Make Your Move 25: Moveset Design Contest — Contest is Donezo! MYM 26 Starts March 17th!

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Hakumen

Black Polnareff is one of my all-time favourite Froy sets, so seeing another long swordie set with fighting game inspiration is pretty hype to me. Here Hakumen uses his 25k length to lean into melee super hard, with meticulous details like fundamental applications and little stuff like body-based armour. And a myriad of meters and mechanics that would make one think they were reading an Almand set! Man, a Froy + Almand Street Fighter joint set would be insane. Given how complicated Blazblue is gameplay and lore-wise, the mechanic count absolutely checks for Hakumen.

To make a reference to another MYM22 set, his slow magtama build (that benefits from parrying) and cool ability to create temporary traps out of projectiles reminds me of Smady Hugo. I would actually enjoy seeing a moveset lean hard into the Demon Seal mechanic, like some weird MYM’ain set where hitting your projectiles with specific attacks will turn them into traps.

From Hakumen’s Specials, I anticipated that the Hero’s set would build up and maintain momentum as the set went on. Here the Standards were surprisingly cool to me: 3rd hit of Jab being a niche anti low-profile with its sweetspot and weak armour (also comes into play with F-throw!), and the unique ability to alter the properties of your U-tilt and D-tilts by angling them! They added a surprising amount for me, and making F-tilt non-angleable for the vertical tilts was a great design choice.

Dash Attack dealing more damage w. initial dash vs full dash is a unique idea too: surprised we haven’t had many dashes that use this idea, as it feels very potent. Continuing the melee fun is grab game, which has the counter aspect that makes it more rewarding as an out-of-shield punish or catching an opponent in their lag. F-throw set the stage for super wordy throws, so I was glad to see that the rest of the throws were simple by comparison.

Some of the Aerials were surprisingly simple, and F-Smash is a well-described heavy attack that has extra depth thanks to its unique charging multiplier various hitboxes - like Neutral Special counter comboing into close-ranged F-Smash, which is surprisingly weak. U-Smash has a funny hitbox, but it checks with Hakumen’s specialized FG hitboxes, and justifies his multiple U-tilt attacks nicely. Also makes neat use of the niche anti-parrying mechanic (I forgot it too; don’t blame whichever one of you forgot). The magtama cancel here to go into 3 different options out of U-Smash is pretty nutty. And D-Smash is a funky move that brings the Neutral Special, Aerials and Up Special up further with its jump-cancel applications. Kiind of reminds me of my Hotaru set’s D-Smash with using Kara-cancelling (which is not specifically in this set, but still).

Though it might not sound that way from my comment, Hakumen is an extremely strong set that puts Froy’s melee sense to full use, mixed with n88’s witty writing style (not read quite enough modern n88 sets to get a full sense of his movesetting style, at least in the context of a melee-heavy set such as this). Easily one of, if not the best sets from both of you this contest. Well done you two - a very fitting franchise to get a n88 + Froy joint set from!

 

[Arctic Tern]

HAKUMEN (n88/Froy)

I have a particular fondness for ArcSys fighting games (mostly the aesthetic), so Hakumen naturally appeals to me based on character choice alone. The set itself is quite resource heavy; even beyond the obvious magatamas, Hakumen brings over the Overdrive and Active Flow mechanics from his home series. My personal conceptualizations for BlazBlue sets generally don’t lean this hard into the series’ mechanics, but I feel that these meters fit Hakumen more than on other characters since resource management is also a big(ger) part of his gameplan there.

Hakumen’s playstyle, as in BlazBlue, is a defensive juggernaut with poor speed, but an assortment of counters and a plethora of power moves to obliterate opponents with if they play incorrectly. There’s plenty of reason to not want to aggress, seeing as how Overdrive takes a full minute to charge and his DSpec, a super in his home series, lasts longer the more damage he has. When he’s in these states, Hakumen gains some crazy options, like the ability to use magatama-locked moves without using magatama, or an extremely powerful move that can be comboed into distressingly easily (though not effortlessly). The whole interplay with his variety of resources is very appealing to me in a similar manner as Nino from earlier this contest. I do feel that some of Hakumen’s other tools, like canceling moves into Overdrive, are a bit understated, but in Active Flow’s case that is justified since mostly it just increases damage.

Outside of his Mechanics, Hakumen does not let up. There’s a good balance of making him feel like a BlazBlue character adapted into Smash than just a BlazBlue character lifted from their source material - probably the biggest example is that he can use his base Specials without using magatama. The decision to make Hakumen’s Up and Down TIlts angelable but not his Forward Tilt is fairly unique, and all of his tilts manage to fill a distinct niche in his gameplan; my favorite is likely the UTilt that spikes, an archetype we don’t see much of despite it already existing in Smash. His throws are also surprisingly interesting, taking a page from Froy’s much earlier Artorias set (a personal favorite from that contest) in that they’re buffed if Hakumen lands his grab after shielding a move; a cool mechanic that further feeds into his defensive play. FInally, the Smashes are suitably powerful, adapting two of his other specials and a chargeable normal to make for moves that are extremely powerful if fully charged, insane combo tools, or are nearly impossible to properly defend against. The cherry on top is the extras, which include the BlazBlue standard of character specific intros and even character specific victory poses - plus, the taunt where Hakumen says the entirety of his speech and gets a buff if he gets it off, which instantly reminded me of MVC3 Thor’s taunt.

There’s a lot of cool stuff in Hakumen, much more than can be fit in this comment, so I’ll just say that he’s a very fine addition to our unexpected surge in FGC sets in this contest. Baiken set when

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[BridgesWithTurtles]

Sees that there's only one week left and I haven't posted a Pokémon set yet

Uh...what's popular right now? Cowboys? Okay. I can do that.

YEEEEHAAAWWW!!​

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Cramorant

Cramorant is a surprisingly cool set, owing to the more MYM’ian approach this set takes. Gulping Form is a fun little mechanic, between its pseudo-counter mechanic, Pokemon spawn rates (enjoyable when they’re brought up) and various properties on the Neutral Special. The directional Specials are all projectiles and constructs that mingle with each other in fun ways: my definite favourite being the ability to use Surf to turn a Hurricane into a Whirlpool to trick opponents and spike them.

I’m unsure if Whirlpool is balanced, as it’s a 5 second flinching trap that deals light downwards knockback and passively reflects projectiles (I assume that said projectiles don’t change ownership), but the fact that Cramorant can’t create a new Whirlpool while one is out helps. Might be a good idea to specify how long opponents are trapped in a whirlpool before they take their knockback. I”m glad that the set is aware of the potency of the traps and limits Cramorant’s melee game based on how much it can play off its traps, as noted in the playstyle section.

U-Smash is easily the most unique Smash I’ve seen from you in modern times! Not entirely sure if Cramorant should be able to act as soon as the frame 35, 16 frame active wave becomes active, should probably have a little end lag, but I”m behind its application of being a powerful defensive hitbox that incentivizes opponents to get in and pressure Cramorant. Dive is also a cool move that fits well with Cramorant’s prone abuse game and the Gulping Form mechanic. As much as I like traps on Smashes, I am very uncertain about D-Smash turning stage into (non-drownable) Smash water: it feels like it would be unfun given the way swimming works in Smash, and Cramorant already has a good deal of stage control on its Specials. Turning the pool into a proning hitbox with Whirlpool is okay, though. On the other hand, the interaction does come up later in D-air, which has the fun D-Smash transition.

The intro and presentation make it clear that you enjoy Cramorant as a character and its not just a Pokeset to throw out ideas - the various GIFs, images and extras make the set extra enjoyable for a Pokemon. Here there is some fun characterization throughout the set, like F-Smash’s mindless head bashing and Jab’s unconscious pecking. All of the Standard attacks really. And that N-air and B-air trivia (love the GIF of the real life animal). F-air is a fun move for its projectile and potential floor-tech properties. I also enjoy D-airs that can auto-cancel when spaced precisely from the ground. The Side Throws are cool in tandem with Cramorant’s mechanics and traps (though maybe Gulp Form should be 100% guaranteed out of F-throw rather than 90%, as it would be frustrating to miss 10% of the time). I also like U-throws that place you in the air above your opponent, I do that in my sets sometimes.

While there are aspects of Cramorant that I’m unsure of, they don’t really bring the set down for me. In fact, Cramorant is my favourite set of yours this contest, thanks to a more enticing base and handful of melee moves. The playstyle section also sold me more on the counter-nature of Cramorant’s Gulping Form once opponents have broken through its defenses. A fitting way to end your contest when you were known for making Pokesets in older contests. Nice work here!

Also lots of Pokemon Unite GIFs in this set. Seems like a game that adds extra potential to Pokesets.

 

[Slavic]

It's been a long contest with some heavy-hitting sets.



Take time to take care of yourself.​

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: The Hat Kid

While I’ve never played A Hat In Time, I did watch cutscenes and the boss fights, and it looked like a fun little game. So it’s nice to get a set for the protagonist! (Snatcher set when?)

Right into the mechanic and I”m already seeing Catarina inspiration in the lag cut for wearing hats, nice. I love that Hat Kid’s umbrella gets images of Spirits you’re equipping - incredibly unique idea, even if it doesn’t affect gameplay. The UserShadow reference in Neutral Special is fun, too. The writing style here is super energetic, and I’m all for it. Movement-based Side Special that cancels into another move reminds me of Hakumen, only because that moveset is fresh in my mind. Side Special and Up Special being important attacks that aren’t hat-based works well for Hat Kid’s mechanic. I also enjoy the lag cut implications for Kid’s aerial Down Special. Hat Kid’s lax sliding pose and smug Rooligan D-Smash pose (and muddy aesthetic) are particularly funny animations. B-air being a big kill move that deals 1% is pretty hilarious.

Hat Kid’s concepts and Specials are admittedly lighter than what I was expecting from the set’s length and what I assumed was a vast hat-based powerset. Much of the set’s length comes from talking about mindgame and follow-up based applications. Certainly not a bad thing, unexpected from you, but Hat Kid doesn’t feel like she has much of a hook compared to most of your other sets this contest. Hat Kid’s grab gameplan is nice, and the bonuses for throwing your foe with the Dewller’s Mask on - in exchange for lacking the better anti-shield options of NSpec and Dspec given mask change - is neat though. U-throw platform, F-throw block, B-throw projectile, D-throw's fun animation and aesthetic (another extra for Torgo: who among your roster would be willing to play pattycake with Hat Kid?). Your grab games have gotten a reputation for being good, so no surprise that would stick here.

In spite of this, your writing style made Hat Kid a very fun read! With the sheer amount of extras, character aesthetics and attention to how Hat Kid would play in Smash, the set is clearly a labour of love to the character. Your stage images are particularly awesome, too.

 

[FrozenRoy]

A youth boastful of his vast knowledge, he wields strength befitting a knight, yet heavily relies on logic.

Onion Knight​

The Onion Knight (one of the four Warriors of Light, they are called Onion Knights to defer them from other Warriors of Light and in reference to their starting job in FFIII, the Onion Knight: This is basically how fanbases on both sides of the aisle refer to them) is the main character of Final Fantasy III and...to be honest, that is about all there is to say of them! They might not be unable to speak like the main character of FFI, they have pretty much no character, and in the mind of many have been supplanted by Luneth, Refia, Arc and Ignus, the main characters of the DS Remake who have actual character and some level of plot to them. The Onion Knight is a youth who finds a mysterious Wind Crystal and gains power from it, tasked to save the world. That's it. No, really.

So lets talk about the Onion Knight in Dissidia, given how much of a nothing character they are in FFIII! He is the youngest of Cosmos' warriors, although only the second shortest (because of Shantotto), and taking composite elements from Amano artwork of the Unnamed Warrior of FFIII, the Onion Knight sprite and the DS Onion Knight Orphans. He is said to heavily rely on logic and has potent power, but these are covers for the fact he is actually quite insecure of himself and scared, not surprising when if he is implied to be of the original Onion Knight age he's like 12. He makes it his duty to protect Terra. Which is frankly hilarious, as Terra is almost certainly the single most powerful Warrior of Cosmos. The Onion Knight's "protection" leads to Terra getting mind controlled due to his "shallow cleverness" and over-reliance on the logic of avoiding fights with other powerful foes, but only after Terra's powers also go nuts and nearly screw him up hard, and he even has to fight her because of the fact she is mind controlled!

