Luigifan18
Smash Master
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This is it, the big kahuna of moveset threads! This thread will only allow movesets for characters who have a realistic chance to be DLC for Super Smash Bros. 4 or to make it onto the roster of later Super Smash Bros. games. To that end, I intend to submit movesets in this thread to Nintendo itself for consideration, as a way to help those characters along. When posting a moveset to this thread, you must preface it with a compelling argument for why the character would fit into Super Smash Bros., what they could add to the roster and/or what niche they could fill, and what perks their moveset can offer. If you can't, then the moveset should go into the For Fun Moveset Lab instead.
I'll kick things off with a moveset for Krystal, the blue staff-wielding vixen from the Star Fox series. As Fox's love interest, she is one of the more important characters in the series, and she has a unique weapon not seen much in the Smash Bros. series - namely her staff from Star Fox Adventures. I envision her as having a much more physical fighting style than fellow staff-wielder Palutena, drawing influence not only from Star Fox Adventures itself, but also real-world staff-fighting styles such as Eskrima. Other factors in her favor include being a very combat-capable female and having a very different moveset than Fox or Falco. Finally, due to the Eskrima influences, I can imagine Krystal as a fluid, flexible, precision-based fighter who excels in one-on-one combat, but needs to mix up her attacks to get the most out of her moves.
Primary Krystal support thread: Krystal for DLC! Year of Star Fox (My Moveset Post)
I'll kick things off with a moveset for Krystal, the blue staff-wielding vixen from the Star Fox series. As Fox's love interest, she is one of the more important characters in the series, and she has a unique weapon not seen much in the Smash Bros. series - namely her staff from Star Fox Adventures. I envision her as having a much more physical fighting style than fellow staff-wielder Palutena, drawing influence not only from Star Fox Adventures itself, but also real-world staff-fighting styles such as Eskrima. Other factors in her favor include being a very combat-capable female and having a very different moveset than Fox or Falco. Finally, due to the Eskrima influences, I can imagine Krystal as a fluid, flexible, precision-based fighter who excels in one-on-one combat, but needs to mix up her attacks to get the most out of her moves.
Primary Krystal support thread: Krystal for DLC! Year of Star Fox (My Moveset Post)
Krystal
Design: Krystal wears her Star Fox: Assault outfit (as seen in her trophy for both Brawl and SSB4) by default, with her Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox Command outfits as alternate costumes. Regardless of her outfit, she wields her staff from Star Fox Adventures.
Series Symbol: Star Fox symbol
Stats (Overview):
Speed: 4.75/5 (Krystal’s running speed is slightly behind Fox’s, making her one of the fastest characters in the game – roughly the fifth-fastest, after Sonic, Captain Falcon, Little Mac, and Fox.)
Strength: 3/5 (Krystal’s moves hit very hard and come out rather quickly – faster than the likes of the heavy hitter standard (e.g. Bowser, Ganondorf, Ike, and King Dedede). However, her power lies not in brute force, but in precision. This means that she depends upon her ability to strike vital regions of the body with precise strikes. Without that, her damage output suffers tremendously. On the surface, this sounds similar to Marth, whose attacks are lackluster unless he connects with the tip of his sword. Krystal’s moves generally don’t have sweetspots as dramatic as Marth; rather, Krystal is far more susceptible to stale-move negation than most other characters. Namely, while most characters’ moves can lose up to 55% of their power if used repeatedly, Krystal’s moves can lose up to 90% of their initial potency if used too frequently – a significant reduction in effectiveness! Because her moves are so susceptible to losing their effectiveness, her overall offensive power is balanced out to a level somewhere below the game’s heaviest hitters (e.g. Bowser, Ganondorf, Ike, and King Dedede).)
Defense: 2.4/5 (Many of Krystal’s moves are easily punishable if they miss, despite coming out very fast. While the ending lag for most of her attacks is on par with other characters in her speed class, like Fox, a few of her attacks – namely her full neutral combo, her down smash, and her back throw – have either absolutely horrible ending lag or an absurdly long overall duration, to the point where using them carelessly is just asking to eat a huge attack (like a Falcon Punch). Her down air’s normal ending lag isn’t too bad, but its duration is rather extreme, and its landing lag is almost as terrible as the ending lag of her down smash. Her forward smash gets an honorable mention for having a fairly long duration, making it more punishable than most of her attacks, but not as much as her down smash or neutral combo.)
Weight: 1.9/5 (Krystal’s even lighter than Fox is. However, like the other Star Fox characters, Krystal falls quickly despite her low weight.)
Jump: 3.2/5
Recovery: 4.4/5
Special Movements: Wall Jumping, Crawling
Attributes (Detailed Summary):
Walking Speed: 1.44
Dashing Speed: 2.14
Air Speed: 1.02568
Falling Speed (Maximum): 1.9
Falling Speed (Acceleration): 0.15
Falling Speed (Fast-Fall): 3.002 (58% increase)
Weight: 78
Jump Force (Ground): 3.64
Jump Force (Short Hop): (should be between Fox and Falco)
Jump Force (Double Jump): (should be between Fox and Falco)
Jump Delay (in frames): 5
Meteor Cancel window (in frames): 25
Roll Length (in frames):
Roll Intangibility Frames:
Roll Distance:
Roll Speed:
Sidestep Length (in frames):
Sidestep Intangibility Frames:
Air Dodge Length (in frames):
Air Dodge Intangibility Frames:
Traction: ?
Krystal’s stats may look unimpressive, but, having studied some Filipino fighting styles, I've come up with quite the moveset... Krystal is built as a glass cannon, being even lighter than Fox (but with a very good recovery to make up for it). Krystal also hits astonishingly hard, even rivaling the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf, but with better attack speed. However, she will not get far by spamming the same moves over and over again, as her power lies in precision rather than brute force. This is represented by making her especially susceptible to stale-move negation (see her stats above for details). To counteract this, her moves are designed to enable weaker attacks to combo into stronger ones, with her natural combo being the most egregious example of this principle. However, like Palutena, her moves tend to be highly punishable if they miss, so she needs to be careful and pick the best time to strike.
Equipment Used:
Offense: Staff (same as Rosalina and Palutena)
Defense: Suit (same as Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Captain Falcon, etc.)
Speed: Boots (same as Link, Zelda, Little Mac, Mii Fighters, etc.)
On-Screen Appearance: Krystal is dropped in via Arwing, like Fox and Falco.
Basic Attacks:
Jab Combo: 12 Eskrima Strikes:
Attack #1: A quick downwards staff swipe to the cheek [of the face]. Does about 4% damage.
Attack #2: A quick follow-up downwards swipe to the other cheek (again, referring to the face). Does about 4% damage by itself, for a total of 8% if both attacks hit.
Attack #3: A swipe to the waistline, which does about 5% damage (total damage by this point is 13%).
Attack #4: A follow-up strike to the other side of the waist, for 5% damage (total 18% damage).
Attack #5: A stab to the stomach, which does 8% damage (total = 26%).
Attack #6: A stab to the head, which does 10% damage, for a total of 36% damage. (Yeah, that Strength stat is misleading, huh? No, Krystal isn’t particularly strong; it’s just that this combat style is really effective at targeting the more vulnerable regions of the body, so if you’re caught in a combo by a skilled practitioner, it’s going to hurt like crazy!)
Attack #7: Krystal flips her staff around and whacks her enemy on the head, doing 9% damage (total 45% damage).
Attack #8: Krystal flips the staff again to whack the enemy's chin, doing 8% damage (total 53% damage).
Attack #9: An upwards swipe to the hip, which does 6% damage (total 59% damage).
Attack #10: A follow-up upwards swipe to the other hip, which does 6% damage (total 65% damage).
Attack #11: A swipe at the enemy's ankles, which does 3% damage, for a total of 68% damage. In addition to flinching, the enemy is tripped as though he/she slipped on a banana peel (except that he/she ends up prone, rather than on his/her butt).
Jab finisher: The coup de grace, Krystal thrusts her staff towards the ground and strikes her prone foe square in the chest (read: right where the heart is), stunning him/her (as if his/her shield broke) and inflicting 15% damage!!!!! It has much worse start-up than the other moves in the combo, but it’s still not terrible, so if the second-to-last blow landed, the foe shouldn’t be able to react in time to dodge.
