ShinyRegice
Smash Lord
Who doesn't know Tetris? Or even, who never played it? The famous and addictive Russian puzzle game created by Alexei Pajitnov is one of the few titles which can pretend to be among the most famous video games in the world and became an integral part of today's popular culture over the years since its creation in 1984. More than 125 million copies of Tetris have been sold over the world, all versions included, and among those, the Gameboy version alone sold over 35 million copies!
Despite being third-party due to being owned by The Tetris Company rather than Nintendo, Tetris is a standing-out, juggernaut franchise whose historical importance and popularity gives it the potential to reasonably pretend to get representation in Super Smash Bros. and the series has no fame or legacy to envy from Sonic, Mega Man or Pac-Man. As someone who thinks that a playable representative for the series is something potentially awesome that Smash Bros. deserves, here's my suggestion:
A TETRIMINO AS A DLC NEWCOMER IN SUPER SMASH BROS. FOR NINTENDO 3DS AND WII U!
Or for Smash 5 instead if it doesn't happen.
I'm sure that if you're visiting this thread it means you're at least curious about the idea, and maybe you may think: "What makes Tetrimino so special? And how to adapt a non-living object in a fighting game like Smash Bros.?" Fortunately, I've gathered many informations and ideas below, split under different sections, so you can learn as much as possible about Tetris and Tetriminoes!Or for Smash 5 instead if it doesn't happen.
A Tetris history
Alexei Pajitnov, a researcher of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the now well-known father of Tetris, first created the game for the Elektronika 60 in 1984 as a way to test the capabilities of the new hardware. This game quickly became popular among his colleagues, before becoming a phenomenon in Moscow, then in the Soviet Union, and finally worldwide.
Seeing how popular the game was, many companies claimed the rights to use the Tetris franchise, and Nintendo was one of them. While Nintendo never owned the Tetris franchise itself, it however got the rights to produce its own versions of Tetris for the NES and Gameboy, released in 1989. The later version is without a doubt the most famous version of Tetris ever, representing about 30% of the worldwide sales of Tetris all versions included, and outselling the entire Mega Man series! It was bundled with the Gameboy outside of Japan, and the title itself was a huge part of Nintendo's first famous handheld's success system and, by extension, helped making Nintendo the leader of the handheld gaming market we all know today!
As such, there's a strong historical bond between Nintendo and Tetris, with the Gameboy helping making Tetris the pop cultural phenomenon we all know today and vice versa. Not to mention, Tetris has a notable legacy within the Nintendo universe, with spiritual successors or, more appropriately, derivatives since Nintendo tried to recreate Tetris' success without having to get the rights for the franchise. Examples include Panel de Pon, Wario's Woods and Dr. Mario, the later already having playable representation in Super Smash Bros.
As such, Tetris has a huge and undebatable historical importance for Nintendo and, to an extent, for gaming as a whole. Without Pajitnov's idea to create this simple but addictive game back in 1984, then the current gaming industry would most likely have a different face than the one we currently know (though you may argue that someone else could have created it instead, but that's another story).
A Tetrimino overview
"Tetrimino" is the official term used by The Tetris Company to designate the pieces used in the Tetris games since 2001, which are otherwise known as "tetromino", the term used to designate geometrical shapes made of four squares. Since pretty much everyone who has at least some connection to video gaming is aware of what's Tetris, those geometrical shapes are easily associated with this game. That said, if there's something I agree about, it's that a Tetrimino is more of a generic puzzle piece rather than an actual character... but what about giving it a face, or at least eyes, and a personality? What about all the things Tetrimino can bring to the table? Let's not be blinded by Tetrimino's portrayal as a generic puzzle piece in Tetris games, because there's potential to enrich the Super Smash Bros. universe like no one else could do!
A unique system of origin: the first version of Tetris ever was released on the Elektronika 60, a computer made for the Soviet Union and used in the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Who else from Super Smash Bros. would ever come from a such obscure and improbable system?!