Fortunately, doing all this does actually help Onion Knight grow and begin to mature, and he eventually manages to rescue Terra from the mind controlling, defeating the Cloud of Darkness and learning a valuable lesson of mixing logic with heart. His fighting style in Dissidia is the Mystic Fencer style, a healthy mix of magic and melee. He semi-uniquely (Prishe also has some ability to do so) has the ability to chain Bravery attacks into other Bravery attacks, which are normally magical, while retaining solid Bravery to HP attacks, although his Bravery attack selection is limited. He possesses the fastest movement speed in the game and is quite a quick little bugger. Wields both a sword and a dagger.

Onion Statistics​

As said, Onion Knight is very quick indeed, and he is the third fastest character in Smash Ultimate, only barely beaten out by Captain Falcon: Cap has a 2.552 ground run speed and Onion Knight has a 2.50 ground run speed. This puts him roughly between Falcon and Little Mac (2.464). His walk speed is also extremely fast, equaling Sheik's. He is a small target to hit who can be compared to Olimar, although he is noticeably taller. Still quite small overall as a character, although he is a bit taller and less stubby, but still noticeably smaller compared to Mario or something. His armor is the quite light type and his body mass does no favors, making him one of the lightest characters in the game with 76 weight units, directly between Mr. Game & Watch (75) and Fox (77). This makes him the 5th lightest character in SmUsh. He has low traction. His foxtrot is noticeably quite good thanks to his fast speed, good initial dash speed, and he has a very good perfect pivot due to his extreme speed and low traction.

Aerially, the Onion Knight is a fastfaller who falls at a speed similar to Roy and goes through the air about as fast as Roy as well, with his gravity being right between Ryu and Roy's. This means that Onion Knight can perform some sick short hop combos, but in turn he is significantly more combo-able than someone of his weight normally is. His aerial control is above average, but not exceptional. His first jump is fairly high but not amazing, while his second jump is on the line between above average and pretty high. He can wall jump and has an average-crouch-down-size but fast speed crawl. His sword is roughly the size of MK's Galaxia.

Mechanic: Mystic Fencer​

The Onion Knight's attacks can be separated, for the most part, into two sections: Magic and Melee. His Mystic Fencer mechanic, inspired by his Dissidia appearance, allows the Onion Knight to utilize them both quite effectively!

When the Onion Knight strikes an opponent with a magic or melee non-throw attack, the Onion Knight can cancel out of it either right when it hits or halfway or further through the ending lag (some moves may be more or less cancellable) into the opposite type, so a melee sword strike can cancel into a magical move! This enables the Onion Knight to provide strong combos that would otherwise not be open to him, if he can properly weave both magic and physical attacks into the mix. Furthermore, if Onion Knight cancels a move like this or often if he uses a move of the opposite type, the move may gain a bonus! This depends on the move used, but is fairly wide brimmed. As an example, the Onion Knight may use an electrical magic attack, and then if he cancels into a sword strike or uses one right after, the sword will be infused with electricity for the next attack!

Some of Onion Knight's attacks use both magic and melee. These attacks cannot cancel into magic or melee attacks, but both melee and magic attacks can cancel into it as it is both opposite of magic and melee! If, somehow, an attack is neither magic or melee for the Onion Knight, the reverse is true: He may cancel it into a magic or melee strike, but he cannot cancel either into it. Do note that the Onion Knight cannot reposition during these cancels, meaning that it requires pretty precise spacing from the Onion Knight to fully utilize the effects, which may often not fully occur or require quite a bit of him setting up/reading the foe/etc to actually perform.

Onion Knight can only perform a cancel if he hits a foe, so if he whiffs, then he is stuck with what he's got. Hitting the shield counts as hitting the move and allows him to cancel. Onion Knight can only use 1 attack of each type in any given combo, so he can go Melee -> Magic -> Both for example, but not Melee -> Magic -> Melee. This lasts, obviously, for the duration of the move's being cancelled, plus roughly one second afterwards to prevent any potential silliness with delaying a hit or something.

Some of Onion Knight's attacks depend on if his last attack was a Melee attack or a Magic attack. This is usually self-explanatory, but then there's the case of Dual / Null attacks: What does it do then? In those cases, it will look further back in the chain to determine it. So if you, say, used a Magic attack and then a Null attack, it'll act as if you used a Magic attack. If you used a Magic attack, then a Dual attack and then a Null attack, it'll still go far enough back to be as if you used a Magic attack. And finally, if Onion Knight has not used a Melee or Magic attack yet on that stock it will default to the Melee option of the attack he is using.

Onion Specials​

NAME: Blade Torrent
INPUT: Up-Spec
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Low
DESC: "High speed slice with multi-hit capability."​

Onion Knight takes his longer sword and charges in a chosen direction, after a brief starting period similar to Fire Fox but SIGNIFICANTLY shorter, leaving a purple swordtrail behind him as he flies. He deals 6% damage to whoever he slashes with his sword with low knockback in the direction that Onion Knight was travelling. Normally, this puts Onion Knight in helpless, but this move takes cues from Captain Falcon's Up Special and Ganondorf's Dark Dive in that Onion Knight does not enter helpless if he hits a foe and, therefor, can use this move again! Onion Knight is fast enough and the knockback low enough that he can chain this move a few times based on direction, fall speed, and how close he is when he hits the foe (closer -> easier to chain), but it also allows Onion Knight to do some gimp reversal and help with the move's bad range, as it only goes as far as Falco's Up Special. Combined with Onion's low weight, he has a difficult time surviving for all that long. The low lag on both ends and ability to be used again on-hit makes it difficult to gimp, at least.

Another important thing is that this is a melee move that repositions Onion Knight, when normally Onion Knight cannot reposition during his Mystic Fencer combos, this allows Onion Knight to hit people who are struck by more far away by projectile magic by Up Specialing into them, after which Onion Knight can then move again if he strikes the foe as per the normal Up Special rules. It is also a low damage, low lag move which can catch opponents out and therefor can serve as a decent combo starter as well, especially into a Mystic Fencer Magic attack.

NAME: Shuriken
INPUT: Side-Spec
TYPE: NULL
S-LAG: Med-Low
E-LAG: Low
DESC: "Throws a damaging shuriken which can be re-used."​

The Shuriken is an item iconic to the Ninja class in FFIII, with it being one of the highest power builds in the entire game (and with how hard FFIII's end game is, YOU'LL NEED IT) and which Onion Knight uses in Dissidia as well. To start the move, Onion Knight reaches into his armor and takes a moment to pull out a shuriken, before swiftly shooting it forward, although it can be angled up and down. The Shuriken is rather weak and deals only 4% damage with pretty low knockback on hit, but while the starting lag is more average-low average due to taking out the Shuriken, the ending lag is extremely low and Onion Knight can act out of it quite quickly. This makes it good for Onion Knight to throw out as a fishing tool and can be used in a similar manner to Sheik's needles in the air. When used in the air, it will fire at a downward-diagonal angle like the needles, with it being slightly aimable up/down from there in a similar manner.

When hitting the ground, a wall, or travelling its maximum distance of 1.15x Metal Blade's, the shuriken will simply disappear. However, if Onion Knight catches a foe with it, it will embed itself in the foe wherever it hit them. It will be embedded in the foe for 5 seconds. If Onion Knight hits that spot on the foe with a move, then he will also strike the shuriken, causing it to deal 4% damage once again and pop out of the foe, falling directly down to the ground. When falling, it becomes an item, and it will embed itself onto the stage afterwards like a Mega Man Metal Blade, where it can be picked up as an item, Z-Dropped, thrown again or what have you. If Onion Knight hits the foe with a melee attack, then he will instantly pick up the Shuriken instead of letting it fall to the ground, allowing for better combo potential. Other characters who attack the shuriken when it is embedded with the foe will have the same properties of additional damage and directly picking it up if they hit it with a melee strike. Shurikens which are knocked out of people last for an additional second past their still-running duration clock. If Onion Knight grabs a foe, he will pull the shuriken out when he does so, dealing 4% damage but not interrupting the grab state, allowing Onion Knight to both have an item on him and to have a foe grabbed.

Onion Knight can embed multiple shurikens in the foe, but he will only knock one out of the foe at a time, making it difficult to use multiples for too much, but it can mean Onion Knight can hit the foe with multiple attacks to pop additional damage off them, for example going Magic -> Melee -> Both with Mystic Fencer with both of the last two hitting two separate shurikens for 8% more damage. So it is a solid poking and setup tool, although do note that it does not have a lot of hitstun for comboing.

NAME: Elemental Crystal
INPUT: N-Spec
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: ???
E-LAG: ???
DESC: "Utilize crystals to call upon Aero, Fire, Thunder or Blizzard."​

Onion Knight shouts "The four elements!" or "The four crystals!" as the four elemental crystals appear in front of Onion Knight, rapidly rotating in front of him. There is a bright red fire crystal which appears angular yet smooth, the ragged and jagged golden thunder crystal, the liquid-like, smooth and twisty blue ice crystal and the swirl-patterned, jade green wind crystal. By default at the start of the match, the crystals appear in this order, from top -> right -> bottom -> left which is the order it spins: Wind -> Fire -> Thunder -> Ice. They will continue to rotate for as long as Onion Knight holds down B, with tapping B automatically selecting what would be next in the order based on the above and using that order by default. When selected, Onion Knight will grasp the crystal and call upon either "Aero!" "Fire!" "Thunder!" or "Blizzard!" based on the spell. Actually selecting the crystal is quite fast due to their fast rotation and it is quick to occur, but each spell has its own starting and ending lag. Once a crystal has been used, it goes on a 10 second cooldown period where it cannot be used, and Onion Knight grasping it will merely result in a confused gasp as the spell he calls the spell name and it fails to appear for slight lag. Crystals on cooldown do not shine with light when spinning and will not be selected by Tap B unless all crystals have been used. The spells are as follows.

Aero​

Onion Knight raises the wind crystal high to the sky as he calls the name, creating a green gale of wind to swirl and surround him, buffeting foes around him! This attack has some changes to it, but at a base, think of it as kind of a Dr. Tornado move, with the cyclone this creates being about a Mach Tornado around Onion Knight as it blows around. If Onion Knight does not move during its long duration, then the hitbox remains a single and strong hit, dealing about 11% damage upon hitting the foe and popping them up, although the knockback is only good enough to KO at 210%. This means it deals more overall damage than a Luigi Cyclone, but it also has less knockback power, although this can in turn allow Onion Knight to perform combo attacks out of it. Ending lag if used this way is similar to Luigi Cyclone.

Onion Knight can move during this move ala Luigi Cyclone, with his low traction allowing him to move quickly still (but not as fast as Luigi), however this turns the move from a single powerful hit into a multihitting attack similar to Mach Tornado, with the frame data being very close except that the rehit rate is 7, which makes it slightly easier to escape the hits and causes it to do 1% less damage, and that the last hit is somewhat weaker in knockback and only deals 2% damage, capping Onion Knight's damage at 8% for it. Onion Knight can constantly hit B to rise during this move as well, like Dr. Tornado, but Onion Knight does not gain quite as much height as Luigi does. Onion Knight does not enter helpless when using this move and so it can be useful to aid recovery, but it does have a 10 second cooldown timer to prevent much abuse of this and means it only works once if you get edgeguarded.

Onion Knight has a wind-suction hitbox on this move that does not deal damage but draws people closer to Onion Knight, and is roughly as strong as Dedede's Inhale at doing so, allowing Onion Knight to catch people out somewhat easier and making it more difficult to escape. The power of the suction hitbox is reduced to 2/3rds power, but since Onion Knight is moving that makes up for it. The last hit of the Aero attack has a weak wind hitbox at the end of it that sends foes away radially, with it being stronger if Onion Knight has not moved. If Onion Knight can get opponents knocked out at the tail end of the move, he can push them down with the wind hitbox for a gimp, but Onion's poor recovery afterwards means this is a rather risky maneuver to pull off.

Fire​

Onion Knight clutches the fire crystal tight in his fist, the crystal glowing an orange-ish red as he points his sword in front of him and calls forth its name! From the tip of Onion Knight's sword, a fireball bursts forward, shooting forward 2.25 Battlefield Platforms at a decent clip. The fireball is like Luigi's, it goes straight forward without a bounce, and it is about 2x the size of a Mario fireball. If the fireball impacts an opponent, it will detonate for 10% damage and some pretty solid knockback, KOing at around 145% or so. The starting lag and ending lag of this move are rather low and Onion Knight's very high movement speed allows Onion Knight to keep up with the projectile fairly well, making it a rather ideal approaching projectile.

The trickiness with this projectile comes mostly from timing: It has a hefty 10 second cooldown, so you can't spam it, and you need to pick and choose the correct times to throw it out for optimal approaching or late stage KOing. Otherwise, you're wasting a rather valuable tool, dealing more damage and whatnot than your Shurikens. Aside from that, it is a basic projectile for approaching or forcing reactions and best used as such.