Jab Combo Summary: Krystal easily has the best and most elaborate basic combo in the entire game. Her jab combo is based on the 12 basic strikes of eskrima, excelling in quickly and efficiently doing damage. While she lacks an infinite, her entire basic combo can inflict a total of 83% damage if all 12 hits connect! The finale also stuns the target, leaving them highly vulnerable to a charged Smash attack or Joust. However, there isn’t much (if any) knockback throughout the whole thing, and even though each individual attack is fast, the combo is so long that it nonetheless takes about 2 seconds to pull off the whole thing – more than enough time for another combatant to nail Krystal from behind with a charged Smash attack or other powerful move (like, say, a Falcon Punch. Ouch.) Furthermore, ending the combo early leads to the enemy’s hitstun wearing off relatively quickly, and each attack in the neutral combo has rather noticeable endlag on its own, which can possibly allow the foe to start a basic combo (or other quick attack) of his/her own before Krystal is ready to defend herself. On the other hand, the flinching from each blow typically gives Krystal more than enough time to land the next. Basically, if Krystal lands the first hit of the combo, it’s more likely than not that she’s going to land the entire attack string (unless interrupted), leaving the foe primed to eat a Smash Attack at 83% damage worse for wear. This is a huge part of what makes Krystal an utter nightmare to face one-on-one (but far more manageable in a free-for-all).
Tilt Attacks:
Forward Tilt: A strong staff swipe, which has some knockback. It inflicts about 14% damage. Like most tilt attacks, it’s fast and has good range, but its knockback isn’t exactly enough to KO opponents unless they’re already suffering from an obscenely high damage percentage. Note that this move can be angled up or down by tilting the Control Stick forward and up or forward and down, respectively; the up-angled version does 16% damage with slightly more knockback than the standard version (and the knockback is at a higher angle), while the down-angled version does 12% damage with slightly less knockback than the standard version (and the knockback is at a lower angle).
Up Tilt: Krystal swings her staff over her head, knocking enemies away for 12% damage. Like most tilt attacks, it’s fast and has good range, but its knockback isn’t exactly enough to KO opponents unless they’re already suffering from an obscenely high damage percentage.
Down Tilt: Krystal ducks down and swings her tail, hitting for 10% damage. Like most tilt attacks, it’s fast and has good range, but its knockback isn’t exactly enough to KO opponents unless they’re already suffering from an obscenely high damage percentage.
Tilt Attack Summary: Krystal’s tilt attacks are very, very average. Compared to Mario’s tilt attacks, Krystal’s have slightly more startup lag, but roughly the same ending lag. Compared to the first attack in Krystal’s basic combo (and most of the subsequent attacks, for that matter), the tilt attacks have a bit more startup lag (as is usual for tilt attacks versus jabs), but the tilt attacks actually have a bit less ending lag. On the other hand, the attacks in the basic combo can have their endlag canceled by performing the next attack in the chain, while the tilt attacks have no such privilege (not that they need it, since, as mentioned, their endlag is on par with Mario). As for the knockback, that’s also roughly on par with Mario. As a weapon-user, Krystal has very good reach on her tilts, on par with Marth and Lucina.
Dash Attack: Krystal leaps forward and kicks for 9% damage (it looks a bit like Fox’s Forward Smash from Melee, except for being a running kick rather than a flip kick and has sex-kick properties).
Ledge Attack: Krystal climbs up onto the edge and quickly slaps forward to drive off potential attackers. This attack does 5% damage and has very little knockback; its range isn’t very good, either. However, it’s relatively fast (though there is a short delay as Krystal clambers up) and it stuns the target for about 30 frames; it’s not much, but it should help Krystal get into a better defensive position.
Rising Attack: Krystal pushes herself to her feet and thrusts forward with her staff in one motion, while also kicking backwards with one foot. The staff thrust does 10%, while the kick does 6% damage. The staff thrust has decent knockback, while the kick has mild knockback.
Smash Attacks:
Forward Smash: Krystal spins her staff at the target to stun them (hitting 4-8 times, with 1% damage for each hit, based upon how much you charge the attack), before knocking them far away with a mighty swing, which inflicts 15%-21% damage. The initial twirl has no knockback (but causes flinching), and the home-run swing has the high knockback you'd expect from a Smash Attack, comparable to Lucina’s Forward Smash.
Up Smash: Krystal simply executes an upward stab with her staff for 16%-22.4% damage, not unlike Marth and Roy's Up Smash from Melee. This blow can send foes skyrocketing, and it is both very fast and possesses amazing vertical reach. However, the horizontal reach is a bit weak.
Down Smash: Krystal ducks down and spins around several times, striking enemies with both her staff and her tail. The attack hits multiple times (each staff strike does 6% damage, and each tail strike does 4% damage); the entire Smash Attack could do 120% damage or more if all of the hits connected, but her enemies will probably have been sent flying by then with only around 18%. (Of course, anything that resists the knockback from this attack is fair game to eat the entire move.) Unlike most Smash attacks, the damage of each hit is unaffected by charging the attack; charging it increases the number of hits instead. Krystal is essentially untouchable during this attack, due to her low profile and the fact that she is continuously attacking, but she isn’t invincible; disjointed-hitbox attacks (such as a sword strike or tool-assisted grab) and projectiles can still harm her, and anything immune to flinching has a golden opportunity to strike. In addition, she will be dizzy for a second or two after she's done spinning, which leaves her vulnerable to counterattacks (and also prevents this move from being spammed endlessly to effectively make Krystal immune to any inferior-priority attack and/or effortlessly destroy bosses). The damage of each hit is barely affected by how much the attack is charged up; instead, charging the attack determines how many times Krystal spins around. If the move is uncharged, Krystal only spins around 6 times for an attack duration of 50 frames and a theoretical maximum of 12 hits, but she spins around 12 times for an attack duration of 100 frames and a theoretical maximum of 24 hits if the move is fully charged. This move also has finite launch resistance similar to Yoshi’s double-jump, allowing Krystal to ignore knockback below a certain threshold while it’s in progress. The amount of launch resistance is dependent on the charge level, ranging from roughly a quarter of Yoshi’s double-jump resistance (if uncharged) to roughly half of Yoshi’s double-jump resistance (if fully charged).
Aerial Attacks:
Neutral Aerial: Krystal spins around and smacks enemies with her staff and tail. Unlike her Down Smash, Krystal does not bend over, her staff and tail hit at different heights, and she only spins around once. It hits twice for 8% damage from the staff and 6% damage from the tail. It’s moderately quick and has good range and priority (especially for the staff, what with it being a disjointed hitbox and all), but the knockback is nothing to write home about. (Specifically, this attack has better knockback scaling but worse base knockback than the back air, but both aspects of the knockback are inferior to the neutral air, which is in turn inferior to the up air.)
Forward Aerial: Krystal spins forward with her staff to inflict 16% damage. This is a quick move with very good knockback, but its horizontal range is a bit weak. On the plus side, it can be used to block many projectiles, in a similar fashion to Link’s shield (but Krystal will be momentarily stunned after blocking a projectile in this fashion, especially if it’s a rather powerful one – very powerful projectiles, such as fully charged Charge Shots, cannot be blocked by this move, so don’t even try it).
Back Aerial: Krystal swings her tail behind her, inflicting 11% damage. It closely resembles Mewtwo’s back air attack. This is a very quick attack with surprisingly good vertical and horizontal range, but it only knocks the foe far enough to deter an attack; thus, it’s much more useful for putting some distance between Krystal and an aggressive opponent than it is for scoring KOs.
Up Aerial: Krystal pokes upward with her staff to inflict 13% damage. Its horizontal range leaves something to be desired, but its vertical range is quite good, and it has very good knockback and speed. Its knockback is the best out of all of Krystal’s aerial moves, and it’s strictly vertical, too, which means that if you can hit an enemy with it in the first place, your positioning is probably fit to KO them.
Down Aerial: Krystal tightens her body, brings her arms to her sides and her legs together, points her toes downward, straightens her tail against her back, and spins like a drill, inflicting multiple hits for a total of 18% damage. The final hit acts as a Meteor Smash, but since this move takes about 1.2 seconds to fully perform, it must be executed with extreme caution if not above solid ground, lest Krystal wind up too far below the stage to recover. I know my description made this move sound complicated, but it’s actually quite quick to initiate, and it doesn’t have a long cooldown period, either (at least, not if it ends before Krystal hits the ground). Actually, it looks kind of like Fox’s down air in appearance, except that Krystal keeps her tail against her back instead of letting it whip around behind her. If Krystal hits the ground while performing this attack, she will be stunned for a second as she regains her balance, which means that she’s wide open for an uncharged Smash attack – or a charged one from an opponent who got him/herself into position in advance. Since it’s difficult to steer Krystal during this move – that is, her air speed is somewhat reduced until the move ends – that’s a lot easier than one might think.