A legacy character: as I explained above, Tetris has a standing-out history and huge legacy behind it. Super Smash Bros. is all about celebrating Nintendo's history, a making a Tetrimino a playable character is the best way to recognize it.
A nostalgia character: a lot of people grew up with Tetris, most likely the Gameboy version. We already have Tetris contents in Smash since Brawl, with a remix of the A and B musics, but what about a Tetris medley? Or Tetris C? Or even, a Tetris stage? I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate this new contents.
A unique, creative character: no moveset potential you say? You're saying that all what Tetris pieces can do is fall, rotate, and disappear? That's ignoring the creativity potential behind the idea, you know, the same thing that gave us the Ice Climbers, the unique tag team which unfortunately suffered from technical limitations, or Duck Hunt, the dog who looks and acts like he came from a Tex Avery cartoon, and that matters much more than the blatant "moveset potential" everyone's promoting to support their characters (or anti-support those they don't like). You don't believe me? Here we go, Tetrimino's potential as a fighter in Super Smash Bros.!
A legacy character: as I explained above, Tetris has a standing-out history and huge legacy behind it. Super Smash Bros. is all about celebrating Nintendo's history, a making a Tetrimino a playable character is the best way to recognize it.
A nostalgia character: a lot of people grew up with Tetris, most likely the Gameboy version. We already have Tetris contents in Smash since Brawl, with a remix of the A and B musics, but what about a Tetris medley? Or Tetris C? Or even, a Tetris stage? I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate this new contents.
A unique, creative character: no moveset potential you say? You're saying that all what Tetris pieces can do is fall, rotate, and disappear? That's ignoring the creativity potential behind the idea, you know, the same thing that gave us the Ice Climbers, the unique tag team which unfortunately suffered from technical limitations, or Duck Hunt, the dog who looks and acts like he came from a Tex Avery cartoon, and that matters much more than the blatant "moveset potential" everyone's promoting to support their characters (or anti-support those they don't like). You don't believe me? Here we go, Tetrimino's potential as a fighter in Super Smash Bros.!
A Tetrimino potential
Maybe you're worried about a Tetris piece's potential as a fighter with a complete moveset but with imagination there's enough source material for one! Not convinced? Here are some ideas:
Shape change: anyone familiar with Tetris knows all shapes the pieces may take. In order to diversify Tetrimino's moveset, and make it a standing out character with a unique mechanic no one else could have, the shape change is my personal favourite idea for a Tetrimino moveset. Since two shapes only are another one but mirrored, there would be five different shapes a Tetrimino would take in battle. Those shapes would all have the same moveset, but with different hitbox and hurtbox properties, making overall Tetrimino a very adaptable fighter with many different combo possibilities, adding a lot of depth in its gameplay. This also includes rotations, which are part of Tetris' gameplay. For example, a vertical I-block would have an excellent game against opponents in the air, while an horizontal one would have more horizontal reach as an approach option. On the other hand the square shape would mostly be useful for melee combat, etc. The shape changes moves would definitely be special moves, for example the shape change one the neutral B and the rotation one as a side B, and they should have little to no starting and ending lag to take advantage of the unique combo abilities this mechanic offers.
Block superposition: you can put blocks over others in Tetris... such an obvious game mechanic which could translate as something such as an up smash... for example, you make blocks appear under you and anyone who touch you while doing this takes damage and knockback! Another possibility is for a recovery move: for example, you can summon a stairs made of S or Z blocks under you, or even a tower of vertical I-blocks as a custom option! Or made the tower based on your current shape if the shape change mechanic is used, allowing you to gain more vertical or horizontal distance according to your current shape!
