in the moveset, I'd put them all on Smash Attacks if I could. Flint would make for a solid choice of Forward Smash, while Vine might be a good choice of Down Smash that could leave a lingering snare trap for stage control. For the Up Smash, I personally would use Ground as an anti-air.
@ManlySpirit: Actually, Isaac does not use lightning-based attacks normally. A simple look at his base class, Squire, on GSWiki would tell you that. Also, as far as Golden Sun characters go, Isaac has a melee focus compared to say, Ivan or Mia or even Jenna. On top of that, Isaac has a distinctive (and surprisingly aggressive-looking) fighting stance and it's fairly easy to imagine an interesting melee kit based around it; personally, I'd be inclined to include shoulder tackles and kicks. I'm not saying he shouldn't have AoE attacks and terraforming, far from it. But these should be used in tandem with weapon attacks. And one shouldn't forget Golden Sun's unusual Weapon Unleash mechanic when building a set for a Golden Sun character. It's quite easy to fill in inputs with unleashes a character has access to. For example, the Terra Strike unleash is a melee attack that raises a tall stalagmite for a second hit. This would be a solid choice of Up Tilt, and could even leave the stalagmite behind after the attack is completed as just one of many terraforming tools in Isaac's arsenal.
In addition, I, personally, prefer to stick to a theme for each input section. So if you're going to include Djinn such as Flint or Granite in the moveset, I'd put them all on Smash Attacks if I could. Flint would make for a solid choice of Forward Smash, while Vine might be a good choice of Down Smash that could leave a lingering snare trap for stage control. For the Up Smash, I personally would use Ground as an anti-air.
Well, like I said man. I've never played Golden Sun thoroughly. I understand how as a GS fan, a more organized moveset like this might make a lot more sense, but I came at Isaac form a fighting game perspective, and oftentimes you gotta break canon some in order to come up with a coherent moveset. You can see this throughout MANY Smash characters in fact. Aside from the ones that were totally made up from scratch like Falcon or Fox, you have a lot of characters that severely break canon.
Cloud for example uses NONE of his Materia, or Summons, despite those being a fairly integral part of FFVII, and also being a part of his Dissidia moveset. Smash Cloud in fact has a couple Limit Break moves as tilts or aerials. Right off the top of my head, Braver is Cloud's Fair, rather than being one of his specials in some way, which would have made more sense.
Ike is another good example, with Aether essentially being broken into two, and him having Eruption as part of his moveset which is non-existent really in FE canon (I guess you could argue that it's the finishing move from the final cutscene in RD, but what is that? And iirc, it required the aid of a goddess, wouldn't it be better fit for a Final Smash? Better than Great Aether isn't it, which absolutely doesn't exist).
Anyway, my point is that Smash characters very often break canon in order to be good fits for a fighting game, when designing a character for a fighting game, you need to think of how the moveset plays and flows in itself first, and worry about the canon second. Isaac might be more of a Melee fighter in GS, but where's the fun in that, when in fact when there's already a ton of dedicated sword users, two sword users with ranged attacks, and even a battle mage that uses swords and a tome? We have absolutely NO terraformers though, closest we get to that would be Villager, thanks to his Tree. After all, if Fox doesn't use his Arwing AT ALL, nor does he follow his moveset from Assault/Adventures in any way, then where's the harm in Isaac becoming more of a unique fighter based around his abilities from Golden Sun, even if they don't quite fit in the most orderly canon way. A more canonical moveset might make a bit more sense based on the lore, but it wouldn't exactly make for an ideal fighter, and in fact, the least interesting characters in Smash are the ones sticking too closely to their lore, and not really experimenting with fighting game archetypes and conventions.
And there's not much of a point in creating a terraforming character that's got a strong or rounded Melee game as well. One quick look a The Last Airbender will show you that Toph for example, never really fought up close. One key part of designing a character, is having a good idea of that character's strengths, weaknesses, and potential matchups. Create a character who can handle everything, and they either become too good, or not very good at all.
Hey Dryn! Good to see you again. It's awesome to see you join the community – knowing you, this is a very fitting first set, haha. Your affinity for Metroid really shows in this set, and you put your familiarity with the series to good use with your visual aids and references to the Prime games. Moves such as Down Special are pretty interesting; the idea of a Leaf Shield that you can also command to attack opens up a lot of possibilities. The set also feels suited to Dark Samus, with a focus on high-power, Phazon-overloaded moves. The presentation is very nice overall, as the various visual aids cut a lot of the fluff out of the move descriptions and make each move easy to get the gist of.