Throws:
Grab: Krystal tries to grab enemies with both arms, using her staff to bat enemies into her grip. Unsurprisingly, the staff doesn’t work too well for this, so the grab is more effective within her arm’s reach. Essentially, her grab, while having a somewhat long range (a bit shorter than Olimar’s), has a sweetspot within her arm’s reach (e.g. slightly smaller than Fox’s grab hitbox), with the rest of her grab hitbox being a sourspot. The grab only works as normal if the grab hitbox connects with the sweetspot. If the grab connects with the sourspot, the enemy is pulled into the sweetspot, giving them about half a second to dodge or attack Krystal and negate her grab attempt (after which they can punish as if she had whiffed entirely). On top of that, the pull effect of the sourspot is somewhat reduced if the enemy is shielding, and flat-out doesn’t work if the enemy pulls off a perfect shield (which makes Krystal’s grab the only one in the game to not ignore shields entirely, at least outside of its ideal range). Krystal's hold is a bit more difficult to break than that of most characters, since she uses her staff to keep her enemy in place, but on the other hand, she has a slightly longer grab-release animation, which can allow some faster characters to nail her with a jab or other quick attack upon breaking free from her hold.
Pummel: Krystal slaps her enemy in the face for 2% damage. It’s a pretty fast pummel move, though its strength is somewhat lacking.
Forward Throw: Krystal stabs her enemy in the stomach, lifts up the staff (with the enemy stuck on the tip), charges up a shot from her staff, and blasts the enemy off for 18% damage. This throw has very good knockback, but it is rather slow to perform. That’s not a problem in a one-on-one fight, but in a free-for-all, it leaves Krystal quite vulnerable. It also launches the foe up fairly high in addition to its forward knockback; while this is a boon near the top of a stage (as it means that the foe is likely to go past the top blast line), it’s problematic when near the bottom (as the opponent has plenty of vertical room to recover). The staff shot is influenced by Krystal’s equipped neutral special; it can be either a Fire, Frost, or Lightning Staff shot. This has a minor influence on the move's effect: the Fire Staff makes the throw do 3% more damage, the Frost Staff freezes the foe upon throwing them, and the Lightning Staff slightly increases the knockback and applies a very brief paralysis effect.
Back Throw: Krystal wraps her tail around her enemy to hold them in place (3% damage), slaps him/her several times with both hands (about 8 slaps for 1% damage each), and bashes him/her away with her butt (15% damage) for a total of 26% damage. (Ouch...) This throw does a lot of damage, but it’s very slow to fully execute (even more so than her forward throw), and it has poor knockback (especially for a throw); an enemy hit by this won’t be “launched” so much as he/she will be “shoved”. Again, the long duration isn’t a problem in a one-on-one fight, but in a free-for-all, Krystal’s leaving herself quite vulnerable to her other opponents. She’s also vulnerable to stage hazards, but those can generally be seen coming.
Up Throw: Krystal tosses her foe straight up (4% damage) and hits them with four quick shots from her staff (3% damage each), for a total of 16% damage. This throw is relatively quick, but it’s prone to failing to inflict its full damage; a heavily damaged foe will probably be launched so far that the staff shots will miss, while a relatively undamaged foe will probably be able to regain control quickly and either dodge or maneuver away from the staff shots (or at least most of them). On the other hand, staff shots that miss the throw victim can still strike other opponents if they happen to be in the vicinity. It’s not like the throw launches the foe very far, either, though at least the staff shots can compensate for that if they connect. The staff shots can be reflected or absorbed. Just like the forward throw, the shots from the staff in this throw can be Fire, Frost, or Lightning Staff shots, depending on which neutral special Krystal has equipped. Fire Staff shots do an extra 1% damage, Frost Staff shots freeze victims, and Lightning Staff shots inflict paralysis.
Down Throw: Krystal flings her enemy to the ground and stabs them in the stomach, like her basic combo’s Coup de Grace, only it does 12% damage and doesn't stun (and instead has low-moderate knockback). However, it is by far her quickest throw... a trait which isn’t very important for one-on-one fights, but could save Krystal some from very painful hits in a free-for-all! Its quick speed is also ideal for follow-up attacks.
Special Moves:
Neutral Special (Default): Fire Staff: From Star Fox Adventures, it can be rapid-fired like Fox's Blaster or charged up like Samus's Charge Shot. Uncharged shots cause minor flinching (not as much as Falco’s Blaster) and 3% damage, while fully charged shots cause 18% fire damage and moderate knockback. When rapid-fired, this attack’s firing rate is about 2/3 as fast as Fox’s Blaster (quicker than Falco’s, but still significantly slower than Fox’s). The attack takes about 1.5 seconds to fully charge. Do note that it can be reflected or absorbed.
Neutral Special (Custom 1): Frost Staff: Krystal uses the Frost Staff (also from Star Fox Adventures) to generate a moderately wide beam of frost directly in front of her. By default, the beam of frost does 1% damage per second, has a rather short range, and lasts for only 1 second – in other words, pretty useless. The move can be charged up like Samus’s Charge Shot, except that it takes 5 seconds to fully charge. For every second of charging, the beam gains an additional 1% damage per second, 1 second of duration, and some additional range and knockback. When charged for at least 2 seconds, it freezes foes it hits. When charged for at least 3 seconds, Krystal has super armor while firing it; when it’s fully charged, Krystal is completely invulnerable while firing. Once fully charged, the beam of frost does about 5% damage per second, lasting for 5 seconds, and repeatedly freezes opponents, and it covers the entire length of the screen. It launches foes as it dissipates, even if they’re frozen, which makes it quite dangerous. While the damage isn’t spectacular, its high knockback makes for an excellent finisher. Unlike the other two neutral special options, this can't be reflected or absorbed.
Neutral Special (Custom 2): Lightning Staff: Krystal launches a sustained bolt of lightning from the tip of her staff, paralyzing foes and doing 2% damage to them per second. The range is equal to Bowser’s Fire Breath, but it peters out quickly over time, gradually losing range until Krystal’s shooting nothing but harmless smoke. It takes 5 seconds of sustained use to completely deplete the Lightning Staff. Once fully depleted, it takes 10 seconds of non-use to recharge. It continually recharges while not being used. Note that the lightning can be reflected or absorbed.
Side Special (Default): Joust: Krystal charges with her staff in front of her, sending anybody she hits flying straight ahead for 10-30% damage (Krystal will build up more speed as the move progresses if it’s used on the ground, and the faster she’s running, the more damage this attack will do). Once Krystal hits a foe, she stops in her tracks on impact, using her built-up momentum to smash her staff into the victim full-force. Although the knockback is spectacular (and, even better, the foe is launched horizontally at about a 5° vertical angle, similarly to a foe struck dead-on by Captain Falcon’s forward air), the attack is rather easy to dodge (just jumping over it is simple enough, to say nothing of a roll or sidestep), and it leaves Krystal wide open, especially if it misses... but it also does a lot of shield damage, so blocking it is a good way to end up with a broken shield. Krystal also moves a bit slowly at the attack’s start, and takes a while to build up speed, which makes it somewhat predictable. (She starts running at about 0.7× times her normal running speed and can speed up to about 1.25× times her speed, which takes roughly 3 seconds.) To its credit, it can be canceled by shielding, causing an animation where Krystal abruptly skids to a stop while holding her staff in front of herself to parry attacks; while the skid can be punished, Krystal will block attacks that do less than 20% damage (assuming that they can be blocked) until the cancel lag ends. Thus, this move can also be used as a psyche-out approach. Krystal cannot skid off the edge of a platform once she cancels the attack (her momentum will be stopped at the platform’s edge, similarly to a roll). However, once Krystal blocks an attack, she stumbles backwards (but her attacker sustains a small amount of knockback, flinging them away from Krystal), thus leaving her open to be punished by a follow-up attack from someone else. She also cannot block attacks from behind. The duration of the skid is otherwise determined by Krystal’s speed before canceling. If Krystal does not hit an opponent or cancel the attack, she will charge until she runs into a wall (which will result in her smacking into the wall at high speed, causing her to sustain severe ending lag with no protection; the higher her speed, the more lag she’ll suffer), or reaches the edge of the platform (in which case she’ll tumble off, but automatically catch herself on the edge if it can be grabbed; if it can’t, she’ll briefly tumble, then enter her default falling state). While this attack’s animation involves running when used on the ground, if this attack is used in midair, Krystal will dash straight forward in a similar fashion to Captain Falcon’s Raptor Boost or Ganondorf’s Flame Choke, the main difference being that this attack’s knockback is horizontal rather than downwards, and Krystal gradually accelerates rather than instantly lunging ahead. The midair version of the move has a finite distance, covering slightly more distance than Raptor Boost, and also does dramatically less damage, with a minimum of 8% and a maximum of 20%. Nonetheless, Krystal will become helpless upon the dash’s conclusion, and it will immediately end when she comes into contact with an opponent or destructible object. The attack also cannot be canceled when used in midair.
Side Special (Custom 1): Lunge: Krystal’s charge instantly accelerates to max speed (regardless of whether she uses it on the ground or in the air), and she passes through all targets in her way without stopping. However, the dash does 14% damage regardless of when Krystal hits, and lasts for a finite distance, cannot run off the edge of a platform, and has no significant consequences for running into a wall. In terms of function, it operates like a slower, but more damaging Fox Illusion/Falco Phantasm. The dash’s distance is slightly shorter than Raptor Boost (which means that it’s slightly worse than the default Joust for raw recovery distance, but better for getting past edgeguarders due to its penetrating properties). The dash can be canceled like a normal Joust, and will skid to a stop like normal.