Space rockets and shuttles: a direct reference to the Gameboy advance version of Tetris. When you get a Game over in Tetris, if you managed to get more than 100,000 points, then you'll be rewarded with a cutscene showing a space rocket tacking off. In the B mode of Tetris, if you manage to complete a stage in the highest difficulty settings (maximum speed and height handicap), you'll be rewarded with a custscene showing Russian dancers and musicians cheering to you, then you'll see another cutscene where a space shuttle takes off, with the word "Congratulation!" Due to these not having any direct gameplay influence in Tetris, maybe it's only taunt and/or victory screen material, but it'd be awesome to see them incorporated in a Tetrimino's offensive moveset as temporary transformations! The space shuttle could easily be the up B, and as such a means to recover, while the space shuttle fits perfectly as a Final Smash. Watch anyone hit by the shuttle's flames and get insane damage and knockback! Speaking of which, did you know the shuttle was directly based on a Russian one, the Buran?
Completing lines: this is the core goal of Tetris' gameplay and should be implemented in Tetrimino's moveset in some way. Here's how I imagine it: Tetrimino generates a item similar to Peach and Link's down special, an item which is a small Tetris piece with the same shape as the one the user currently has, then can throw it on the stage. This small Tetris piece has pitiful power when thrown as an item (though you may still use them to gimp an enemy off-stage), but once it hits the ground it remains where it is and has no effect besides something aesthetic. But once you manage to complete a 10-square line with those blocks, all of them disappear and an explosion happens to inflict a lot of damage to anyone who's close! But if your line is longer than 10 blocks, then all the blocks disappear without any effect. Thrown blocks also disappear if they remain on the field for too long.
Projecting shapes: this idea has somewhat been discussed in the "Block superposition" paragraph, but a shape projection with disjointed hitboxes concept would be a creative and awesome way to exploit the idea! This idea, in my opinion, works the best for forward and up smash. By having the right shape, you can increase your range or, on the contrary, decrease it and land a more powerful attack by making the enemy hit several squares from the hitbox, and thus increasing the attack's effectiveness! In order to balance this move and not make it have insane range by default with some shapes like the I-block, the move's range would be partially based on the charge duration. For example, 70% or the projected shape appears when you use an uncharged smash attack, but if you manage to fully charge it, then 100% of the projected shape will appear, thus increasing the range by about 43%!
Fast drop: the most obvious use for this concept is a stall-then-fall move (à la Bowser's down B or Toon Link's down air), as either a down aerial or special. That said, seeing the move as a down special would feel like a kind of waste to me, considering it would be a rather generic-looking move, so I'd rather see it as a down aerial instead. Another possibility is a completely unique mechanic: making Tetrimino damage anyone under it when fast-falling. But in all honesty, this would feel like some unnecessary uniqueness in my opinion, especially if we get the shape changing mechanic. A down aerial seems to be the best possible outcome for me.
Block superposition: you can put blocks over others in Tetris... such an obvious game mechanic which could translate as something such as an up smash... for example, you make blocks appear under you and anyone who touch you while doing this takes damage and knockback! Another possibility is for a recovery move: for example, you can summon a stairs made of S or Z blocks under you, or even a tower of vertical I-blocks as a custom option! Or made the tower based on your current shape if the shape change mechanic is used, allowing you to gain more vertical or horizontal distance according to your current shape!
Space rockets and shuttles: a direct reference to the Gameboy advance version of Tetris. When you get a Game over in Tetris, if you managed to get more than 100,000 points, then you'll be rewarded with a cutscene showing a space rocket tacking off. In the B mode of Tetris, if you manage to complete a stage in the highest difficulty settings (maximum speed and height handicap), you'll be rewarded with a custscene showing Russian dancers and musicians cheering to you, then you'll see another cutscene where a space shuttle takes off, with the word "Congratulation!" Due to these not having any direct gameplay influence in Tetris, maybe it's only taunt and/or victory screen material, but it'd be awesome to see them incorporated in a Tetrimino's offensive moveset as temporary transformations! The space shuttle could easily be the up B, and as such a means to recover, while the space shuttle fits perfectly as a Final Smash. Watch anyone hit by the shuttle's flames and get insane damage and knockback! Speaking of which, did you know the shuttle was directly based on a Russian one, the Buran?