Thunder​

Onion Knight points the thunder crystal forward as electricity gathers around it, shooting a trail of lightning forward that travels 1.5 Battlefield Platforms at a fast pace, dealing 7% damage to all opponents struck (it pierces through multiple opponents) and low knockback, but high hitstun, making it perfect for starting combos, but somewhat high starting lag and projectile speed make it a lot worse as an approaching tool for Onion Knight. Once its reaches its maximum destination, it disperses into a harmless cloud of static for 2 seconds, which recollects into lightning over that time and shoots towards Onion Knight's current location with the same max distance (1.5 Battlefield Platforms). Wow, lightning really does strike twice!

This is good for controlling space and starting combos, along with some longer term stage control with the second hit. Opponents need to watch your position after you fire off Thunder or Onion Knight can start a combo afterwards, while Onion Knight can start a combo off the first Thunder and then potentially have the second hit of Thunder force opponents on the defensive right after the combo, or even as an extender! Do remember that it has high starting lag to actually land a hit in the first place.

Blizzard​

Onion Knight tosses the ice crystal into the air as it glows brilliantly, the ice crystal hovering about half of a Ganondorf above Onion Knight as it begins to spin rapidly, dropping down sharp icicles onto the ground under it, which deal rapid flinching hits of 1%, dealing 12% damage over is 4 second duration, totaling 3/4ths of a Battlefield Platform under it, half to each side of where Onion Knight is at the start as the "middle". The crystal depowers after 4 seconds and returns to Onion Knight, though it will not recharge while it is in use and away from Onion Knight's grasp. The multiple hits have a bit of a low rehit rate, so it is possible to escape the attack's hitbox much sooner if Onion Knight doesn't stay on top of things in return for Onion Knight being able to get off a loooot of damage if he then can aggress a foe inside!

It doesn't take long to utilize Blizzard and it has low ending lag, so it doesn't take long for Onion Knight to set up this area, which becomes a danger zone for opponents. While it can be DI'd out of fairly easy, it nonetheless will put opponents in a compromising position to be hit by more attacks by Onion Knight. The long term nature of controlling one part of the stage combined with Onion Knight's mobility can put opponents in a tight squeeze, especially near a ledge. The icicles only go a maximum of one Ganondorf down before disappearing, but Blizzard can be placed in the air as well as the ground, which can also make it tricky to, say, approach Onion Knight if he puts one in range to cover short hops, or what have you.

NAME: Counter
INPUT: Down-Spec
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Low
DESC: "Stop the foe's attack and counter. Opens up follow-up options."

NAME: Quake
INPUT: Down-Spec
TYPE: MAGIC
S-Lag: ???
E-LAG: ???
DESC: "Plunge into the ground to shake the earth. Has three levels of attack."​

Onion Knight's Down Special is one of a few moves in Onion Knight's set which changes based on the last attack Onion Knight used, with Counter only being available if his last used attack was magic and Quake only active if his last attack used was physical. We'll begin by looking at Counter, which has a fast 2 Frame start-up and low ending lag when whiffed for a counter (though being a counter and thus having no hitbox without the foe attacking there is inherent risk here). When an attack triggers the counter, Onion Knight's animation depends on the type of attack it is facing. A melee strike has Onion Knight quickly hopping to the side, then performing a fencing lunge forward! A projectile, on the other hand, has Onion Knight whipping his sword in place once or twice before batting at the projectile, sending it flying. Both of these have stunningly low ending lag for an activated counter.

To get it out of the way here: While this counter will reflect projectiles with 1.35x strength, it functions like Sora's in that it sends the projectile somewhere behind him when deflected, so in 1v1s it is just a fast way to delete some projectiles rather than a "true" reflector. The real meat of this attack is in the melee counter, even though at first it seems underwhelming due to dealing a constant 10% damage and very low knockback. That's because rather than a kill move, Onion Knight's counter is a combo starter! The very low ending lag combined with this move's very low knockback enables Onion Knight to go into any of his fast attacks. But this gets more complex with just how the Counter scales with the enemy's attack.

See, the damage nor knockback scales, but the HITSTUN does. And on top of that, it scales depending on the SPEED of the enemy's attack, not the damage! That's what a nimble fighter is all about! The "base" hitstun modifer is a massive 3.0x, which if Onion Knight could get it off would allow him to confirm into essentially any attack in his arsenal that doesn't, say, have a second hit to knock the foe out of it or whatever. However, the starting lag of the opponent's attack reduces the hitstun by its startup as if there was a decimal point in between the numbers / in the ten's place, using the first hitbox on the attack as the starting lag's number. The hitstun modifier cannot go below 1.0x. Let's use a pair of examples for clarity.

Mario's Jab is a 2 frame startup, so it reduces the hitstun modifier by 0.2x, so Onion Knight gets a massive 2.8x hitstun modifier on this move that leads into plenty of his strongest attacks! By comparison, the first hitbox on Byleth's Down Smash comes out on Frame 19, and so the hitstun modifier is reduced by 1.9x to 1.1x, so all Onion Knight can get is normal combos that'll be scaled out of eventually. The result of this is that Onion Knight is a fast combo character whose counter is specialized at fighting other Sheik types, but struggles against big boy attacks that you'd much rather have a normal counter on. Fast attacks are, of course, more difficult to counter and so Onion Knight is happy to get an even stronger reward for it! Mystic Fencer canceling into Counter isn't usually too useful, but if the attack you hit is susceptible to combo breakers it can really catch people offguard!

Now for the Magic side of this attack, well, that depends on if Onion Knight is on the ground or in the air and we'll begin with the ground variant because it'll be easier. Onion Knight hops into the air with an acrobatic jump, then flips upside down and stabs his sword into the ground in an animation that'd remind people of Sora's Down Smash. By default, Onion Knight then does a single spin, the first half of the spin sending out a shockwave to both sides (0.8 Battlefield Platforms) that deals 1% damage and a trip, followed by a second hitbox that deals 8% damage and mild upwards knockback at the same range. If ended here the attack is fairly safe as Onion Knight hops back down to the ground. The hop upwards itself goes fairly high and allows Onion Knight to dodge a lot of low hitting attacks, making it useful for dodging attacks, and has lower body intangibility for 5 frames after Onion Knight gets onto his sword.

Onion Knight can hold down B to do up to two more full spins, each of which begins with a half-spin that deals the same 1% damage tripping hitbox but with a slightly larger range each time (1 BFP -> 1.2 BFPs, which is also true for the attacks themselves). The second spin deals 16% damage and potent enough knockback to kill at 140%, making it a reasonable kill move given Onion Knight's pathetic kill power. Onion Knight only has modest ending lag if stopping here and thus it is not toooo punishable, and it serves a solid use for catching out rolls / spot dodges, and can self-read off of the first hit's trip if the first hit misses. Most commonly, Onion Knight will be using the first or second level of this attack, buuuuut...

The THIRD hit is incredibly powerful! Shaking the earth and sending up debris as a cool visual, this final strike deals 24% and kills at 80%, easily the strongest kill move in Onion Knight's arsenal for what that is worth! Hitting it is pretty difficult and a big reason is actually the fact Onion Knight has to go through the first two hits: He's liable to have knocked the opponent away before hitting them with this swag hitbox. One way to do it is to try and time the tripping hitboxes to trip the foe twice and then land the third hitbox, but why this is very unlikely to work should be obvious. Starting a Down Special while an opponent is landing could mindgame them into air dodging the second hit and going for the third. The ledge might be the best place to go for this, as it can end up ambiguous what hit Onion Knight will stop on, and the 5 frames of lower body intangibility when starting each spin can be a real bother.

In the air, Onion Knight performs an un-cancellable stall then fall which upon impacting the ground leads into the normal Down Special hitbox. The start of this stall than fall begins with a fairly powerful 14% spike that can give Onion Knight a strong suicide strike if he's ahead in stocks and REALLY struggling for a kill, but this is a telegraphed move. Onion Knight spinning down with his sword in a Drill-Rush manner on the way down deals a ton of multihits on the way down most akin to Corrin Down Aerial with the same damage rate.

The grounded hitbox has the trip come out on Frame 11, with the actual hitbox on Frame 14. The second hit can be initiated as soon as Frame 21 for the second hit to come out at Frame 24 (trip hitbox on Frame 21) and the third hit can be initiated as early as Frame 32 so that it comes out on Frame 35 (Trip hitbox on Frame 32). Both of these follow-up hits can be delayed by up to 12 frames to mindgame foes in the same way as varying up the timing of Link Forward Smash or a Dancing Blade. The stall than fall begins on Frame 17 and the tripping hitbox comes out on Frame 8 with the quake on Frame 11, with the subsequent hit's timing being moved up 3 frames to match this.

Onion Smashes​

NAME: Gravity
INPUT: Fwrd-Smash
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: Med-High
E-LAG: Low
DESC: "Shoot a gravity ball that brings foes to you."​

Onion Knight takes out his short dagger and begins to wave it in the air, performing one last slash forward that shoots forward a purple ball which appears to have little electrical bits shooting through it. It looks like a plasma lamp. This projectile goes quite far, about 2/3rds of Battlefield, but the damage and knockback is quite low for a smash attack, dealing only 10%-14% damage that KOs at 240%-200%, making it not ideal for high damage or high knockback. Instead, you primarily will use it for the knockback angle, which actually hits the opponent backwards, meaning it is most highly likely to knock opponents right towards the Onion Knight, which combined with actually having solid hitstun makes it an excellent way to start combos!

Onion Knight has a few ways to use this move, both with and without Mystic Fencer. Using it into a melee attack often relies on hitting it close to you since it has low ending lag anyway, but it is of course a great way to cancel into melee strikes which would normally hit foes flying away. More often what is is great for is cancelling from a melee attack, especially later on, as you can hit an opponent away from you and then cancel into this move, which then hits them right back towards you and can allow you to continue to pressure opponents hard. It also helps because this move takes a decently long time to start, so cancelling a move into it will allow you to more likely strike the foe while they are in hitstun or have little time to react, making it more likely to hit. Finally, this move is perfectly fine to simply not use with Mystic Fencer at all and one of Onion Knight's primary tools against campers, as the projectile actually moves very fast and as mentioned has pretty high range, while the low ending lag means Onion Knight can rush forward behind the projectile as well, or wait for it to bring the foe to him with most hits leading into a combo. While the somewhat high starting lag does mean it's risky as a neutral tool if the opponent is too close, at medium ranges it can be fired with relative ease to make crushing your opponent's such a breeze!

NAME: Wind Shear
INPUT: Down-Smash
TYPE: DUAL
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: High
DESC: "Spin with high speed wind to draw in the opponent and hit them multiple times."​

Onion Knight takes out his dagger as well as his sword and performs multiple rapid spins around where he started the attack, casting wind magic around himself while rapidly slashing with both weapons! He looks like a blur inside of the whirlwind! This move has two different hitboxes, which one the foe takes depends on if they are hit by the edge of the hitbox or caught in the middle. The edge, where Onion Knight is running, is a single hit hitbox that deals 13%-18.2% damage and middling knockback that is good at knocking away foes, not so much at dealing knockouts, KOing at 178%-154%. If, on the other hand, you are inside the whirlwind, you will take constant hits of 1%-3% as the foe is buffeted by Onion Knight's errant slashes and the wind spell, with the total damage equaling 11%-15.4% and light knockback that pretty much never KOs, but it can in some cases lead to Onion Knight getting aggressive options or combos out of it or pop the foe up for aerial chases, although this move's high ending lag makes it risky to use this hitbox at low damage percentages.

Because this move comes out so quick, it is one of Onion Knight's best moves for just getting foes off of his back when spaced properly, but it is also quite punishable if Onion Knight tries to use it for such and, say, it gets shielded. As a dual attack, it is best for ending a Mystic Fencer combo since it can be led into but not lead into other hits, and its nicely low starting lag makes it very easy to combo into said moves, although it should be noted that it has a pretty low reward ceiling for a finisher. It also has variable usage as a finisher, however, as depending on when it is moved and what move it is used from, Onion Knight can either use it to push foes away with the outer hitbox or to try and continue a chain even further by hitting with the inner hitbox. It also has quite a long duration, which can make it ideal vs. spot dodges, but also importantly means you can throw it out to combo with moves that other, lower duration moves would be unable to catch. It is particularly good with Forward Smash in that regard, as you can throw it out as the opponent is flying towards you to hit with the tail end of the hitbox, giving Onion Knight the maximum amount of time to go through his ending lag while the opponent is in hitstun. Overall, a useful and versatile move.