Side Special (Custom 2): Impale: Krystal vaults forward and violently thrusts forward with her lance while putting all of her weight into the blow, dealing 60% damage if she connects with an opponent right as she begins to stab forward. A clean hit also causes dramatic knockback at a -10° angle, likely KOing a victim as soon as 40%. However, this move covers a short distance and is rather slow; it’s sort of like a clumsy Falcon Punch. Furthermore, if Krystal does not connect at the aforementioned sweetspot, the attack deals dramatically less damage according to how much her timing was off (if she struck only slightly late, she’ll deal 28% damage, while if she connects at the end of her thrust, she deals a mere 18% damage), with the knockback reduced accordingly. It’s also possible to hit too early, with even worse consequences – if Krystal leaps into an opponent before thrusting her staff forward, her staff will lightly graze them as she bounces off, dealing only 5% damage and barely causing her foe to flinch, while Krystal herself bounces backwards (if the foe is larger than her) or trips over the foe (if they are smaller), leaving her sprawled out on the ground and wide open to punishment either way. The sweetspot of the attack activates about 40 frames after initiation, making it about as slow as Falcon Punch. It also has rather bad ending lag if it misses entirely (though not quite as severe as her down smash). Also, this move doesn’t cover much distance (only about 4 character lengths), while also being unable to sweetspot ledges and causing Krystal to drop like a rock if she’s not already on solid ground by the move’s end, making it nearly useless for recovery. This is a very risky attack requiring extremely precise timing and positioning to use correctly, with its sweetspot being even harder to land than the likes of Captain Falcon’s Knee Smash or Zelda’s Lightning Kick, but if pulled off correctly, it’s the single most devastating move and most effective finisher in Krystal’s arsenal. One more note – this attack completely ignores shields unless it hits prior to the sweetspot or during the final attacking frames (e.g. at its absolute weakest), so don’t even try blocking it.
Up Special (Default): Rocket Boost: Krystal uses the Rocket Boost upgrade from Star Fox Adventures. If used from the ground, she charges up and vaults high into the air, while if she uses it in the air, it semi-gradually lifts her up, causing her to continuously ascend for nearly 3 seconds; either way, the vertical distance is very impressive. If used in midair, Krystal is able to freely steer left and right while ascending, giving her great horizontal recovery as well and letting her psyche out edgeguarders; she can also air-dodge during the ascent at the cost of decelerating a bit (and subsequently losing some total height from her recovery). She can immediately cancel her ascent by using a midair attack. However, the move takes a second to charge up, and if used in midair, Krystal can fall a short distance before the move actually starts; while her falling speed is drastically reduced during the charge-up period, this might be enough for her to suffer a KO. Krystal becomes helpless when she’s done gaining height (even if she manually canceled her ascent). This move is not an attack at all.
Up Special (Custom 1): Mach Rocket Boost: Krystal’s vertical acceleration after the charging period is much faster, so she rises extremely quickly through the air; she still rises up more quickly if she uses it on the ground than if she uses it in the air, but either way, it’s much faster than the default version, and its vertical distance is much greater. However, the charge-up period is a bit longer (roughly 1.4 seconds), and Krystal’s falling speed reduction during the charge-up period is not as great as the default version, so she falls farther before beginning to rise. This makes it a bit harder to use as a recovery. Because this is faster than the default version, Krystal’s ascent is over sooner (she only ascends for 1.5 seconds before beginning to fall, assuming that she used the move in midair), and therefore this version is also a bit worse for horizontal recovery than the default version.
Up Special (Custom 2): Rocket Boost Blast: When the charging-up period is complete, Krystal generates a large explosion around herself, dealing 18% damage to everyone caught in the blast (with pretty good knockback). While ascending, Krystal’s entire body is a hitbox, dealing 6% damage to anyone she collides with. The ascent speed is the same as the default version, as is the reduction in falling speed while charging up when the move is used in midair. The charge-up period is slightly longer (roughly 1.2 seconds), and the midair ascent duration is somewhat shorter (only 2 seconds). Thus, both the ground and air versions gain less height than the default version, making it an overall worse recovery.
Down Special (Default): Ground Quake: Also ripped from Star Fox Adventures, Krystal slams her staff into the ground to inflict up to 20% damage to anybody within several meters of her position (the attack gets weaker against farther opponents). It also inflicts good vertical knockback. Its maximum range falls just a little short of the middle of Final Destination, assuming Krystal uses it right at the edge. Foes at the edge of the affected range suffer a mere 4% damage (along with very, very unimpressive knockback); full damage is only dealt to characters right next to Krystal (thankfully, this move starts up pretty quickly). However, it only affects opponents on the ground, meaning that it can easily be dodged by not being on the ground when Krystal strikes it (read: jumping), and Krystal will have to pull her staff out of the ground (which takes about 1 second) before she can defend herself... Also, this move cannot be used in midair, for obvious reasons.
Down Special (Custom 1): Titanic Quake: When Krystal slams her staff into the ground, the earthquake affects everyone on the ground in the entire level, dealing 10% damage to all ground-bound enemies, regardless of their location relative to Krystal (which makes this version far less effective up-close, but more effective at large distances). However, its ending lag is a bit more than twice as long as the default version – in fact, even worse than her down smash – which, combined with the reduced knockback against nearby opponents, means that Krystal is wide-open to punishment from anyone nearby enough who dodges the move (or, for that matter, gets hit, is lightly damaged enough to take negligible knockback, and can land next to Krystal before she’s even begun to pull her staff out). The start-up lag is also slightly longer than the default version. It cannot be used in midair.
Down Special (Custom 2): Volatile Quake: Upon slamming her staff into the ground, Krystal causes several large rocks to fly up into the air and then fall back down. These rocks are basically identical to the rocks Charizard uses for its Rock Smash special, causing 18% damage and decent knockback to anyone (except for Krystal) they collide with (though they can be reflected). It’s entirely possible for several rocks to hit a single character. The rocks shatter into fragments upon hitting the ground (or a character, wall, or ceiling), and the fragments fly outwards from the impact point for a short distance and then fall back down, doing 3% damage to anyone they hit. Rock fragments will shatter into dust (in other words, disappear) upon hitting anything. The area of rock generation is equal to the range of the standard version, and neatly solves the attack’s major problem of not affecting anyone not on the ground. However, the quake itself does dramatically less damage than the default version, dealing 5% damage and minor knockback at point-blank range; at the edge of its range, it does no damage at all, and affected characters just get popped up into the air as though they had used a POW Block. So, basically, opponents on the ground just get knocked up into the air along with the rocks, making the initial hit merely a set-up for the main attack. (It’s still safer to jump before Krystal hits the ground, since it’s easier to dodge the rocks when they’re rising up towards you than when you’re rising up towards them… probably in hitstun…) The start-up of this version of the attack is the longest of any of the variants, while the ending lag is roughly in between the default version and Titanic Quake; by the time the animation’s completely finished and Krystal’s ready to act again, the rocks and their fragments will already have flown up, crashed back down, and gone away. Also, this move can’t be used in midair.
Final Smash: Blessings of the Krazoa: Krystal channels the power of the Krazoa Spirits through her body (the power that Andross tried to use to revive himself in Star Fox Adventures). She completely heals herself, and becomes stronger (both damage and knockback are increased), faster (both in movement and in attacks, as well as greater jump height), and more difficult to KO (increased damage resistance, launch resistance, and flinch resistance) for 1 minute. However, these improvements are relatively minor (essentially equivalent to +40 equipment boosts).
Taunts:
Up Taunt: Krystal flips her hair back, waggles her tail, and leans forwards on her staff, supporting her cheek on her hand, while asking "You like this?". (Her expression seems to say “Come on and try to get me!”)
Side Taunt: Krystal taps her foot impatiently and shakes her staff threateningly while saying “That’s enough, boys.”
Down Taunt: Krystal lowers her head and chants a few prayers (apparently having to do something with Cerinian customs). About 20% of the time (or if this is executed as a Smash Taunt), she instead asks the spirit of her departed mother for guidance, and shines for a second; as her body glows, Krystal lifts her head with a look of understanding and determination. After the taunt is finished, she becomes slightly stronger, faster, and more difficult to KO for 10 seconds (the bonuses are smaller than the ones granted by her Final Smash, being equivalent to +8 equipment). However, this Smash Taunt takes a bit longer to execute than the normal taunt, and if it's interrupted, Krystal doesn't get the benefit. [On Lylat Cruise, Krystal will initiate a communication upon executing a Smash Taunt, just like the other Star Fox characters. This Smash Taunt must be used up before Krystal can execute her “prayer” Smash Taunt, though the "prayer" taunt has a 20% chance of being activated in place of her normal Down Taunt even if the communication Smash Taunt has not yet been used. Krystal does not have a special Smash Taunt for the Corneria and Orbital Gate Assault stages; in fact, if she is involved in a fight at Orbital Gate Assault, its special conversations can’t be triggered.]