Completing lines: this is the core goal of Tetris' gameplay and should be implemented in Tetrimino's moveset in some way. Here's how I imagine it: Tetrimino generates a item similar to Peach and Link's down special, an item which is a small Tetris piece with the same shape as the one the user currently has, then can throw it on the stage. This small Tetris piece has pitiful power when thrown as an item (though you may still use them to gimp an enemy off-stage), but once it hits the ground it remains where it is and has no effect besides something aesthetic. But once you manage to complete a 10-square line with those blocks, all of them disappear and an explosion happens to inflict a lot of damage to anyone who's close! But if your line is longer than 10 blocks, then all the blocks disappear without any effect. Thrown blocks also disappear if they remain on the field for too long.
Projecting shapes: this idea has somewhat been discussed in the "Block superposition" paragraph, but a shape projection with disjointed hitboxes concept would be a creative and awesome way to exploit the idea! This idea, in my opinion, works the best for forward and up smash. By having the right shape, you can increase your range or, on the contrary, decrease it and land a more powerful attack by making the enemy hit several squares from the hitbox, and thus increasing the attack's effectiveness! In order to balance this move and not make it have insane range by default with some shapes like the I-block, the move's range would be partially based on the charge duration. For example, 70% or the projected shape appears when you use an uncharged smash attack, but if you manage to fully charge it, then 100% of the projected shape will appear, thus increasing the range by about 43%!
Fast drop: the most obvious use for this concept is a stall-then-fall move (à la Bowser's down B or Toon Link's down air), as either a down aerial or special. That said, seeing the move as a down special would feel like a kind of waste to me, considering it would be a rather generic-looking move, so I'd rather see it as a down aerial instead. Another possibility is a completely unique mechanic: making Tetrimino damage anyone under it when fast-falling. But in all honesty, this would feel like some unnecessary uniqueness in my opinion, especially if we get the shape changing mechanic. A down aerial seems to be the best possible outcome for me.
Instead of presenting a moveset I prefer to present moveset ideas instead in order to let you imagine a moveset by yourself. I'm fully aware that this character idea doesn't have much blatant "moveset potential", so I preferred to show the creative possibilities behind it through ideas and suggestions rather than complete movesets. That said, if you're interested in creating your own Tetrimino moveset, don't hesitate to post it!
Something I'd finally like to speak about are the potential alternate costumes. The most likely colors I think are these: cyan, blue, orange, yellow, lime, dark magenta, and red. Those are the standardized Tetrimino colors since 2001 for any licensed Tetris game, and I would honestly be surprised to see any of these palette swaps missing. There's finally a wild card final costume to choose similar to Shulk's swimsuit joke costume after having palettes based on all seven playable characters from Xenoblade Chronicles; in my opinion a monochrome/Gameboy palette swap would be the best for nostalgia reasons.
A Tetrimino support
You like the idea and want to be in the support list? Don't hesitate if you ant to be added here! A list of fan-made movesets will also be posted here, but only as links to your posts!Current list of supporters:
A Tetris bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris - Wikipedia's entry about Tetrishttp://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1902950,00.html - Source about Tetris' sales (as of 2009)
http://usvsth3m.com/post/55767298661/did-you-know-the-space-shuttle-animation-at-the-end-of - Space shuttle trivia
http://hypescience.com/10-inventores-que-nao-ficaram-ricos-por-conta-de-suas-criacoes/ - Source of the colorful Alexei Pajitnov pic
http://www.sodahead.com/fun/what-tetris-block-are-you-quiz/question-4290121/?page=2&postId=125620833#post_125620833&link=ibaf&q=&imgurl=http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k258/ZZoMBiEXIII/L-1.jpg - Source of the funny L-block rant pic
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I think a Tetris stage would do the idea more justice, but this somehow works. 