NAME: E-Blast
INPUT: Up-Smash
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: ???
E-LAG: ???
DESC: "Blasts opponents with magic and draws powers from elemental crystals."​

Onion Knight raises his hand and releases a blast of rather generic, purple magic as a blast above of him of decent size. This blast is not very strong, dealing 10%-14% damage, mediocre knockback that can set up a juggle or to cover landings but that is around it. On the plus side, the starting lag is pretty low and while the ending lag is not quite as low it is still rather difficult to hard punish which combined with being disjointed makes it a very safe anti-air option and helps keeps opponents from approaching strongly from above. However, Onion Knight's Up Smash will change depending on the last Elemental Crystal that Onion Knight used in the last 10 seconds (AKA the cooldown of the Crystal), which means that both Onion Knight and the opponent have to play around the new Up Smash and what it brings to the match.

Wind is the most straightforward of all of the elemental changes, being essentially just the same move with a stronger and larger hitbox created by a strong burst of wind magic, being 1.5x the size, while the damage is increased to 16%-22.4% damage and being one of Onion Knight's rare strong-ish kill moves that kills at 120%-90%, while retaining the same lag as the base version, making shorthop range and the air extremely dangerous for the opponent. Onion Knight needs to utilize Aero to use this however, of course, and is only around for 10 seconds even when he does, which makes it a rather unreliable killing option, but a scary one.

Fire creates a significantly larger and fiery explosion, which deals the same damage and knockback as the base explosion, but has 2x the range. Opponents hit by the explosion will be set on fire, which is where the real meat of this move comes in, the fire barely damages foe while burning them (0.5% damage per second for 6 seconds, so a while 3% damage), but will explode violently if the opponent is struck by any attack, dealing 8%-11.2% damage. The knockback on this explosion is actually not much, but it is added to the knockback of the move that is used to strike it, on average causing it to kill 20%-35% sooner! If Onion Knight can get Fire Up Smash to a Wind Up Smash, that can kill quite soon, but he needs to use Aero and not hit the opponent at all in order to do this while hitting with two Up Smashes in a row! Compared to the initial Up Smash, the fire Up Smash has only slightly longer starting lag, but a noticeably larger amount of ending lag to it. Triggering the explosion ends the fire effect on the opponent.

Thunder leaves behind a static shock on the opponent for 8 seconds OR three attacks, whichever comes first, while increasing the base hitbox's hitstun by 1.3x without any other modifications. Whenever an opponent starts an attack, this triggers with a little shock that deals 2% damage and increases the starting lag of that attack by 2 frames! That might not sound like much, but Onion Knight is a blazing fast Sheik-style combo character. Even the slightest delay could have devastating consequences against Onion Knight's blazing fast attacks! It also particularly serves as an anti-combo breaker tool against, say, those pesky Luigi NAirs/Luigi Cyclones where those additional 2 frames of starting lag can be completely crucial. It's a bit of a situational knife compared to the other options, but it can lead to some very high rewards.

Finally we come to Ice magic, which freezes the foe over! This has two effects. The first is the opponent undergoing the Freezie effect until they hit the end of their knockback or get hit by another attack. When the ice shatters, the opponent takes 6%-8.4% damage over a large number of non-flinching multihits and if hit by an outside attack do not take the halved damage normally associated with being frozen. This is just a little damage booster but the fact it prevents opponent's DI can be niche useful. The second is that the foe remains frozen over with frostbite for the next 7 seconds, which serves as a 0.85x debuff to their grounded movement speed and 0.9x debuff to their aerial movement speeds (including fall speed). This lets Onion Knight run rings around even faster opponents and plays well into his highly aggressive, "don't let them breathe" combo playstyle!

Onion Standards​

NAME: Onion Slash
INPUT: Down-Tilt
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Low-Med
DESC: "A beginner's slash. Good for swift damage."​

Onion Knight crouches down and performs a swift downwards slash of his sword in a manner not unlike Ike’s Down tilt except significantly faster in animation and with less lag on both ends. This deals only 5% damage and lightly pops foes up, allowing Onion Knight a potential aerial combo out of it. It is excellent at shield poking and against shields, as it is 100% safe on shield from the midpoint on and pokes a damaged shield incredibly early. However Onion Knight’s very short sword means this move has quite low reach, it is unsafe on shield below the midpoint of the sword (although the shield poking properties remain) and will stop to combo into many things after around 100% (on Mario).

This can hit opponents on the ledge, however the knockback is poor for edge guarding at mid to high percents because they will go too high for many followups. At lower percentages it can lead to combos though and it is still fast for “free” damage. If you don't go into Up Tilt, then Aero is a pretty good choice to Mystic Fencer into for a combo.

NAME: Gravity
INPUT: Up-Tilt
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: High
E-LAG: Low
DESC: "Use gravity magic to bring down airborne enemies."​

Onion Knight raises his hand to the sky and shouts “Gravity!”, casting a spell above him. The range can be compared to Mewtwo’s Up Smash and deals 6% damage while sending foes straight downwards with high starting lag but low ending lag. Enemies who hit the ground before coming out of hitstun are untechably proned. The downward knockback is rather weak, making it surprisingly poor for edge guards although it can still place foea in a compromising spot.

The high starting lag of this move makes comboing into it outside of Mystic Fencer pretty difficult and can make using it as an anti air hard. When using Mystic Fencer the most common combination with this move is Down Tilt. The order changes the type of combo that Onion Knight can do with it.

If Onion connects with the Down Tilt first, then the foe will land in prone in front of him and allow Onion Knight to go for a tech chase and sometimes Onion Knight can hit with a Dual attack to finish Mystic Fencer off. Usually, though, there is too much lag for the opponent to not just roll out or use a getup attack and interrupt. If Up Tilt hits first then the foe will be left in position for an aerial combo and is more easily comboed into a Dual attack if it hits upwards although laggy ones will usually fail to connect.

NAME: Dink, Dink, Dink!
INPUT: Jab
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Very Low
E-LAG: Very Low
DESC: "Pummel the foe with the sword's pommel in rapid succession."​

Onion Knight rapidly strikes in front of him with the pommel of his sword. This move is incredibly fast but also very weak, dealing only 1% per hit and extremely little knockback. Like Meta Knight Onion must throw out three strikes of this before he can stop jabbing, an important fact to keep in mind. In addition, this move hits at a -1 angle, compared to a fair amount of 0 degree jabs. This doesn't really affect much...except it keeps Onion from jab locking! If Mystic Fencer is available then he can stop before performing 3 hits by cancelling into a magic attack however. If Onion Knight merely taps A, then the attack ends. If Onion Knight holds A, then he can continue to rapidly jab at this pace, and will finish it off with a jab finisher, which is Onion Knight dashing forward about 0.33 Battlefield Platforms with a thrust: It only deals 4% damage, but it does hit opponents away and has decently low ending lag, serving as something to create combos at mid to high percentages (the hitstun is too low early).

Each hit comes out quite quickly and so it can be a serviceable combo starter with MF, but the incredible speed is paid for in being a weak damage starter and extremely little range, and it doesn't really combo well without Mystic Fencer unless you go for the finisher at higher percentages. This is fast and so solid to start with then, but you're never fixing the range issue. The fact it cannot jab lock is important as it prevents any infinites with the down and up tilts. If Mystic Fencer is free then it is an alternative combo tool after an Up Tilt and can follow up almost any magic attack that is not out of range. Aero can combo out of this if performed quickly, while Fire and Thunder can be risky setplay options that are not suuuper worth it. Up Tilt can be useful if you hit a shield and expect them to aerial you in reply, but you'll be punished harder if they don't.

NAME: E-Blade
INPUT: Frwd-Tilt
TYPE: MELEE / DUAL
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Med-Low
DESC: "Strike enemies with the power of depleted Crystals."​

Forward Tilt's nature as a melee or dual attack depends entirely on the state of Onion Knight's crystals, but the basic attack is the same in both regards: Onion Knight brings his sword close and then makes a swift outwards, angle-able slash. This attack is similar to Ike's in animation but much faster and much weaker, dealing only 6% damage and light spacing knockback away from Onion Knight. Obviously the much shorter sword severely limits Onion Knight's reach by comparison, but it still functions as one of Onion Knight's best neutral tools with the ability to anti-air or shield poke based on angle and high safety when spaced right. It's safe on shield except at close range and fast enough to at least try to reply to a lot of counter attacks. The reward is very low, but it can situationally combo into an Aero via Mystic Fencer and ranged attacks like Fire, Thunder or Gravity can at least put aggressive pressure on the foe if Mystic Fencer'd.

The energy of currently used up and on cooldown Crystals held within Onion Knight's blade are be expelled via this Forward Tilt, turning it into a Dual attack during that time period and granting Onion Knight's F-Tilt buffs! These buffs stack with each Crystal on cooldown, so this can become a super dangerous attack while multiple Crystals are on cooldown! Wind gives this a slight suction effect on the start to pull opponent's just out of range, but more interestingly a decently powerful wind hitbox a decent bit from the blade that can be used to out-space opponent's with laggier moves or more powerfully as a gimping tool. Fire coats the blade in flames and causes the swing to make a curve of fire in front of it, enhancing the attack's range by 1.3x and giving it the fire attribute. The wind hitbox of Wind goes in front of this flame if they are both active.

Thunder adds a sweetspot directly at the tip of the blade that causes 1.5x hitstun, allowing this move to now function as a combo starting attack! This sweetspot does not get added to the fire itself, but it most dangerously can lead into Gravity at mid percents (early has enemies recover too quickly) into aerials for a highly damaging combo. And Ice leaves behind a chilling, multihit hitbox everywhere the hitbox struck that deals four hits of 1% rapidly and keep opponents stuck in them, great for making this a much more reasonably damaging tilt without any additional combos and making this safe at point blank against shields thanks to the extra shield stun! Even the flames from the Fire hitbox will cool into snowy icy particle effects with both on, a cool looking effect that also means this part of the attack gets added range.

NAME: Doom Blade
INPUT: D-Attack
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: High
E-LAG: Low
Description: "Drill rushes forward with speed, then strikes overhead."

NAME: Mini Flare
INPUT: D-Attack
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: High
Description: "An explosive burst that propells Onion Knight backwards."​

Dash Attack is another one of the attacks in this set that depends on the last type of attack Onion Knight used, with Doom Blade after magic and Mini Flare after melee. Doom Blade is a pretty easy attack to understand. Gathering himself for a moment, Onion Knight launches himself forward in a Corrin-esque drill rush forward for multiple hits, before doing a little leap forward and performing an overhead landing slam that deals light Sakurai Angle knockback! The first five hits all deal 1% damage while the final hit deals a meager 1.5% damage, so despite the high starting lag this attack does quite a pathetic 5.5% damage total. The key here is the VERY low ending lag, which can allow Onion Knight to go for a Forward Tilt or Down Tilt as a combo option or Mystic Fencer into any projectile option for an aggressive tool, in addition to shorthopping aerials or using Aero for other combo tools. Unsafe on shield and certainly more of an "all-in" option, Dash Attack is a potent combo starter in Onion Knight's aggressive toolkit. Using Mystic Fencer to go into it from a magic attack can help alleviate this, such as Up Tilt -> Dash Attack -> Forward Tilt as a Mystic Fencer combo that itself could have more follow-ups if hit with the Thunder sweetspot on Forward Tilt and allows Onion Knight to have advantage regardless.

Mini Flare is the exact opposite. Onion Knight throws both of his hands in front of him and creates a Zelda Up Aerial sized explosion with shocking speed, a fast single hit strike that deals a strong 14% damage and actually kills at 125% and so is another "this is Fine for killing but not early" move. One of the big advantages of this attack is quick speed combined with the high damage and Onion Knight being pushed back half a Battlefield Platform make this safe on shield despite TERRIBLE ending lag! The opponent does still get to move first, though, and on a whiff the downside is just plain awful. Mystic Fencering an attack after this lets you use that attack while moving backwards, but it's a bit hard to get use out of that due to the hitbox likely knocking the foe far away. You could use something like Dash Attack or Up Special AWAY from the foe to escape a sticky situation against a shield, though.

Onion Aerials​

NAME: Blade Spin
INPUT: Neut-Air
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Low
Description: "Spin multiple times with one blade."​

Onion Knight curls his tiny form even smaller as he sticks out his sword, performing a natural spin with his sword in a classic NAirplane fashion! Meta Knight would be proud. This deals five hits of 0.7% followed by a finishing hit of 3.5% for a total of 7% damage and knockback that will usually keep opponents close and forms a natural Mystic Fencer combo with either Forward Aerial or Down Aerial depending on the opponent's positioning. Landing this move leads into most of Onion Knight's fast grounded game, at which point you get to freestyle. Back into the air with a Down Tilt, a sweetspoted Thunder Forward Tilt for even more damage potential, looping a Neutral Aerial at low percents, going into Aero or an instant dash attack Mini Flare for more power, Onion Knight much like Sheik is a freestyle combo character so a lot of it comes down to where you want the foe or maximizing damage.