With that said, the presentation is in some ways too fluff-less. Damage percents are perhaps the most glaring omission, but there are also some moves which the visual aids don't fully convey. Up Smash, for example, is very vague in its description. You compare it to Timber, but in which way is it similar? Is it a multi-stage move, where Dark Samus can knock it down by using the move again? Can this be done with any attack, like Pacman's hydrant? Or is it only similar to Timber in that it creates a hitbox upon "sprouting" (in which case I would have compared it to Palutena's usmash)? And where does it come from; does it come up from the ground, or fall from the skies? TL;DR: Detail is everything.
Some of the move placements also strike me as odd. While Up Tilt is an interesting take on Samus' Missiles, this seems like an odd place for it. Perhaps it could be moved to the non-smashed Side Special, which would not only make the two missiles more distinct from one another, but also reflect Samus' missiles but with a twist? Also, Down Tilt and Down Smash feel like they should be swapped, as the current Down Tilt hits to both sides and "feels" like it should be powerful like a smash attack. Boost Ball could also work wonderfully as the attack Dark Samus would use out of a Morph Ball-esque crawl!
Overall, this was a pretty solid moveset. While it has some kinks that could be worked out, and it has some definite room to improve, it also does a good job at translating Dark Samus' abilities and general character into a moveset.
Thanks, Munomario777. I'm around every now and then, so we're bound to see each other somewhere around here. :D I appreciate your input. I can't say that I put damage percent for every attack, and yesterday I was thinking more about Dark Echoes and what that means for Dark Samus because I was afraid that perhaps her Scatter Shot would be causing too much damage. I'm aware of Bayonetta having projectiles that would work in a similar function, but I'm honestly not sure just how much damage she puts out if her opponent is hit. While this isn't something I changed yesterday, it was something I was thinking about and perhaps any ideas on that would help.
Phrygisian Pillar is similar to Timber in that it is on the stage and remains on the stage, just like Timber when the tree is just standing there. Timber is an ability that Villager has that can get in the way and in some way make it difficult to deal with. Phrygisian Pillar is just like that. It's more of a defense than it is an offense. It can be destroyed by Dark Samus' opponent or Dark Samus herself, and another one can be summoned at the expense of the existing pillar disappearing. In other words, if this pillar was on one end of the stage and Dark Samus wanted to have the pillar somewhere else, she could do so, but the existing pillar would vanish, as there can only be one pillar at a time.
Up tilt isn't so much of missiles as they are some kind of energy beam of some sort, which I suspect comes from Gandrayda, a hunter for the Galactic Federation. The reason is because Dark Samus uses all three hunters' abilities in the final battle. I think up tilt is appropriate because Dark Samus would raise her arm cannon in a 45 degree angle and shoot these projectiles. She already has super missiles and Phazon missiles with her forward special, just like how Samus has homing missiles and super missiles for her forward special.
When I see the gif of Dark Samus using that Phazon Barrier, she takes the animation of Samus' down tilt, which is a crouch with the arm cannon extended diagonally down. This is the reason why I chose Phazon Barrier as the down tilt. It resembles Samus' down tilt. I felt that the down smash was more powerful if it's a boost ball because the way it's used by Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is ridiculously fast and damaging. So I thought this would be appropriate for a down smash, which we know smash attacks are known to cause more damage and knock-back.
As for the crawl, that's a good idea. I'll make use of that. Thank you!
Hello, my name is Skapokon and this is the first time I have decided to enter one of these contests. I've already posted a few movesets on GameFAQs but never here. So I'm presenting the last moveset I've done so far: The House-Cleaning/Gardener/Item Finder/World Saver Tiny Robot: Chibi-Robo! (from the series of the same name).
CHIBI-ROBO Plugs Into Adventure!
A small warning before we start with the moveset: I've only played the original GameCube game and the Demo of Zip-Lash for the 3DS. I still haven't played Park Patrol, Welcome Home Chibi-Robo, Photo Finder or the full version of Zip-Lash, so the moveset might be lacking for those who have played all the Chibi-Robo games.
Entrance: Day Starts
Chibi-Robo exists the Chibi-House along with Telly (who always follows him during the match).
Ground Attacks: Jab Combo: Chibi-Blaster
Chibi-Robo shoots two green bullets with his Chibi-Blaster. It's similar to Mega Man's Jab combo, but you cannot move while you shoot. (2%)
Dash Attack: Ice Chibi-Robo
Chibi-Robo turns into Ice Chibi-Robo and slides forwards, causing multiple damage. It can cause tripping, and you can freeze opponents with high percentages. (1% for each hit)
Side Tilt: Scrap Headbutt
Chibi-Robo headbutts. It has a slow start-up, but surprising stregth for a Side Tilt. (14%)
Up Tilt: Yes or No?