Victory Theme: Same as other Star Fox characters.
Victory Taunt A: Krystal laughs and says, "You men think you're so tough!" (If she was up against at least one female opponent, she instead says “You spend too much time in the kitchen!” Against a genderless opponent (like R.O.B.), she says “Don’t underestimate me just because I’m a woman!” If she was up against both a female opponent and a genderless opponent, the third phrase (“Don’t underestimate me…”) will be used, and the third phrase may randomly be used anyways even if there were no genderless characters in the match.)
Victory Taunt B: Krystal fires a salvo of staff shots at the camera, referencing her attempt to attack Andross at the end of Star Fox Adventures
Victory Taunt C: Krystal gasps, appears to be taken aback, and says, "Oh, dear! Did I rough you up too badly?"
Series Symbol: Star Fox symbol
Stats (Overview):
Speed: 4.75/5 (Krystal’s running speed is slightly behind Fox’s, making her one of the fastest characters in the game – roughly the fifth-fastest, after Sonic, Captain Falcon, Little Mac, and Fox.)
Strength: 3/5 (Krystal’s moves hit very hard and come out rather quickly – faster than the likes of the heavy hitter standard (e.g. Bowser, Ganondorf, Ike, and King Dedede). However, her power lies not in brute force, but in precision. This means that she depends upon her ability to strike vital regions of the body with precise strikes. Without that, her damage output suffers tremendously. On the surface, this sounds similar to Marth, whose attacks are lackluster unless he connects with the tip of his sword. Krystal’s moves generally don’t have sweetspots as dramatic as Marth; rather, Krystal is far more susceptible to stale-move negation than most other characters. Namely, while most characters’ moves can lose up to 55% of their power if used repeatedly, Krystal’s moves can lose up to 90% of their initial potency if used too frequently – a significant reduction in effectiveness! Because her moves are so susceptible to losing their effectiveness, her overall offensive power is balanced out to a level somewhere below the game’s heaviest hitters (e.g. Bowser, Ganondorf, Ike, and King Dedede).)
Defense: 2.4/5 (Many of Krystal’s moves are easily punishable if they miss, despite coming out very fast. While the ending lag for most of her attacks is on par with other characters in her speed class, like Fox, a few of her attacks – namely her full neutral combo, her down smash, and her back throw – have either absolutely horrible ending lag or an absurdly long overall duration, to the point where using them carelessly is just asking to eat a huge attack (like a Falcon Punch). Her down air’s normal ending lag isn’t too bad, but its duration is rather extreme, and its landing lag is almost as terrible as the ending lag of her down smash. Her forward smash gets an honorable mention for having a fairly long duration, making it more punishable than most of her attacks, but not as much as her down smash or neutral combo.)
Weight: 1.9/5 (Krystal’s even lighter than Fox is. However, like the other Star Fox characters, Krystal falls quickly despite her low weight.)
Jump: 3.2/5
Recovery: 4.4/5
Special Movements: Wall Jumping, Crawling
Attributes (Detailed Summary):
Walking Speed: 1.44
Dashing Speed: 2.14
Air Speed: 1.02568
Falling Speed (Maximum): 1.9
Falling Speed (Acceleration): 0.15
Falling Speed (Fast-Fall): 3.002 (58% increase)
Weight: 78
Jump Force (Ground): 3.64
Jump Force (Short Hop): (should be between Fox and Falco)
Jump Force (Double Jump): (should be between Fox and Falco)
Jump Delay (in frames): 5
Meteor Cancel window (in frames): 25
Roll Length (in frames):
Roll Intangibility Frames:
Roll Distance:
Roll Speed:
Sidestep Length (in frames):
Sidestep Intangibility Frames:
Air Dodge Length (in frames):
Air Dodge Intangibility Frames:
Traction: ?
Krystal’s stats may look unimpressive, but, having studied some Filipino fighting styles, I've come up with quite the moveset... Krystal is built as a glass cannon, being even lighter than Fox (but with a very good recovery to make up for it). Krystal also hits astonishingly hard, even rivaling the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf, but with better attack speed. However, she will not get far by spamming the same moves over and over again, as her power lies in precision rather than brute force. This is represented by making her especially susceptible to stale-move negation (see her stats above for details). To counteract this, her moves are designed to enable weaker attacks to combo into stronger ones, with her natural combo being the most egregious example of this principle. However, like Palutena, her moves tend to be highly punishable if they miss, so she needs to be careful and pick the best time to strike.
Equipment Used:
Offense: Staff (same as Rosalina and Palutena)
Defense: Suit (same as Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Captain Falcon, etc.)
Speed: Boots (same as Link, Zelda, Little Mac, Mii Fighters, etc.)
On-Screen Appearance: Krystal is dropped in via Arwing, like Fox and Falco.
Basic Attacks:
Jab Combo: 12 Eskrima Strikes:
Attack #1: A quick downwards staff swipe to the cheek [of the face]. Does about 4% damage.
Attack #2: A quick follow-up downwards swipe to the other cheek (again, referring to the face). Does about 4% damage by itself, for a total of 8% if both attacks hit.
Attack #3: A swipe to the waistline, which does about 5% damage (total damage by this point is 13%).
Attack #4: A follow-up strike to the other side of the waist, for 5% damage (total 18% damage).
Attack #5: A stab to the stomach, which does 8% damage (total = 26%).
Attack #6: A stab to the head, which does 10% damage, for a total of 36% damage. (Yeah, that Strength stat is misleading, huh? No, Krystal isn’t particularly strong; it’s just that this combat style is really effective at targeting the more vulnerable regions of the body, so if you’re caught in a combo by a skilled practitioner, it’s going to hurt like crazy!)
Attack #7: Krystal flips her staff around and whacks her enemy on the head, doing 9% damage (total 45% damage).
Attack #8: Krystal flips the staff again to whack the enemy's chin, doing 8% damage (total 53% damage).
Attack #9: An upwards swipe to the hip, which does 6% damage (total 59% damage).
Attack #10: A follow-up upwards swipe to the other hip, which does 6% damage (total 65% damage).
Attack #11: A swipe at the enemy's ankles, which does 3% damage, for a total of 68% damage. In addition to flinching, the enemy is tripped as though he/she slipped on a banana peel (except that he/she ends up prone, rather than on his/her butt).
Jab finisher: The coup de grace, Krystal thrusts her staff towards the ground and strikes her prone foe square in the chest (read: right where the heart is), stunning him/her (as if his/her shield broke) and inflicting 15% damage!!!!! It has much worse start-up than the other moves in the combo, but it’s still not terrible, so if the second-to-last blow landed, the foe shouldn’t be able to react in time to dodge.
Jab Combo Summary: Krystal easily has the best and most elaborate basic combo in the entire game. Her jab combo is based on the 12 basic strikes of eskrima, excelling in quickly and efficiently doing damage. While she lacks an infinite, her entire basic combo can inflict a total of 83% damage if all 12 hits connect! The finale also stuns the target, leaving them highly vulnerable to a charged Smash attack or Joust. However, there isn’t much (if any) knockback throughout the whole thing, and even though each individual attack is fast, the combo is so long that it nonetheless takes about 2 seconds to pull off the whole thing – more than enough time for another combatant to nail Krystal from behind with a charged Smash attack or other powerful move (like, say, a Falcon Punch. Ouch.) Furthermore, ending the combo early leads to the enemy’s hitstun wearing off relatively quickly, and each attack in the neutral combo has rather noticeable endlag on its own, which can possibly allow the foe to start a basic combo (or other quick attack) of his/her own before Krystal is ready to defend herself. On the other hand, the flinching from each blow typically gives Krystal more than enough time to land the next. Basically, if Krystal lands the first hit of the combo, it’s more likely than not that she’s going to land the entire attack string (unless interrupted), leaving the foe primed to eat a Smash Attack at 83% damage worse for wear. This is a huge part of what makes Krystal an utter nightmare to face one-on-one (but far more manageable in a free-for-all).
Tilt Attacks:
Forward Tilt: A strong staff swipe, which has some knockback. It inflicts about 14% damage. Like most tilt attacks, it’s fast and has good range, but its knockback isn’t exactly enough to KO opponents unless they’re already suffering from an obscenely high damage percentage. Note that this move can be angled up or down by tilting the Control Stick forward and up or forward and down, respectively; the up-angled version does 16% damage with slightly more knockback than the standard version (and the knockback is at a higher angle), while the down-angled version does 12% damage with slightly less knockback than the standard version (and the knockback is at a lower angle).