While quick to come out, the range on this is pretty bad. It's worse than Meta Knight's Neutral Aerial range-wise, but with a higher reward.

NAME: E-Flurry
INPUT: Down-Air
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: Med-Low
E-LAG: Med
Description: "Release a flurry of elemental magic below you."​

Pushing his palm downward, Onion Knight releases a flurry of magic under him! A multi-hit hitbox that strikes diagonally in front of Onion Knight. The type of attack aesthetically changes depending on the last Crystal that Onion Knight used, defaulting to holy light if used before any Crystals, but like Forward Tilt or Forward Aerial this is purely aesthetic. The attack itself deals 9 hits of 1.1% each with the last hit dealing light downwards knockback akin to a drill kick. This spike has rather low gimping potential (Fs in the Discord for Little Mac v_v), but the downwards knockback is great for forcing foes back to the ground to combo them and the last hit at low percents has a trip chance from the weak downwards hitbox. The magic nature of the attack allows Onion Knight to potentially combo right into a Neutral Aerial with Mystic Fencer, which can cause Onion Knight to drag opponents even deeper down into the abyss! This also allows Onion Knight to go into grounded combos from impressive heights. Starting lag is faster than various multihit DAirs, but like many of them it's a laggier technique (Frame 13 to start) with slightly lower than average ending lag.

Another option would be to Neutral Aerial while going offstage then Mystic Fencer into Down Aerial near the final hits, although Onion Knight can't be too low on the foe's hurtbox for this to work because of the downward angling of the attack. This also combines with Neutral Aerial for Onion Knight's core shorthop approach options. Down Aerial is more disjointed and thus can be safer due to allowing Onion Knight to drift backwards during the attack, but the reward tends to be lesser as Down Aerial has higher landing lag than Neutral Aerial. Linking combos is more difficult and Onion Knight really needs to go into his especially fast attacks rather than moderately laggy ones. It also can push people a bit far (think Bowser Jr's Down Aerial landing) and stuff out some of Onion Knight's combos given his low range. Probably the big thing is he can't combo into Neutral Aerial out of it and since it begins with a Magic attack he doesn't get Aero/Mini Flare as combo enders, generally forcing a more standard chain. Neutral Aerial -> Down Aerial -> Forward Tilt w/ a crystal used can be an effective combo to take advantage of the Dual nature of the Crystal'd Forward Tilt, though! A Fire crystal tends to make this more consistent.

NAME: Feral Slash
INPUT: Back-Air
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Med-Low
Description: "A rage-fueled trio of slashes that sends enemies packing!"​

The Onion Knight turns around and very quickly performs three slashes behind him in an attack most comparable to Mega Man's Back Aerial in visuals and hitbox placement, coming out slower but still very fast (Frame 6) and dealing 2% + 3% + 4% damage for a total of 9% damage. The knockback on the final hit is fairly high and kills at 145%, making it one of Onion Knight's primary kill tools when edgeguarding that will seal stocks under 100% either by blasting the foe off or putting them too far away to come back. The disjointed range and reasonable ending lag on the attack only help with that, making this one of the staples of Onion Knight's moveset. One thing to keep in mind is that the attack is on the thin side, so landing it and its three hits can be a bit tricky vertically despite the good horizontal range.

While Onion Knight turns around during the attack, this attack does not turn him around overall as the attack's ending lag has him spinning back to his forward-facing direction. This matters for his Mystic Fencer cancels, as canceling it during the attack will cause him to use the Mystic Fencer attack behind him (and actually turn around), while using it during the ending lag will have him Mystic Fencer in front of him. The former is better for attempting to combo out of this attack, although this can be tricky since there isn't all THAT much hitstun on it, while the latter can be used to, for example, predict a roll if someone shielded Back Aerial or as part of an approaching cross-up after Onion Knight passes by a shield.

Landing this attack before the 3rd hit will also have Onion Knight turned around afterwards, which because of fairly low landing lag will allow him to combo out of it into all sorts of things in his set such as Down Tilt, Jab, Grab, Forward Tilt and Neutral Aerial! This does weaken as percents go on, the first two hits pushing the foe further out in these landing scenarios, but it does mean Back Aerial can serve as a great neutral combo tool on top of everything else. This will stale it for kills, though, so sometimes Onion Knight ends up paying later in a stock. Given all these myriad uses, you can see why it is such a great move for him!

NAME: E-Burst
INPUT: Frwd-Air
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: ???
E-LAG: ???
Description: "A burst of elemental magic empowered by Crystals."​

Spinning once for dramatic effect, and unfortunately giving this attack more moderate lag, Onion Knight thrusts out both arms in front of him and releases a burst of magic in front of him! A crystal-changing move, the default version of Forward Aerial is rather disappointing for the higher lag (at least for an OK move), dealing 9% damage and knockback that won't meaningfully kill. This is largely a filler combo ender in Onion Knight's moveset, as his generally low per-attack damage output makes this one of his more damaging finishers and the lag on both ends is merely moderate. The blast is spherical with okay range in front of Onion Knight, so this can also be used as a bit of a niche neutral tool. Unless otherwise stated, all crystal variants of this attack have the same lag properties.

While the Wind crystal is Onion Knight's last used crystal, the blast becomes an outward explosion of wind with the same range as the default Onion Knight blast, although starting at the center and expanding outwards. The center of the sphere is now a small sweetspot that deals 15% damage and kills at 105%, making it one of Onion Knight's better kill moves! The conditional nature and rather strict sweetspot make it a somewhat unreliable tool, especially as the rest of the hitbox remains the same as the default one. Another use of this attack, however, is a rather strong windbox around the edges of the sphere! This can provide a nice gust to mess with enemy recoveries, thing Palutena's Forward Smash and Down Smash windboxes in style, but the range is very small so it is difficult to utilize. This makes it a different way for ol' Onion boy here to end stocks than normal.

The Fire crystal option is rather unique among the Forward Aerials, serving as more of a stream coming out of Onion Knight's hands than a burst, kind of like a shorter range Bowser/Charizard NSpec with a defined ending. The stream of flames is a bit thinner both horizontally and vertically than those two attacks and deals four hits of 1% damage followed by a 4% blast of fire to finish it that sends at a low horizontal angle. The knockback isn't very strong however and thus actively killing with it is difficult, instead it serves more to cause tech scenarios when used as a shorthop tool. This will mainly be used as a tool to abuse its range and in neutral, as it has ending lag, although the hitstun is not enough to combo out of drag-downs like Neutral Aerial and Back Aerial. The long duration also gives it some anti-air dodge usage without the downwards DAir angle.

Thunder causes the blast to become electrical in nature, obviously, and much like the Wind crystal gains a sweetspot in the middle with an outer hitbox. It kinda looks like a Tesla orb. The center of the orb deals 11% damage and a moderate strength paralyzing effect on the opponent, giving Onion Knight some solid follow-up options even with the attack's lag, and true combos into Neutral Aerial drag downs if is close to the ground via Mystic Fencer. He could go for Up Smash as a flashy option out of the paralysis as well, but this isn't exactly a true combo. The non-sweetspot deals a reduced 7% damage but more hitstun than the default Forward Aerial, easily comboing into Up Special with Mystic Fencer and giving Onion Knight a nice advantage state overall.

As for Ice, the boost here comes largely from speed, Onion Knight spinning into position faster with a snowy whirlwind effect and the blast coming out sooner, now giving this attack pretty fast starting lag! The attack's power only slightly increased, to 10% and knockback that KOs at 250%, but being able to whip it out quickly is a buff all its own and allows it to be much more effective at ending combos. While the ending lag itself is not decreased, the icy blast also disperses into snowfall in front of Onion Knight for 8 frames afterwards, during which time it serves as a weak hitbox that deals 2% and lightly pushes opponents away. This largely just serves to make the attack safer, adding to this was the swiftest of the FAir options.

NAME: Meta Cut
INPUT: Up-Air
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Very Low
E-LAG: Very Low
Description: "An incredibly swift slash with unrivaled speed."​

Onion Knight's Up Aerial is a VERY fast slash above him, very Meta Knight-esque in just how blindingly quick it is: Despite coming out on Frame 5, this attack has only FAF 27, with the downside being only a SINGLE active frame (just like Meta Knight) and incredibly low damage at 3.5%. Knockback is very small and thus this attack is a laddering and combo tool. While Onion Knight lacks the multiple jumps of his spaniard comparison, he can still get a lot of uses out of it via platforms and has high enough speed and jumps to abuse it well enough. Up Special is a true combo ended and if he gets close to the opponent he could potentially go for a Forward Aerial finisher. The nature of their hitbox angles and speeds means that it is impossible to Mystic Fencer Up Aerial into Forward Aerial, though. This IS one of OK's fastest options out of a Mystic Fencer in the entire set, so if the opponent is in the right spot after a magical blow it can be used as general damage filler or to begin a laddering juggle. Note that the one frame means this attack can't really catch out air dodges, like, at all and that the timing is veeeery strict.

Grab Game​

NAME: Layer Peel
INPUT: Grab
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Low
Description: "A quick grapple that ignores defense."​

Onion Knight's grab is about as simple as can be, a very fast swipe of Onion Knight's hands that grabs opponent's in front of him. This grab is extremely fast, but the range is extremely short, one of the smallest in the game. This means that Onion Knight has to use his fast aggression to really get in with his grab, and that the very low range makes Mystic Fencering into it very difficult. Note that Onion Knight cannot use Mystic Fencer with his throws, which would be...silly.

NAME: M-Blast
INPUT: Pummel
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Low
Description: "A quick blast of weak, but fast magic."​

Onion Knight quickly blasts the opponent in the face with magic for a fast, 1% damage pummel. Aesthetically, the magic blast is the same elemental type as the last Crystal he used, but barring outside set interaction this is purely aesthetic.

NAME: Triple Cut
INPUT: Down-Thrw
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Low
E-LAG: Med
Description: "A trio of fast slashes that are enhanced by shurikens."​

Onion Knight runs his sword through the foe for 3% damage, then dashes back extremely quickly to slash them again for another 3% damage, and finally finishes by leaping up and stabbing down on the opponent from above for a final 3% damage! The knockback at the end is upwards plus behind Onion Knight's starting direction slightly and modest, with the ending lag of this attack being a bit too high for Onion Knight to actively combo out of. This makes it a bit of an awkward throw to use as a baseline, but it is a decent kinda spacer at lower percents. If he has it available, Aero can be an effective option to chase down foes aerially from this.

Where this attack shines is with Onion Knight's Shurikens, as you might recall that Onion Knight grabs them off of opponents whenever he strikes them with a melee attack! Onion Knight will not only grab a shuriken off an opponent with each strike, but toss it when he slashes a foe. So if Onion Knight started with a shuriken from grabbing the foe, he will throw it as he slashes the foe, then if another is on the foe he will grab it from that and toss it at them before doing the second slash, and then for the final one he will crash down on the opponent and then toss the shuriken at them as they fly away! The shuriken auto-aims at the opponent after the sword crash, so it cannot be effectively DI'd from. After around 170% though, DIing away will allow the opponent to escape by going outside of the shuriken's range. This not only adds a maximum of 12% damage to the throw to increase it to a sizable 21%, but the added hitstun from the shuriken allows Onion Knight to lead into a fast aerial like Neutral Aerial or a properly reversed Back Aerial, which can be a good kill confirm. But since Onion Knight always tosses the shurikens sequentially you will need 3 shurikens to get this effect off so it isn't very casual.

NAME: G-Lift
INPUT: Up-Thrw
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: Med
E-LAG: Low
Description: "Lifts the opponent with gravity, then slams them against the ground."​

A simple yet strong attack for O.K., Onion Knight lifts the opponent upwards with a Gravity spell, then slams them against the ground to make them bounce upwards and slightly away. Visually, it is similar to Palutena's Down Throw. This is a very weak throw by itself, dealing 3% damage, but the combination of good base knockback with low knockback growth, solid hitstun, somewhat shallow diagonal angle and Onion Knight's general speed and attack speed makes it his premiere combo throw that primary functions at low and mid percents. Drag down Neutral Aerial or RAR'd Back Aerial are a pair of common options, while Up Tilt to MF'd Down Tilt leads to longer aerial combos but stays true for less time. You can freestyle a Forward Tilt (maybe with a Thunder-elemental tipper?), a Down Aerial, you get the idea, in order to make some more experimental combos to confuse enemy DI or put them somewhere else on stage. Scales too hard for Onion Knight to get kill confirm combos off of it, making it largely useless at high damage percents, but I mean it's a combo throw that's more than acceptable.