Chibi-Robo opens his head to reveal a plank either a “!” or a “X” symbol, much like how you say "Yes" and "No" in the Chibi-Robo games. (10% if clean, 6% if late)
Down Tilt: Toothbrush
Chibi-Robo brushes the ground with a toothbrush. It ocassionally cause tripping and it's easily spammable. (6%)
Smash Attacks: Side Smash: Plug Whip
Chibi-Robo whips his plug forwards (or diagonally Upwards/Downwards if you tilt the stick). While charging the attack, Chibi will spin his plug around his head (like on the first picture), and this also does damage. (6% on the cable, 14% on the plug itself. 3% for each hit when charging)
Up Smash: Chibi-Copter
Chibi-Robo activates his Chibi-Copter and makes it spin to deal damage. (1% (first hit), 1.3% (loop), 1% (second to last), 6% (last).
Down Smash: Vacuum
Chibi-Robo takes a Vacuum Cleaner and does a spin while vacuuming the ground. (15%)
Aerials Neutral Aerial: Chibi Flop
Chibi-Robo extends all of his limbs in a way similar to King Dedede's Nair. (10% when clean, 5% when late).
Forward Aerial: Air Whip
Chibi-Robo whips his plug forwards. It's like an aerial version of his Side Smash, but weaker. (4% on the cable, 10% on the plug itself).
Back Aerial: Toothbrush Thrust
Chibi-Robo hits backwards with his Toothbrush. (7% (base), 10% (tip).
Up Aerial: Plug-Copter
Chibi-Robo spins his plug over his head. (3% each hit).
Down Aerial: Spoon
Chibi-Robo goes downwards while holding the spoon on the picture. Basically Link's Dair, but with a Spoon. It can meteor smash in midair and bury opponents on the ground. (16% (early), 12% (late), 5% (landing)
Grabs Grab: Trash Collector
Chibi-Robo grabs an opponent and puts them inside his head.
Pummel: Head Spin
Chibi-Robo spins his head around, damaging the opponent inside his head. (2%)
Forward Throw: Trash Throw
Chibi-Robo takes the opponent out of his head and tosses them the same way he throws trash. (8%)
Back Throw: Backwards Trash Throw
^same but backwards. (10%)
Up Throw: Item Gift
Chibi-Robo takes the opponent out of his head and throws them upwards while they spin around. (9%)
Down Throw: Trash Drop
Chibi-Robo takes the opponent out of his head and slams them to the ground.
Specials Neutral Special: Squirter
Chibi-Robo takes the squirter, sucks up some air and then shoots it forwards. This does not deal damage, it just pushes. If an energy projectile (the ones that Ness/Lucas can absorb with their PK Magnet) is in front of Chibi, he'll suck that up. Press B again to shoot it forwards with twice the strength. On water stages, Chibi-Robo can use this item to suck water.
Side Special: Zip Lash
The ability that names Chibi-Robo's last adventure. Chibi-Robo takes his plug and spins around his head, kind of like his Side Smash, and you can aim it by moving upwards or downwards. But when you release it, the plug will grow bigger and, when shot diagonally, it bounces on walls. If you manage to grab an opponent, Chibi will electrify them using the plug, and you can use it to grab on ledges and platforms too. On coin matches the plug is able to collect coins too. This move has a downside, as the plug's length will decrease the more you use the move, like Bowser's Flames. (3% multihit by electricity)
Up Special: Chibi-Copter
Chibi-Robo activates his Chibi-Copter (the same as the one on his Up Smash) and goes upwards for a bit. After reaching certain height, Chibi-Robo will fall down slowly. While going upwards the horizontal movility is poor, but when falling it's much better. The Chibi-Copter itself does damage too. (4% each hit when going upwards, 2% when falling)
Down Special: Boom Box
Chibi-Robo will take a Boom Box out of his head and it'll start playing a song. Opponents near it will taunt as if they were dancing. Chibi-Robo is able to move while holding the Boom Box over his head, but he cannot jump. The song lasts for 5 seconds, but afterwards you are able to throw the Boom Box like a regular item. You can throw it while you're holding it, but if it hits something the song will stop.
Final Smash: Giga-Robo
Chibi-Robo will jump off stage and he'll be seen piloting Giga-Robo in the background (think of the Andross AT). With A, Giga-Robo will punch with his right hand and with B he'll punch with his left hand. The move lasts about 10 seconds (20% for each punch)
Taunts:
Up Taunt: Chibi-Robo activates the Chibi-Radar for a moment and then he puts it back on his head.
Side Taunt: (Varies depending on the costume).
Down Taunt: Chibi-Robo picks up his plug and puts it over his head. Now he's able to move faster and jump higher, but he can't attack (performing any attack will make him drop the plug).
Victory Poses:
Option 1: Spins his toothbrush around his body and plants it on the ground.
Option 2: Jumps with joy like in Zip Lash's Intro.
Option 3: >tfw you find a snack.
(dogsong not included)
(Note: In all victories Telly is behind Chibi-Robo shooting confetti).
Losing Pose: Chibi-Robo claps while Telly cries.