Up Tilt: Krystal swings her staff over her head, knocking enemies away for 12% damage. Like most tilt attacks, it’s fast and has good range, but its knockback isn’t exactly enough to KO opponents unless they’re already suffering from an obscenely high damage percentage.
Down Tilt: Krystal ducks down and swings her tail, hitting for 10% damage. Like most tilt attacks, it’s fast and has good range, but its knockback isn’t exactly enough to KO opponents unless they’re already suffering from an obscenely high damage percentage.
Tilt Attack Summary: Krystal’s tilt attacks are very, very average. Compared to Mario’s tilt attacks, Krystal’s have slightly more startup lag, but roughly the same ending lag. Compared to the first attack in Krystal’s basic combo (and most of the subsequent attacks, for that matter), the tilt attacks have a bit more startup lag (as is usual for tilt attacks versus jabs), but the tilt attacks actually have a bit less ending lag. On the other hand, the attacks in the basic combo can have their endlag canceled by performing the next attack in the chain, while the tilt attacks have no such privilege (not that they need it, since, as mentioned, their endlag is on par with Mario). As for the knockback, that’s also roughly on par with Mario. As a weapon-user, Krystal has very good reach on her tilts, on par with Marth and Lucina.
Dash Attack: Krystal leaps forward and kicks for 9% damage (it looks a bit like Fox’s Forward Smash from Melee, except for being a running kick rather than a flip kick and has sex-kick properties).
Ledge Attack: Krystal climbs up onto the edge and quickly slaps forward to drive off potential attackers. This attack does 5% damage and has very little knockback; its range isn’t very good, either. However, it’s relatively fast (though there is a short delay as Krystal clambers up) and it stuns the target for about 30 frames; it’s not much, but it should help Krystal get into a better defensive position.
Rising Attack: Krystal pushes herself to her feet and thrusts forward with her staff in one motion, while also kicking backwards with one foot. The staff thrust does 10%, while the kick does 6% damage. The staff thrust has decent knockback, while the kick has mild knockback.
Smash Attacks:
Forward Smash: Krystal spins her staff at the target to stun them (hitting 4-8 times, with 1% damage for each hit, based upon how much you charge the attack), before knocking them far away with a mighty swing, which inflicts 15%-21% damage. The initial twirl has no knockback (but causes flinching), and the home-run swing has the high knockback you'd expect from a Smash Attack, comparable to Lucina’s Forward Smash.
Up Smash: Krystal simply executes an upward stab with her staff for 16%-22.4% damage, not unlike Marth and Roy's Up Smash from Melee. This blow can send foes skyrocketing, and it is both very fast and possesses amazing vertical reach. However, the horizontal reach is a bit weak.
Down Smash: Krystal ducks down and spins around several times, striking enemies with both her staff and her tail. The attack hits multiple times (each staff strike does 6% damage, and each tail strike does 4% damage); the entire Smash Attack could do 120% damage or more if all of the hits connected, but her enemies will probably have been sent flying by then with only around 18%. (Of course, anything that resists the knockback from this attack is fair game to eat the entire move.) Unlike most Smash attacks, the damage of each hit is unaffected by charging the attack; charging it increases the number of hits instead. Krystal is essentially untouchable during this attack, due to her low profile and the fact that she is continuously attacking, but she isn’t invincible; disjointed-hitbox attacks (such as a sword strike or tool-assisted grab) and projectiles can still harm her, and anything immune to flinching has a golden opportunity to strike. In addition, she will be dizzy for a second or two after she's done spinning, which leaves her vulnerable to counterattacks (and also prevents this move from being spammed endlessly to effectively make Krystal immune to any inferior-priority attack and/or effortlessly destroy bosses). The damage of each hit is barely affected by how much the attack is charged up; instead, charging the attack determines how many times Krystal spins around. If the move is uncharged, Krystal only spins around 6 times for an attack duration of 50 frames and a theoretical maximum of 12 hits, but she spins around 12 times for an attack duration of 100 frames and a theoretical maximum of 24 hits if the move is fully charged. This move also has finite launch resistance similar to Yoshi’s double-jump, allowing Krystal to ignore knockback below a certain threshold while it’s in progress. The amount of launch resistance is dependent on the charge level, ranging from roughly a quarter of Yoshi’s double-jump resistance (if uncharged) to roughly half of Yoshi’s double-jump resistance (if fully charged).
Aerial Attacks:
Neutral Aerial: Krystal spins around and smacks enemies with her staff and tail. Unlike her Down Smash, Krystal does not bend over, her staff and tail hit at different heights, and she only spins around once. It hits twice for 8% damage from the staff and 6% damage from the tail. It’s moderately quick and has good range and priority (especially for the staff, what with it being a disjointed hitbox and all), but the knockback is nothing to write home about. (Specifically, this attack has better knockback scaling but worse base knockback than the back air, but both aspects of the knockback are inferior to the neutral air, which is in turn inferior to the up air.)
Forward Aerial: Krystal spins forward with her staff to inflict 16% damage. This is a quick move with very good knockback, but its horizontal range is a bit weak. On the plus side, it can be used to block many projectiles, in a similar fashion to Link’s shield (but Krystal will be momentarily stunned after blocking a projectile in this fashion, especially if it’s a rather powerful one – very powerful projectiles, such as fully charged Charge Shots, cannot be blocked by this move, so don’t even try it).
Back Aerial: Krystal swings her tail behind her, inflicting 11% damage. It closely resembles Mewtwo’s back air attack. This is a very quick attack with surprisingly good vertical and horizontal range, but it only knocks the foe far enough to deter an attack; thus, it’s much more useful for putting some distance between Krystal and an aggressive opponent than it is for scoring KOs.
Up Aerial: Krystal pokes upward with her staff to inflict 13% damage. Its horizontal range leaves something to be desired, but its vertical range is quite good, and it has very good knockback and speed. Its knockback is the best out of all of Krystal’s aerial moves, and it’s strictly vertical, too, which means that if you can hit an enemy with it in the first place, your positioning is probably fit to KO them.
Down Aerial: Krystal tightens her body, brings her arms to her sides and her legs together, points her toes downward, straightens her tail against her back, and spins like a drill, inflicting multiple hits for a total of 18% damage. The final hit acts as a Meteor Smash, but since this move takes about 1.2 seconds to fully perform, it must be executed with extreme caution if not above solid ground, lest Krystal wind up too far below the stage to recover. I know my description made this move sound complicated, but it’s actually quite quick to initiate, and it doesn’t have a long cooldown period, either (at least, not if it ends before Krystal hits the ground). Actually, it looks kind of like Fox’s down air in appearance, except that Krystal keeps her tail against her back instead of letting it whip around behind her. If Krystal hits the ground while performing this attack, she will be stunned for a second as she regains her balance, which means that she’s wide open for an uncharged Smash attack – or a charged one from an opponent who got him/herself into position in advance. Since it’s difficult to steer Krystal during this move – that is, her air speed is somewhat reduced until the move ends – that’s a lot easier than one might think.
Throws:
Grab: Krystal tries to grab enemies with both arms, using her staff to bat enemies into her grip. Unsurprisingly, the staff doesn’t work too well for this, so the grab is more effective within her arm’s reach. Essentially, her grab, while having a somewhat long range (a bit shorter than Olimar’s), has a sweetspot within her arm’s reach (e.g. slightly smaller than Fox’s grab hitbox), with the rest of her grab hitbox being a sourspot. The grab only works as normal if the grab hitbox connects with the sweetspot. If the grab connects with the sourspot, the enemy is pulled into the sweetspot, giving them about half a second to dodge or attack Krystal and negate her grab attempt (after which they can punish as if she had whiffed entirely). On top of that, the pull effect of the sourspot is somewhat reduced if the enemy is shielding, and flat-out doesn’t work if the enemy pulls off a perfect shield (which makes Krystal’s grab the only one in the game to not ignore shields entirely, at least outside of its ideal range). Krystal's hold is a bit more difficult to break than that of most characters, since she uses her staff to keep her enemy in place, but on the other hand, she has a slightly longer grab-release animation, which can allow some faster characters to nail her with a jab or other quick attack upon breaking free from her hold.
Pummel: Krystal slaps her enemy in the face for 2% damage. It’s a pretty fast pummel move, though its strength is somewhat lacking.