NAME: Double Kick
INPUT: Frwd-Thrw
TYPE: MELEE
S-LAG: Very Low
E-LAG: Low
Description: "Powerfully kicks the opponent twice, dealing large damage."​

A throw with a very quick action, Onion Knight very quickly hops onto the foe and kicks them twice, flipping back to the ground as they get sent flying. This deals two hits of 7% damage for 14% total, the highest unless shurikens are placed on the foe for Down Throw, and large base low growth knockback that essentially serves as a hard neutral reset at any percent. The angle is a bit high, so it isn't all that effective for edgeguarding. While Onion Knight doesn't benefit the most from such a hard neutral reset, it can absolutely be useful in some scenarios. For example, maybe Onion Knight wants a Crystal to come off cooldown, or his opponent is bad at dealing with projectiles so getting into range to use Forward Smash, a Fire crystal or so on has heightened value. It also is VERY fast and nearly impossible to DI, while this doesn't allow him to combo off of it this nonetheless can be useful. For example an opponent DIing down tends to put themselves a good deal lower if punted offstage, or if DIing up to try and escape an Up Throw combo it can place them on a platform with a harder fall. Overall it is a simple damage and spacer throw with a touch of extra juice.

NAME: E-Flip
INPUT: Back-Thrw
TYPE: MAGIC
S-LAG: Very Low
E-LAG: Low-Med
Description: "Flips backwards with the opponent while launching them with Crystal ower."​

The final move in Onion Knight's set and it is one final one that is Crystal dependent! Without any Crystal usage, Onion Knight simply flips back and uses a blast of magic to send the opponent flying. This deals 7% damage, mediocre knockback, and is generally just not useful compared to his other throws unless he has used a Crystal to access the different versions. One note about all variants of Back Throw is that they all have a fast starting animation, so like with Forward Throw they are rather difficult to DI. The animation is Toon Link-esque, if Toon Link blasted the opponent away with magic rather than kicking them.

As for the crystal attacks themselves, Wind is a very straightforward one as it absolutely launches the opponent away from Onion Knight! This gives him his one and only KO Throw, with unchanged damage but killing as early as Toon Link's Back Throw (which is Pretty Good!). Given Onion Knight's struggles with killing, having this limited acess kill throw is honestly quite useful. It also has a little quirk in that the blast of wind creates a rather powerful windbox behind Onion Knight when he launches the foe away! This cannot affect the opponent that was thrown, but it does allow Onion Knight to very bizarrely push enemies away from him in 2v2s or FFAs, or to edgeguard them while throwing the next opponent in line off! A fun little extra additive to the killing power.

Next up is the Fire attack, where the opponent is wrapped up in flames as they fly away. As their hitstun is close to ending, the fire on them explodes for 5% damage! This knockback rebounds opponents back towards Onion Knight, but diagonally higher in the air in a way that prevents him from comboing it despite his fast speed. This is very adepted for setting up Up Aerial chains on stages with platforms like Battlefield, and generally putting people into landing catch situations which Onion Knight does enjoy with their speed and Up Tilt combos. The extra 5% damage ain't anything to sneeze at, either!

Thunder is aggressively straightforward, causing them to visibly shock as they fly in a painful manner! This adds 9% damage and plenty of hitstun to the attack, but has nothing else special about it. This gives Onion Knight a situationally more powerful damage throw than Forward Throw, but with much less work to be done than the stronger Down Throw, and the hitstun means Onion Knight can follow in more of a shorthop or grounded way than Fire. Not as useful outside of the additional damage at higher percents.

And finally we have the Ice crystal variant! This does not deal more damage, but it instead lowers the opponent's knockback angle to be rather low to the ground and forces a tech situation at almost any percent. Their bodies also look visibly frosted over as they fly. If the opponent techs, or regains control to avoid the tech situation before it happens, then the frost melts away harmlessly. However if they MISS their tech, the ice freezes over on them for a moment as they land! This adds 8 frames before the opponent can select any getup options, with the ice shattering after that brief moment. This can allow Onion Knight to start a fast combo on them with low hitting attack at low percents, and can also lead to Onion Knight getting big punishes with easier predictions on their roll if he wants a less true option! Or at mid and higher percents, when the foe is likely too far away. Gravity is a particularly powerful tech chase option since it will knock them back towards Onion Knight for damage racking, and Down Smash is a wide coverage option. Quake is potent here, as the 8 frames make timing a roll through its shockwaves much more difficult, and wild panic rolling with the different timing is a potential path to striking with the awesome third hit of it! You get the jist.

 

[Arctic Tern]

CRAMORANT (Turtles)

Now, for the somewhat inevitable Turtles Pokeset! Cramorant is one of the goofier Pokemon, with an obvious hook in his Gulping Form, so naturally that’s the centerpiece. Instead of being just a few Pokemon, however, there’s actually a good variety of water-based Pokemon (and Pikachu), spawned through several moves that spawn water based on RNG. I like Gulp Missile a lot, especially the ability to redirect it with Cramorant’s Specials. Speaking of, I also appreciate the interactions between his other moves and his Specials, something I wouldn’t really expect from Turtles.

Aside from that, there wasn’t really anything to “hook” me onto the set. I did like the interplay between having Gulping Form and losing a lot of Cramorant’s defensive options, and the grab’s ability to lead into his traps was also nice. I also appreciate the moves based on real life cormorant behaviors, especially the DAir with the ability to cancel into DSmash. There’s a lot of little things I like, but no real big thing, hence why it’s lower in my rankings than other sets.

HAT KID (Slavic)

Hat Kid is, fittingly for a collectathon protagonist, based on mobility first and foremost. And hats. Hat Kid is capable of reducing the startup and altering the properties of some of her moves if she’s wearing the right hat for it, a time honored MYM staple. This is less of a focus of the set, however, and more just a way to make her mobility-based mixups more threatening. Mobility is something I don’t really think is really touched upon in MYM, but I am fond of how much Hat Kid commits, with moves that drastically alter her fall speed and the ability to cancel the SSpec dive into a move if timed perfectly.

The melee itself focuses a lot more on follow-ups and conditioning than most of Slavic’s other fare; my personal favorite is using the tether grab to get one in on foes shielding her approach, since a lot of her moves struggle on them. Grab itself was a notable highlight, with the buffs provided allowing Hat Kid to spawn blocks to turn a spacer into a combo and make a projectile throw easier to land. Everything else hits the “solid but unremarkable” tier, though I do have to give shoutouts to the BAir knife move. Still, I like the mindgames enough that Hat Kid ranks higher on my list than it otherwise would be.

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[GolisoPower]

The Canine Was Indeed Quite Peeved
Mad Dog by U UserShadow7989

And with that, the main cast of the Wild West chapter is finally here in a single contest! Mad Dog possesses a lot of good stage control and defense with his many traps, and good spacing with his own gunplay. I really like his Down Special; it really replicates the major aspect of the chapter, that being setting up traps to defend your own space. The traps also have their own unique little roles to cover as well; Bottled Fire being the D.o.T. stage control patch, Rope being a brief disruption trap, Pitfall being the combo set-up trap and Dynamite being your kill trap. I love the niches they all carve for Mad Dog and his defensive stratagem that surprisingly bounces well off of Tern's Sundown Kid set. The other Specials seem very true to his character as well: from Sidewinder being a variable-aiming Special that's good at some decent burst damage but with the main draw of being fired at any point and rewarding pinpoint accuracy in a radius and Ride the Lightning being the aimable stun Special that serves as a good alternative set-up if you're not confident in luring them into your Pitfall trap. Goldie is a nice touch on his character, being the brief mount that we get to see as the perfect recovery. I kind of wish there's a chance that Goldie is replaced with O. Dio in some uses like with the butterfly bomb in Snake's Down Special, but that's just me.

Mad Dog seems to really shine everywhere else, too: interesting that D-tilt hits on both sides of him, giving him some good defense against cross-ups and serving as a good OoS option against moves like Fox's Side Special and the like. Side Smash giving him backward momentum while charging is a fun little mechanic that has extreme disrespect potential. Imagine somebody tries to D-air you with a stall-and-fall but misses because you were charging Side Smash and gets a bullet to the face for their troubles. That sounds devious and I love it.

Overall, a strong contender in this JamCon! Good to see Wild West complete!

 

[Kholdstare]

Onion Knight
This was a treat! My appreciation of the character and source material should go without saying. I’m glad you decided to not go with job-changing to Sage and Ninja as that’s a thing he can do in Dissidia IIRC, as keeping with just the Onion Knight gives him a proper sense of identity. I liked the blend of Dissidia and taking inspiration from FF3 with the crystals, and for the most part the moveset is similar to what I would have done for him, meaning I don’t have the usual suggestions of “I would have done this instead of…”.

Making Mystic Fencer and the elemental crystals the two focal points for the moveset to play with and give you some direction beyond just swordfighter with magic was very clever. While the competitive ins-and-outs of comboing with Mystic Fencer are lost on me, I trust that the combos work as you say they do and it’s very cool to imagine Onion Knight chaining together these small burst combos. Sheik is a really apt comparison you bring up a lot. I did personally prefer the moves that make use of the elemental crystals changing the move properties, as you get more juice for your input squeeze and it gives the moveset a very modal toolbox feel.

The “RPG menu”-style headers were a nice touch to spruce up your typically bare Smashboards presentation - I assume the presentation on Hakumen was n88’s doing, no offense - and a nice blend of the FF3 part of the Onion Knight. In particular, the names being abbreviated with dashes in them.

The moveset’s mobility perfectly emulates the Onion Knight’s personality, allowing the player to express the character through natural play. I feel like through this more aggressive take on the same type of character Sora and Hero are the player will connect with Onion Knight and give the players who have a strong affinity for their main something to be happy about. Just as we call out when a moveset’s playstyle is contrary to its character so should we give kudos when a moveset’s playstyle and characterization perfectly align through non-contrived means.

I hope you don’t mind me not having much to say about the moveset even though I enjoyed it. It was a brisk and enjoyable read with little to no confusion. As an Onion Knight fan you’ve got my seal of approval for doing the character justice, I’m really glad you finished this moveset (I think you previewed what ideas you had for him to me ages ago?) and that he exists now.

 

[tunz]

It's about damn time for my Make Your Move debut! With well over 1000 hours in one of my favorite games; Overwatch,
and probably around 300 of them on a single character, I had no choice but to pick this for my very first moveset.

So without further ado,
IT'S ROADHOG TIME.​

 

[Arctic Tern]

ONION KNIGHT (Froy)

Final Fantasy is a series that really needs more modern sets IMO so seeing Froy’s old Onion Knight set completed this contest was certainly a treat! Onion’s main gimmick is the ability to cancel his melee attacks into magic based attacks and vice-versa, which gets a good bit of milage; probably my favorite is using FSmash’s inward knockback to set up for combos after launching the foe with a melee move. Another gimmick the set has is having some attacks change properties depending on what variation of NSpec (which uses the four crystals) is used, which get some fun ideas such as delaying prone responses or creating time bombs. The rest of Onion Knight is fairly standard Froy fare, focused on a lightweight combo character who can’t KO, but executed strongly enough that I can’t really complain. I did feel the set was kinda overpowered but that’s probably due to most MYM sets having more obvious downsides and me not actually playing Smash that often.

ROADHOG (tunz)

Ah, more newcomers!

Roadhog is a clear HMA, so it’s clear you share the same tastes as a lot of other prominent setmakers. His abilities seem to be fairly good translations of what they’re like in Overwatch from what I can recall; I particularly like the implementation of his hook ability, essentially giving it a separate grab game of its own!

There are some criticisms I have of the set, beyond standard newcomer set stuff - namely, I don’t really see a lot of “flow”. Flow is kind of a hard term to define in MYM terms but essentially it’s how well the set’s attacks fit into the overarching aim of the set. Roadhog has a USmash that automatically prone foes hit by it, plus a DSmash that is stated to be a roll counter and a strong but slow BAir, so there seems to be set up for a prone-focused set. Despite that, the USmash is the only move stated to have these properties, and that’s nowhere near the most practical input for the job. Personally I’d make DTilt serve as the more conventional proning tool, maybe a sideways swipe from Roadhog’s position, with the downside of the options he gets from this state not being as powerful as ones from USmash.