Costumes:
1- Default (Taunt: Telly flies around Chibi-Robo while he speak in gibberish).
2- Drake Redcrest Suit (Taunt: The Pose)
3- Trauma Suit (Taunt: Chibi-Robo flops)
4- Frog Suit (Taunt: Chibi-Robo squats and then jumps and croaks like a frog)
5- Ghost Suit (Taunt: Chibi-Robo sticks out his tongue and licks upward)
6- Pajama (Taunt: Chibi-Robo lies on his back and goes to sleep)
7- Tao Suit (Taunt: Chibi-Robo sits and then barks)
8- Super Chibi-Robo with Zip-Lash's Design (Taunt: Chibi-Robo does this pose):
Easter Eggs
-Chibi-Robo's Shield Animation is getting inside of Drake Redcrest's mug.
And this is it for the first moveset I've ever presented to the Make Your Move threads. I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to tell me what did I do right and wrong so can I improve on my future movesets.
The most important thing this set needs, and you have been told it again but I am going to reinforce it with my comment, is damage percentages. It is essentially impossible to judge a set's quality without this vital piece of information, especially when moves do not even say "does low damage" or anything, you may be nervous about messing up but anything is better than nothing (getting things wrong is how you get feedback on how to improve them) and sets without damage percentages are almost always going to be considered bad sets. If you are unsure of what to use, I recommend the SSB Wiki as a go-to to look at existing damage %s on moves to compare too.
Another basic thing I would recommend is to consider how you order the moveset and present it. A key example I will point out is that you begin by mentioning Tension Points + Overdrive, but we do not find out what overdrive is until much later, and that the Dash Attack mentions comboing with "Sky High", but we similiarly do not know what that is until later. I would highly recommend beginning with Specials or important sections that relate to things such as mechanics at the start of the moveset and that if a move combos with a later move it should usually be mentioned in the later move, unless it does not make sense otherwise. We usually combine Jab/Dash Attack into Tilts for a "Standard" section due to their associated usages.
Finally, Elma is crucially missing a statistics section, which would mention important details such as her physical size, how fast she moves along the ground and in the air, how high she jumps and what have you. As someone who doesn't play Xenoblade Chronicles X, I don't really have any idea if she moves around fast, slow, jumps high or not, or what have you. This is rather crucial to the creation of a set.
Now then, onto the moves themselves. The primary issue they have is a lack of much explanation and this leading to vagueness, for example I have no idea how far Elma's bullets go during Dash Attack: Are they very short range, infinite range like Falco laser, or what have you, and this means I can't tell if it is a very combo-oriented or approach-oriented tool. The tilts are also difficult to gauge the range of and something like F-Tilt doesn't give me much to work on for, say, how far it sends opponents flying: Usually we utilize the % it will KO at to help visualize, although comparisons to other Smash movesets directly also work. The smashes are more like what I'd think of and while lacking in critical detail, do show you have a good idea of how to make fun move bases, which is promising. One thing I would note is your moves don't give a very good impression of how they work into an overall, cohesive playstyle/plan and that more explanation on this front could be good. I would love an explanation of how these moves work into Elma being aggressive. Down Aerial feels fun and one thing I'll say is good is that you know how to describe animations well and tend to give fairly clear pictures of what moves look like.
I like the Author's Notes in this moveset, but I would recommend putting them in a seperate paragraph at the end, as it makes the text easier to read and feel less like a wall (tho the moveset doesn't really go into that here: Its more to avoid FUTURE problems). Down Special should be the first listed Special to give an idea of how Overdrive works. I actually quite like Supercharge/Overdrive and while not polished, it DOES show that you know to build a set's center, although I feel that it could work more smoothly into the standards/smashes, perhaps by way of additional effects: Imagine if Elma's increased strength/speed, for example, gave her a (new in the case of F-Tilt) follow-up attack on each of her tilts. It could create an even deeper, richer playstyle. The grab game is rather disappointing for losing the animation sense in some earlier sections and be ing most lacking in detail.
Ultimately, Elma's deepest flaws come simply from not expanding enough on what happens in the moveset, making it difficult to understand what the moveset is like or how it would play: If it had that crucial information, it actually sounds like around a potentially average set, which for a newcomer is very good. One of the most common ways to improve is to look at other movesets and usually give your own comments/thoughts: Ordering your thoughts into a comment tends to help one order what they like/dislike about something and thus give clearer thoughts.
Personally, I would recommend reading three of Dr. Slavic's Xenoblade Chronicles movesets from this contest: Dunban, Riki and Melia. Dunban in particular is not only easy to read and not too long, but plays with a very aggressive style that would help with Elma, and is my personal favorite of the three.
I hope you stick around and make more movesets, at the least, and I'll get around to commenting everyone else's sets soon!
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