Forward Throw: Krystal stabs her enemy in the stomach, lifts up the staff (with the enemy stuck on the tip), charges up a shot from her staff, and blasts the enemy off for 18% damage. This throw has very good knockback, but it is rather slow to perform. That’s not a problem in a one-on-one fight, but in a free-for-all, it leaves Krystal quite vulnerable. It also launches the foe up fairly high in addition to its forward knockback; while this is a boon near the top of a stage (as it means that the foe is likely to go past the top blast line), it’s problematic when near the bottom (as the opponent has plenty of vertical room to recover). The staff shot is influenced by Krystal’s equipped neutral special; it can be either a Fire, Frost, or Lightning Staff shot. This has a minor influence on the move's effect: the Fire Staff makes the throw do 3% more damage, the Frost Staff freezes the foe upon throwing them, and the Lightning Staff slightly increases the knockback and applies a very brief paralysis effect.
Back Throw: Krystal wraps her tail around her enemy to hold them in place (3% damage), slaps him/her several times with both hands (about 8 slaps for 1% damage each), and bashes him/her away with her butt (15% damage) for a total of 26% damage. (Ouch...) This throw does a lot of damage, but it’s very slow to fully execute (even more so than her forward throw), and it has poor knockback (especially for a throw); an enemy hit by this won’t be “launched” so much as he/she will be “shoved”. Again, the long duration isn’t a problem in a one-on-one fight, but in a free-for-all, Krystal’s leaving herself quite vulnerable to her other opponents. She’s also vulnerable to stage hazards, but those can generally be seen coming.
Up Throw: Krystal tosses her foe straight up (4% damage) and hits them with four quick shots from her staff (3% damage each), for a total of 16% damage. This throw is relatively quick, but it’s prone to failing to inflict its full damage; a heavily damaged foe will probably be launched so far that the staff shots will miss, while a relatively undamaged foe will probably be able to regain control quickly and either dodge or maneuver away from the staff shots (or at least most of them). On the other hand, staff shots that miss the throw victim can still strike other opponents if they happen to be in the vicinity. It’s not like the throw launches the foe very far, either, though at least the staff shots can compensate for that if they connect. The staff shots can be reflected or absorbed. Just like the forward throw, the shots from the staff in this throw can be Fire, Frost, or Lightning Staff shots, depending on which neutral special Krystal has equipped. Fire Staff shots do an extra 1% damage, Frost Staff shots freeze victims, and Lightning Staff shots inflict paralysis.
Down Throw: Krystal flings her enemy to the ground and stabs them in the stomach, like her basic combo’s Coup de Grace, only it does 12% damage and doesn't stun (and instead has low-moderate knockback). However, it is by far her quickest throw... a trait which isn’t very important for one-on-one fights, but could save Krystal some from very painful hits in a free-for-all! Its quick speed is also ideal for follow-up attacks.
Special Moves:
Neutral Special (Default): Fire Staff: From Star Fox Adventures, it can be rapid-fired like Fox's Blaster or charged up like Samus's Charge Shot. Uncharged shots cause minor flinching (not as much as Falco’s Blaster) and 3% damage, while fully charged shots cause 18% fire damage and moderate knockback. When rapid-fired, this attack’s firing rate is about 2/3 as fast as Fox’s Blaster (quicker than Falco’s, but still significantly slower than Fox’s). The attack takes about 1.5 seconds to fully charge. Do note that it can be reflected or absorbed.
Neutral Special (Custom 1): Frost Staff: Krystal uses the Frost Staff (also from Star Fox Adventures) to generate a moderately wide beam of frost directly in front of her. By default, the beam of frost does 1% damage per second, has a rather short range, and lasts for only 1 second – in other words, pretty useless. The move can be charged up like Samus’s Charge Shot, except that it takes 5 seconds to fully charge. For every second of charging, the beam gains an additional 1% damage per second, 1 second of duration, and some additional range and knockback. When charged for at least 2 seconds, it freezes foes it hits. When charged for at least 3 seconds, Krystal has super armor while firing it; when it’s fully charged, Krystal is completely invulnerable while firing. Once fully charged, the beam of frost does about 5% damage per second, lasting for 5 seconds, and repeatedly freezes opponents, and it covers the entire length of the screen. It launches foes as it dissipates, even if they’re frozen, which makes it quite dangerous. While the damage isn’t spectacular, its high knockback makes for an excellent finisher. Unlike the other two neutral special options, this can't be reflected or absorbed.
Neutral Special (Custom 2): Lightning Staff: Krystal launches a sustained bolt of lightning from the tip of her staff, paralyzing foes and doing 2% damage to them per second. The range is equal to Bowser’s Fire Breath, but it peters out quickly over time, gradually losing range until Krystal’s shooting nothing but harmless smoke. It takes 5 seconds of sustained use to completely deplete the Lightning Staff. Once fully depleted, it takes 10 seconds of non-use to recharge. It continually recharges while not being used. Note that the lightning can be reflected or absorbed.
Side Special (Default): Joust: Krystal charges with her staff in front of her, sending anybody she hits flying straight ahead for 10-30% damage (Krystal will build up more speed as the move progresses if it’s used on the ground, and the faster she’s running, the more damage this attack will do). Once Krystal hits a foe, she stops in her tracks on impact, using her built-up momentum to smash her staff into the victim full-force. Although the knockback is spectacular (and, even better, the foe is launched horizontally at about a 5° vertical angle, similarly to a foe struck dead-on by Captain Falcon’s forward air), the attack is rather easy to dodge (just jumping over it is simple enough, to say nothing of a roll or sidestep), and it leaves Krystal wide open, especially if it misses... but it also does a lot of shield damage, so blocking it is a good way to end up with a broken shield. Krystal also moves a bit slowly at the attack’s start, and takes a while to build up speed, which makes it somewhat predictable. (She starts running at about 0.7× times her normal running speed and can speed up to about 1.25× times her speed, which takes roughly 3 seconds.) To its credit, it can be canceled by shielding, causing an animation where Krystal abruptly skids to a stop while holding her staff in front of herself to parry attacks; while the skid can be punished, Krystal will block attacks that do less than 20% damage (assuming that they can be blocked) until the cancel lag ends. Thus, this move can also be used as a psyche-out approach. Krystal cannot skid off the edge of a platform once she cancels the attack (her momentum will be stopped at the platform’s edge, similarly to a roll). However, once Krystal blocks an attack, she stumbles backwards (but her attacker sustains a small amount of knockback, flinging them away from Krystal), thus leaving her open to be punished by a follow-up attack from someone else. She also cannot block attacks from behind. The duration of the skid is otherwise determined by Krystal’s speed before canceling. If Krystal does not hit an opponent or cancel the attack, she will charge until she runs into a wall (which will result in her smacking into the wall at high speed, causing her to sustain severe ending lag with no protection; the higher her speed, the more lag she’ll suffer), or reaches the edge of the platform (in which case she’ll tumble off, but automatically catch herself on the edge if it can be grabbed; if it can’t, she’ll briefly tumble, then enter her default falling state). While this attack’s animation involves running when used on the ground, if this attack is used in midair, Krystal will dash straight forward in a similar fashion to Captain Falcon’s Raptor Boost or Ganondorf’s Flame Choke, the main difference being that this attack’s knockback is horizontal rather than downwards, and Krystal gradually accelerates rather than instantly lunging ahead. The midair version of the move has a finite distance, covering slightly more distance than Raptor Boost, and also does dramatically less damage, with a minimum of 8% and a maximum of 20%. Nonetheless, Krystal will become helpless upon the dash’s conclusion, and it will immediately end when she comes into contact with an opponent or destructible object. The attack also cannot be canceled when used in midair.
Side Special (Custom 1): Lunge: Krystal’s charge instantly accelerates to max speed (regardless of whether she uses it on the ground or in the air), and she passes through all targets in her way without stopping. However, the dash does 14% damage regardless of when Krystal hits, and lasts for a finite distance, cannot run off the edge of a platform, and has no significant consequences for running into a wall. In terms of function, it operates like a slower, but more damaging Fox Illusion/Falco Phantasm. The dash’s distance is slightly shorter than Raptor Boost (which means that it’s slightly worse than the default Joust for raw recovery distance, but better for getting past edgeguarders due to its penetrating properties). The dash can be canceled like a normal Joust, and will skid to a stop like normal.