I’m not saying this set is bad, mind you; just that it’s severely lacking in detail, and admittedly I am cutting you a bit of slack since you’re clearly very new. If you want to see what a more detailed set looks like, I’d recommend looking at Nephenee or most of UserShadow’s Jamcon sets (except Miracle Matter, that’s kinda complicated). I’m technically a newcomer myself, so this may come as a bit patronizing, but I am absolutely the exception when it comes to what most newcomers are like so I feel I can give advice to others. You don’t have to make sets to reach the Top 50, either; it’s perfectly fine for you to just drop some sets you made for fun, they make neat diversions from the goliaths we often get in MYM.

Roadhog, overall, was a pretty neat experience, and we do like new blood around here. Stay around for a bit longer and you’ll like what you find.

BENDER (Owen)

Welcome to MYM, Owen!

I’m going to be brief here, mostly because a lot of what I said for Roadhog above applies to Bender as well. I would rank it as “worse” relative to Roadhog, mainly because there’s a lack of detail in most of his moves, but this set was not made to compete in any capacity. Bender reminds me a lot of the MYM 1-3 era sets, in that it’s less about properly representing a character and more of “hey wouldn’t this person be cool in Smash?” There’s even fraction based statistics, which haven’t been in serious sets in 10 MYM contests! Overall, a neat flash to the past, somewhat ironic considering Bender’s series of origin.

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[Owen23]

So, it's time for my MYM debut! With one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite cartoons!

Bite my shiny metal ass!

Bender
​

Bender is a bending unit who works at Planet Express as Assistant Manager of Sales and one of the main characters in Futurama. He is often mean and disrespectful to other people's feelings, He is also arrogant and he loves smoking, drinking, and stealing. However, he is also capable for caring with others, and is friends with Fry and Leela. He also has some relationships with female robots too, as seen in some episodes.

He has some abelites like stretching his arms, breathing fire when he burps, and bending girders, even to bend an unbendable girder in the episode "Bendless Love". He also can remove part's of his body, can survive in lava, and he is still a cool robot. With his wisecracking personality and being one of the most popular characters from Futurama, Bender is a great-lovable robot.

Statistics​

Size: As big as Snake, R.O.B, and Banjo & Kazooie
Weight: 75/100
Fall Speed: 38/100
Walk Speed: 45/100
Run Speed: 70/100
Jumps: 1

Specials​

Neutral B - Arm Extend
Bender will extend his arm, making a punch like motion. With this special move, Bender can do knockback by doing this move as far as how far the arm extends, however, if you use this move too much, his arm will extend shorter. This jab will deal 20% damage, but at the arm's shortest, it will only deal about 6 - 10% damage.

Side B - Fire Burp
Bender will burp out fire out of his mouth, causing opponents to be burnt by his breath. Bender's fire breath will last for 1 second before cooldown when using this move. The breath will do 15% damage to the opponents. But sometimes it will do a chance of 22% damage.

Up B - U.F.B
Bender will transform into his U.F.O form from the episode "Roswell That Ends Well.", During this move, Bender's jumps get floatier, but his fall-speed will be faster, As Bender launches himself in his U.F.O form, it will deal 13% damage.

Down B - Bottle Break
Bender will grab out a glass bottle of beer, and will throw it at a distance, if the bottle hits an opponent or the ground, it will break and will cause 16% damage.

Standard Attacks​

Jab - Bender will do a simple jab, followed by two more jabs. The first jab deals 4% damage, the next two do 7% damage.
Dash Attack - Bender does a body slam that deals 11% damage.
Forward Tilt - Bender does a simple kick, dealing 6% damage.
Down Tilt - Bender will do a sweeping kick that causes 12% damage.
Up Tilt - Bender does an uppercut that will do 10% damage.

Aerials​

Neutral Air - Bender swipes his arm, causing 8% damage.
Forward Air - Bender will do a double jab that deals 10% damage.
Back Air - Bender does a back kick that will do 13% damage.
Up Air - Bender will use a pointy girder, with the girders pointy side, it does 11% damage.

Grabs​

Grab - Bender will grab the opponent, holding their body, and do a jab that deals 9% damage.
Pummel - Bender will hold the opponent, and slam them down, causing 15% damage.
Forward Throw - Bender will throw the opponent by his hand, dealing 11% damage.
Back Throw - Bender throws the opponent behind in a "Nah, this won't do." type fashion that deals 7% damage.
Down Throw - Bender will grab the opponent like it's a girder, only for him to do a slamming attack that has 18% damage.
Up Throw - Bender will grab the opponent and throw it up, sending 12% damage to the opponent.

Smashes​

Forward Smash - Bender stretches both of his arms, causing 15% damage.
Down Smash - Bender slams down, with his shiny metal ass first. Dealing 13% damage.
Up Smash - Bender grabs a money-bag out of his storage and does an upper throw with it that deals 18% damage.

Final Smash ​

Final Smash - The Honking
A quick cutscene activates during this Final Smash, during the cutscene, Bender will turn into his werecar form as seen in the episode "The Honking.", he'll then start up and runs the opponents over, doing about 20% - 40% damage As the opponents transport back to the stage, they're sent flying off.

Extra Stuff​

Up Taunt - Bender laughs for a little bit.
Side Taunt - Bender points at his shiny metal ass, as he says his catchphrase "Bite my shiny metal ass!".
Down Taunt - Bender dances while saying "Bender is great!"
Entrance - Bender enters out of a futuristic door before getting ready to battle.
Victory Pose #1 - Bender says "Shut up baby, I know it!" while pointing at himself, then does an arms crossed pose.
Victory Pose #2 - Bender raises a fist and says "I'm the greatest robot ever, meatbag!"
Victory Pose #3 - Bender smokes a cigar, and then finishes it.
Victory Theme - A remix of the Futurama theme plays, with a "WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF TOMMOROW!" heard at the start too.
Loss Pose - Bender claps sarcastically.

"Into the the breach, meatbags. Or not, eh, whatever."
​

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Bender

Welcome to MYM, Owen! Very unique choice for your first character - I believe Robot Santa from MYM4 is the only other character we have gotten from this franchise in our entire history. We had some fun talking about Bender would interact with some of the other characters posted this contest in our Discord channel - you’re more than welcome to join if you’re interested in hearing what we said.

In an era where we use in-game units from Ultimate Frame Data or compare to existing Smash characters to measure our set’s stats, it’s fascinating to see a set use the old X/10 measuring unit that we used to use in old MYM. Is actually pretty fitting that it’s on a character like Bender, given the time-based nature of his series.

First advice would be to add some extra details to your moves. Starting lag, end lag, and the knockback strength and angle on moves. How Bender is meant to play as a character, which could be as simple as throwing out a few sentences at the start or end of the set. Bender is a jerk character-wise: I could see his ranged Neutral Special, long duration Side Special and projectile Down Special all being used as annoying tools to disrespect your opponents, but the cooldowns on Neutral and Side Special mean that you can’t overuse them or you’ll get punished.

I’d also be interested in how far all of Bender’s Specials reach - if you’re comfortable on giving accurate measurements like grids (training mode units), you could always compare the reach to existing Smash attacks. If you can, list applications on moves: like whether they’re used for comboing, poking, KO’ing and so. It’s hard to get an idea of what each of his moves are supposed to do with just an animation and damage value.

Also, the moveset is missing a Down Air, but it would be easy-peasy to edit that in. Could be fun if Bender thrust his beloved butt at his opponent, but the attack’s poor reach made it susceptible to being outreached. In essence, a challenge to opponents to strike Bender’s rear end, staying true to his catchphrase.

Interested in seeing what you do next with a first character choice like this!

 

[tunz]

Commenting my thoughts on the Heavy set by wizfoot
A nice, non-confusing read with interesting moves! I'm very partial to a bit of heavyweight action and The Heavy delivers both powerful moves and beefy survivability. I thought the Down Taunt was very creative and fun as well.

A big thing that really makes me smile about this is the pure amount of information you've included. Stuff like the spirits and music, all the way down to miniscule details like idle animations. In fact, you've inspired me to include these things in my own future sets!

Reading through this, I really got a sense of how Heavy would feel to use. Much of that is thanks to the many attacks that take an entire second or more to finish. It really gives him that superheavy feel of slow but powerful attacks. I'm also of the opinion that you use comparisons to already existing fighters' moves expertly, like Ganondorf down air and Wario back air.

I do, however, have a couple of things to criticize. This doesn't relate to the actual moveset, but the formatting is a bit wonky at times. By that, I mean that every now and then, we'll end up with only half a page filled because a gif couldn't fit, and it feels a bit empty at times. This is really no big deal, but just something I picked up on here and there.
The bigger criticism though, is that some of Heavy's moves are kind of jarring to me. Now, I'm not extremely familiar with the character or the TF2 universe, but when someone grabs enemies by the collar with an evil smile on their face, only to throw a sandvich-plate at them or hit them with an excersice move, it gives two very different vibes that don't mesh well in my head.

But overall, probably the best take on a Heavy moveset out of the few I've seen.

 

[tunz]

Commenting on Quaxly by WeirdChillFever
Forgive me for making this a compliment sandwhich, but let's start with what I like specifically and I'll talk more generally at the end.

Down Special is an insanely complicated ability, but in my opinion, you did a more than passable job at balancing it! This would definetly be a character you'd need matchup knowledge to beat. I like how Down B interacts with so many of the other moves, it really feels well thought out.
The aerials having this through-line of being swimming moves is nice. I specifically like the down air, Dive. I like the fact that you can use it as a high risk high reward recovery mix-up. And I really like how Quaxly gradually speeds up during the dive. But I do think it would make more sense for Quaxly to go straight down instead of diagonal.
The names for Down Special, Down Tilt and Down Throw are funny.

Some things I don't like:
The word "down" is used extremely often, especially in the Down Special segment. Almost to the point that I had to restart certain sentences to grasp what they meant. That might be a me-thing, though.
I feel like more pictures to illustrate what you want the moves to look like would help a lot, espeically for Quaxly's aerials. This could also simplify the writing process, as you don't need to explain as many weird movements and concepts.
It's mentioned multiple times that Quaxly does this and that becuase he's an experienced sailor. Wouldn't it make more sense that Quaxly isn't an experienced sailor due to the fact that he's still unevolved? This is really a minor thing, and doesn't impact the moveset at all really, but something I thought of.
The biggest thing that drags this the farthest down (although, still not THAT far down) is the complete lack of any extra details. No final smash, taunts, victory screens or anything of the sort. The only thing you included that isn't required is the picture of the character.

But overall still a pleasent read and a well made and thought out set.

 

[tunz]

A comment on Blastoise by Arctic Tern
As you may or may not know, I am a Bowser main. The fact that Blastoise is very similar to Bowser physically made me excited right from the start. And boy did you deliver! Not only does it have many similar moves to Bowser but with their own little twists (I especially like the Up B reflector), but the character has that signature superheavyweight feel to it.

This moveset was clearly very thought out and you obviously explored every possibility in your mind during the writing process. I was genuienly confused as to how you were able to go into such detail and say with certainty how things like this would work.
The puddle mechanic is fun and complicated, clearly very technical. And the fact that it's on a non fully charged move makes it even more unique.
The concept of a set-up/trap based superheavy is pretty interesting.
One of Blastoise's strongest attributes is its potential for punishing with hard reads. And as we all know, read-based fighters are objectively awesome.
I also fell in love with Blastoise's Final Smash as soon as I saw what it was. Well done.

Now, onto some slight criticisms. I saw that you had changed the Back Throw paragraph to be more clear, but it still left me confused as to exactly what's happening. More pictures or gifs could help with this.
Your extremely long-winded explanations, although necessary, do drag on a bit from time to time.

But even so, it was an overall very enjoyable read! Good work!

 

[Katapultar]

10th MYM25 set.

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Roadhog

You’ve shown an exciting amount of zeal for MYM since your arrival a few days ago, which has gotten me very interested in what you’ll do. Right from the ideas you previewed, you seem to place an emphasis on realism, which is particularly apparent in the neat little descriptions on each of the stats.

I would have been okay with Roadhog’s gas mask making him immune to poison-based attacks if he were standing idle or so, but I echo everyone else when I say that making your opponent’s attacks stale quicker against you is cool. Not an easy mechanic to sell, but I could see it being useful to Roadhog given his heavyweight status: massively stale enemy attacks that combo into themselves (though this could also be used against Roadhog if staling freshens up the foe’s kill moves), or make projectiles or useful KO moves weaker on subsequent hits. The mechanic reminds me of the Pokemon ability Pressure. Given Roadhog’s staling mechanic is based on decreasing his enemies’ ultimate charge in his home series, maybe it would make more sense if that translated to Final Smash meter in Smash? Would be niche, but it would help Roadhog in casual matches given how easy he is to combo.