Side Special (Custom 2): Impale: Krystal vaults forward and violently thrusts forward with her lance while putting all of her weight into the blow, dealing 60% damage if she connects with an opponent right as she begins to stab forward. A clean hit also causes dramatic knockback at a -10° angle, likely KOing a victim as soon as 40%. However, this move covers a short distance and is rather slow; it’s sort of like a clumsy Falcon Punch. Furthermore, if Krystal does not connect at the aforementioned sweetspot, the attack deals dramatically less damage according to how much her timing was off (if she struck only slightly late, she’ll deal 28% damage, while if she connects at the end of her thrust, she deals a mere 18% damage), with the knockback reduced accordingly. It’s also possible to hit too early, with even worse consequences – if Krystal leaps into an opponent before thrusting her staff forward, her staff will lightly graze them as she bounces off, dealing only 5% damage and barely causing her foe to flinch, while Krystal herself bounces backwards (if the foe is larger than her) or trips over the foe (if they are smaller), leaving her sprawled out on the ground and wide open to punishment either way. The sweetspot of the attack activates about 40 frames after initiation, making it about as slow as Falcon Punch. It also has rather bad ending lag if it misses entirely (though not quite as severe as her down smash). Also, this move doesn’t cover much distance (only about 4 character lengths), while also being unable to sweetspot ledges and causing Krystal to drop like a rock if she’s not already on solid ground by the move’s end, making it nearly useless for recovery. This is a very risky attack requiring extremely precise timing and positioning to use correctly, with its sweetspot being even harder to land than the likes of Captain Falcon’s Knee Smash or Zelda’s Lightning Kick, but if pulled off correctly, it’s the single most devastating move and most effective finisher in Krystal’s arsenal. One more note – this attack completely ignores shields unless it hits prior to the sweetspot or during the final attacking frames (e.g. at its absolute weakest), so don’t even try blocking it.
Up Special (Default): Rocket Boost: Krystal uses the Rocket Boost upgrade from Star Fox Adventures. If used from the ground, she charges up and vaults high into the air, while if she uses it in the air, it semi-gradually lifts her up, causing her to continuously ascend for nearly 3 seconds; either way, the vertical distance is very impressive. If used in midair, Krystal is able to freely steer left and right while ascending, giving her great horizontal recovery as well and letting her psyche out edgeguarders; she can also air-dodge during the ascent at the cost of decelerating a bit (and subsequently losing some total height from her recovery). She can immediately cancel her ascent by using a midair attack. However, the move takes a second to charge up, and if used in midair, Krystal can fall a short distance before the move actually starts; while her falling speed is drastically reduced during the charge-up period, this might be enough for her to suffer a KO. Krystal becomes helpless when she’s done gaining height (even if she manually canceled her ascent). This move is not an attack at all.
Up Special (Custom 1): Mach Rocket Boost: Krystal’s vertical acceleration after the charging period is much faster, so she rises extremely quickly through the air; she still rises up more quickly if she uses it on the ground than if she uses it in the air, but either way, it’s much faster than the default version, and its vertical distance is much greater. However, the charge-up period is a bit longer (roughly 1.4 seconds), and Krystal’s falling speed reduction during the charge-up period is not as great as the default version, so she falls farther before beginning to rise. This makes it a bit harder to use as a recovery. Because this is faster than the default version, Krystal’s ascent is over sooner (she only ascends for 1.5 seconds before beginning to fall, assuming that she used the move in midair), and therefore this version is also a bit worse for horizontal recovery than the default version.
Up Special (Custom 2): Rocket Boost Blast: When the charging-up period is complete, Krystal generates a large explosion around herself, dealing 18% damage to everyone caught in the blast (with pretty good knockback). While ascending, Krystal’s entire body is a hitbox, dealing 6% damage to anyone she collides with. The ascent speed is the same as the default version, as is the reduction in falling speed while charging up when the move is used in midair. The charge-up period is slightly longer (roughly 1.2 seconds), and the midair ascent duration is somewhat shorter (only 2 seconds). Thus, both the ground and air versions gain less height than the default version, making it an overall worse recovery.
Down Special (Default): Ground Quake: Also ripped from Star Fox Adventures, Krystal slams her staff into the ground to inflict up to 20% damage to anybody within several meters of her position (the attack gets weaker against farther opponents). It also inflicts good vertical knockback. Its maximum range falls just a little short of the middle of Final Destination, assuming Krystal uses it right at the edge. Foes at the edge of the affected range suffer a mere 4% damage (along with very, very unimpressive knockback); full damage is only dealt to characters right next to Krystal (thankfully, this move starts up pretty quickly). However, it only affects opponents on the ground, meaning that it can easily be dodged by not being on the ground when Krystal strikes it (read: jumping), and Krystal will have to pull her staff out of the ground (which takes about 1 second) before she can defend herself... Also, this move cannot be used in midair, for obvious reasons.
Down Special (Custom 1): Titanic Quake: When Krystal slams her staff into the ground, the earthquake affects everyone on the ground in the entire level, dealing 10% damage to all ground-bound enemies, regardless of their location relative to Krystal (which makes this version far less effective up-close, but more effective at large distances). However, its ending lag is a bit more than twice as long as the default version – in fact, even worse than her down smash – which, combined with the reduced knockback against nearby opponents, means that Krystal is wide-open to punishment from anyone nearby enough who dodges the move (or, for that matter, gets hit, is lightly damaged enough to take negligible knockback, and can land next to Krystal before she’s even begun to pull her staff out). The start-up lag is also slightly longer than the default version. It cannot be used in midair.
Down Special (Custom 2): Volatile Quake: Upon slamming her staff into the ground, Krystal causes several large rocks to fly up into the air and then fall back down. These rocks are basically identical to the rocks Charizard uses for its Rock Smash special, causing 18% damage and decent knockback to anyone (except for Krystal) they collide with (though they can be reflected). It’s entirely possible for several rocks to hit a single character. The rocks shatter into fragments upon hitting the ground (or a character, wall, or ceiling), and the fragments fly outwards from the impact point for a short distance and then fall back down, doing 3% damage to anyone they hit. Rock fragments will shatter into dust (in other words, disappear) upon hitting anything. The area of rock generation is equal to the range of the standard version, and neatly solves the attack’s major problem of not affecting anyone not on the ground. However, the quake itself does dramatically less damage than the default version, dealing 5% damage and minor knockback at point-blank range; at the edge of its range, it does no damage at all, and affected characters just get popped up into the air as though they had used a POW Block. So, basically, opponents on the ground just get knocked up into the air along with the rocks, making the initial hit merely a set-up for the main attack. (It’s still safer to jump before Krystal hits the ground, since it’s easier to dodge the rocks when they’re rising up towards you than when you’re rising up towards them… probably in hitstun…) The start-up of this version of the attack is the longest of any of the variants, while the ending lag is roughly in between the default version and Titanic Quake; by the time the animation’s completely finished and Krystal’s ready to act again, the rocks and their fragments will already have flown up, crashed back down, and gone away. Also, this move can’t be used in midair.
Final Smash: Blessings of the Krazoa: Krystal channels the power of the Krazoa Spirits through her body (the power that Andross tried to use to revive himself in Star Fox Adventures). She completely heals herself, and becomes stronger (both damage and knockback are increased), faster (both in movement and in attacks, as well as greater jump height), and more difficult to KO (increased damage resistance, launch resistance, and flinch resistance) for 1 minute. However, these improvements are relatively minor (essentially equivalent to +40 equipment boosts).
Taunts:
Up Taunt: Krystal flips her hair back, waggles her tail, and leans forwards on her staff, supporting her cheek on her hand, while asking "You like this?". (Her expression seems to say “Come on and try to get me!”)
Side Taunt: Krystal taps her foot impatiently and shakes her staff threateningly while saying “That’s enough, boys.”
Down Taunt: Krystal lowers her head and chants a few prayers (apparently having to do something with Cerinian customs). About 20% of the time (or if this is executed as a Smash Taunt), she instead asks the spirit of her departed mother for guidance, and shines for a second; as her body glows, Krystal lifts her head with a look of understanding and determination. After the taunt is finished, she becomes slightly stronger, faster, and more difficult to KO for 10 seconds (the bonuses are smaller than the ones granted by her Final Smash, being equivalent to +8 equipment). However, this Smash Taunt takes a bit longer to execute than the normal taunt, and if it's interrupted, Krystal doesn't get the benefit. [On Lylat Cruise, Krystal will initiate a communication upon executing a Smash Taunt, just like the other Star Fox characters. This Smash Taunt must be used up before Krystal can execute her “prayer” Smash Taunt, though the "prayer" taunt has a 20% chance of being activated in place of her normal Down Taunt even if the communication Smash Taunt has not yet been used. Krystal does not have a special Smash Taunt for the Corneria and Orbital Gate Assault stages; in fact, if she is involved in a fight at Orbital Gate Assault, its special conversations can’t be triggered.]
Victory Theme: Same as other Star Fox characters.
Victory Taunt A: Krystal laughs and says, "You men think you're so tough!" (If she was up against at least one female opponent, she instead says “You spend too much time in the kitchen!” Against a genderless opponent (like R.O.B.), she says “Don’t underestimate me just because I’m a woman!” If she was up against both a female opponent and a genderless opponent, the third phrase (“Don’t underestimate me…”) will be used, and the third phrase may randomly be used anyways even if there were no genderless characters in the match.)
Victory Taunt B: Krystal fires a salvo of staff shots at the camera, referencing her attempt to attack Andross at the end of Star Fox Adventures
Victory Taunt C: Krystal gasps, appears to be taken aback, and says, "Oh, dear! Did I rough you up too badly?"
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