• Damage percents are definitely good to include if you’re confident in your numbers. If not, your start and attempt at reading sets should help with that!
• How far do Roadhog’s Specials go?
• Side Special is a fun little move. I assume that the forward throw being Roadhog’s best kill throw is within the context of Side Special itself, and not the entire set.
• I assume that “50% damage resistance” on Down Special cuts oncoming damage by half. How long does the super armour last? Does it tank any attack, or only a certain amount of damage or knockback? Some moves or mechanics in Smash (and Make Your Move) resist a certain amount of damage or knockback, a good example of the latter being Bowser’s Tough Guy mechanic.
• U-Smash’s vertical hit and follow-up potential is a neat little move.
• I like that N-air is self-conscious about the fact that it’s a one-hit move despite looking like a multi-hit move, and how it can only hit foes once.
• Ranged D-airs are cool moves.
• Might be good to space longer paragraphs in your sets, to make it easier on readers. Mainly the set’s intro, and splitting up the taunts and victory animations. I’ve been guilty of walls-of-text in the past, too.

I agree with Tern that various details are missing: for instance, how far Up B goes, its lag, whether Roadhog goes into helpless, and maybe the size of the scrap hitbox and its duration. These lack of details make it difficult to understand what could be an otherwise fun move. But this is your first set, and I’m glad to see that you already have basic applications thrown down in many of your moves - that helps to flesh out the set a bit. Showing how the moves would work together (combos, mix-ups) would be a next step, but that’s a bit more advanced. Reading and commenting sets will certainly help you learn, so you can only get better from here. Nice work here!

 

[SaltySuicune]

Huh!? Seems like Ursaring is evolving!

 

[GolisoPower]

Had Despacito At The Ready
King of Sorrow by FrozenRoy

Okay, look, MYM has gotten me into a lot of fun stuff: Live A Live, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Fate/Grand Order, there's been a lot that I've become drawn to because of this contest. So goddammit if you guys didn't make me want to play Klonoa!

Already it hits me with an absolute dopamine generator with Neutral Special. I like how it's a counter Special that primes you for an omnidirectional burst movement Special that multiplies the damage he would've taken for some ridiculous stuff. Incineroar mains are sweating because they're gonna take 518.4% damage after having their Revenge Side Smash countered with this move. That kind of added mechanical complexity to Neutral Special gives him such ridiculous counterplay it's not even funny. Your describing his Grab and Forward Smash while describing his Side Special is making me kind of confident about me putting Nightmare's Dash Attack before his entire kit if I get around to him in the future. Anyways, Side Special is a fun minion summoning Special that allows King of Sorrow to control the stage, whether it be just by existing, launching projectiles, crystallizing minions for hard-hitting items, or being a time bomb that gets stronger if you leave it out without it getting destroyed. There's a lot of options to be had with King of Sorrow because of those minions, and I am all for it. Up Special and Down Special are simple enough to understand, though I'd think the latter is more interesting because of the immediate space around King of Sorrow becoming a danger because of those lasers.

There's quite a bit to unpack with the rest of the set as well, uniquely taking advantage of his biology to fight as well as showcasing the power behind being a final boss. I like how Up Throw changes when you're storing a minion or item, it really gives King of Sorrow some extra versatility with his minions. I like how Neutral Aerial has suction so you could send opponents behind you and perhaps into that conveniently-placed minion you summoned earlier! I also like how D-air has a second input, it really adds another good spin on the "more than one input for an aerial" thing that Bayonetta and Sora have. I also especially love how Down Smash works. I could throw it out and make it look like it was a mistake, but then smack them down like a basketball on top of it and give King of Sorrow more leeway into a kill confirm! King of Sorrow is ****in' ballin'! In the end, you really put a lot of effort into this and I really enjoyed it! Excuse me for a moment while I wrestle with my urge to write for the next context and this new overwhelming urge to buy the Klonoa remakes for my Switch.

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Onion Knight

Nice, the Froy factory is in full production with the churning of stored sets. I remember the big Final Fantasy movement you attempted around MYM18-19. Having come off Hakumen, OK’s Up Special reminds me of his Up Special I - Ganondorf-style recovery you can use again if you hit - which on a lightweight who can chain them together has some nice appeal to me. The set is understandably more brisk than your usual fare, but not to the point of being unappealing.

Side Special of sticking items into your opponent to pluck out is fun, especially when I’m the guy who made a lot of ninja sets this contest! I could see you going into huge detail and depth on the shuriken’s usages in a more ambitious set, being an item and all. Maybe we’ll get the Katian Froy ninja from you in the future? Down Special’s Raikou-style “this move changes based on our last-used move” is nice too. The actual mechanics behind OK’s counter is quite neat, punishing stronger moves instead of weaker ones, kind of reminds me of my Izuna set and Master Xehanort. Always cool when people get creative on counters.

The Smashes all make good use of the Mystic Fencer mechanic and OK’s comboing nature, too, and U-Smash packs together some of your funky elemental U-Smashes like those from Hubert and Rufus. The melee is all solid, and gets particularly cool with the F-tilt that get stronger the more NSpec attacks you have on cooldown! F-air and B-throw are nice too.

Overall, I enjoyed Onion Knight a fair bit more than I was expecting. Being more simple that he could be means that he is not quite up with the great tier for me, but a bunch of fun little stuff elevated him nicely for me. Nice work here Froy - reviving this old set you had lying around since MYM18 paid off.

 

[Arctic Tern]

THE MIDORI GANG (Kat)

Imagine making a full moveset for characters you don’t even know the name of from a series that hasn’t been released overseas solely to serve as rivals to characters in a hypothetical story mode for a forum thread only seen by a few thousand people at most. I made Naoto for pretty much the same reason though, so I’m definitely one to talk.

The initial concept didn’t stick out to me at first, but as I read on I realized that this may be the closest we’ll get to making a modern Hugo set. The Midori Gang have most of their inputs split across each member, with some attacks changing depending on which member is in the lead. While I’m a bit unsure about how this would feel to play, there’s still plenty of desync shenanigans to be had, such as using Ama’s pool trap as an attack storage tool or hitting foes into Midori’s flame. I particularly like the risk involved in switching characters, since if you go for the more rewarding characters you either get a very light character or a very big and comboable character as your main body. There’s a lot more to say, but I am not feeling up to the task of detailed comments right now so I’ll just say I like it.

URSALUNA (Salty)

Ursaluna is a standard heavyweight fighter by most regards, slow but strong. There’s decent use of his body type and powerset, with the use of mud on UAir sticking out. That being said, I generally do not have much to say that I have not already said about your other sets, other than that you don’t specify what Oran and Sitrus Berries do in DSpec (I assume they work similarly to how they work in Pokemon, but clarification is always helpful).

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[GolisoPower]

Very Cordyceps-y Here!
Apothecary Gary by Torgo the Bear

A short and simple read, and a second set from you this contest! It has a pretty fun mechanic with the spores reducing speed slowly, and commanding an army because of it. The depth of what the spores can control is really surprising, being able to steal other characters' Assist Trophies, and even other minions, too. Every minion set in this contest is sweating bullets having to face this dude lol. The whole of the set revolves around the gameplan of keeping them as low speed as possible, and I can commend that. I would encourage you to complete the set as far as some moves go, but I can understand if you have some things in your life holding you back at the moment. At the moment, this shows a lot of promise as is, and I can only encourage you to expand on what's already a good set framework here.

Okay, so because I'm evenly split between Alcohol Witch Daniella and King of Sorrow here, I'm going to spin the wheel to decide my choice...

OKAY, THEN, KING OF SORROW GETS THE NOMINATION!

 

[Torgo the Bear]

Well, everyone… it looks like the contest is nearing its end. We’ve had lots of incredible submissions, a fair number of really cool newcomers, and a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see how all the voting goes, and- hey, wait, what’s this? How the hell did you get in here? Wait, w-what are you…

…

…

It is my pleasure to inform you that a new moveset has entered the ring.

 

[tunz]

My thoughts on the Whitebeard set by Rychu and FrozenRoy

Negatives first:
-Every now and then, there were a few grammar mistakes or typos, but definitely not enough to take me out of the experience. Not a big deal at all, but something I felt I should point out.
-When reading, I felt a bit of information overload on some of the moves, not being quite able to imagine what certain things would look like. This may be on me though, as I am still new and not used to the way you guys write your sets.

Now, onto the positives, which there are way more of:
-I love me some classic HMA action, so bonus points for that.
-A combination of auto-turnaround and tough guy is bold and badass.
-The fact that Neutral B spikes offstage is hype as **** and I'd go for it every time.
-I like a good command grab, which you definitely delivered on with Side B.
-I like burying moves, which Whitebeard has a plethora of, along with the Down Smash effect on buried opponents which I love.
-Dash Attack seemed like a weird pick for a move with multiple exclusive extensions/follow-ups, but you guys made it work very well!
-Off-stage Up B literally disassembling the very stage you're fighting on is raw as ****.
-The whole idea of being able to cancel Whitebeard's end-lag by destroying the gound he stands on is neat and rewards skill from the player, which is always good.
-You even gave the damn pummel a unique effect. Wow. Just wow.
-The stage hazards are all entertaining and were very fun to read through.
-Love the loss screen. It is a spoiler, but I wasn't gonna watch One Piece anyways, so I just think it's incredibly funny.

Overall a pretty damn fun set to read! One of my favorites so far! Good work on this one guys!

 

[bubbyboytoo]

Imagine, if you will, a scene from the MYM25 Story Mode. Whitebeard's ragtag crew is in trouble at sea- a horde of Shroob battleships has them surrounded, and the Moby **** isn't built for sea-to-air combat; if it doesn't get blasted apart, the unnaturally turbulent waters will surely send our heroes to a watery grave regardless. Even with the power of the Gura-Gura Fruit, the captain can only destroy one ship at a time, and it takes quite a bit out of him each time. Everyone is bracing for the worst... and suddenly it seems to get even worse as a massive shadow blots out the sun, something huge crashing into the ocean behind them and kicking up a massive wave.

Yet somehow, when the panic has passed, the Moby **** is in one piece, if slightly askew- leaning over the edge, they see a huge tanned arm, trailing up and connecting to an impressive body with a beaming face on top, two long trails of creamy blonde hair framing their savior. The titanic woman is standing knee-deep in the ocean like it's a swimming pool, holding the ship comfortably in one hand.

"Sorry for the scare! Had to get in without those guys noticing or there'd've been even more of a ruckus." She vaguely gestures to the equally bewildered invading fleet hovering above with a jerk of her head. "Actually- uh oh, I don't think they're done yet!"

Indeed, every one of the horde of UFOs had deployed a laser cannon, glowing with energy and pointed directly at the gargantuan guardian angel. Acting on reflex with only a moment to spare, she turns her back to the Shroobs and huddles protectively over the Moby ****, almost pressing it into her chest as they open fire- the crew can only see a green glow illuminating the waters around them, and everything is still save for the droning blare of a hundred simultaneous energy beams for a few tense seconds.

But then it stops, the woman exhaling the breath she'd been holding and placing the ship gently back down in the water. Turning around to face the aliens, the crew can see a red mark on her bare back where the blasts had hit home; miraculously, she's completely intact, looking like nothing more than a bad sunburn. "Honestly! I thought they'd be open to negotiation, but..." She throws out her hands, and suddenly the fleet freezes in place, immobilized by a magenta glow around each and every ship.

"OI! I don't know what you think you're doing, little alien guys, but you're gonna have to cut it out!"

A single point of darkness appears in the middle of the captive horde.

"This is my favorite planet, you know. So many cute little critters, and fun people! There's nothing like it in the whole universe- and trust me, I've looked!"

The ships begin to float towards it, their anti-grav running at full-throttle to try and get away but to simply no effect.

"So I was out there, doing my thing, when all 'uv a sudden, I feel this weird rumble in space- centered on my Earth."

They begin to collide. Sparks fly, glass shatters, energies burst, metal crumples.

"I had to go see what's up, you know? And if this is how I'm welcomed, then I'll just have to PAY IT BACK! BUGGER OFF!"

She drops her stance, and a single chunk of malformed scrap drops unceremoniously into the ocean, sinking beneath the waves. She stares after it in silence for a moment, then turns with a cheery "Well, anyway!" as she reaches up and twists the pink spiral-like device sitting on top of her head. Suddenly, she begins to shrink down, floating slowly to the ship's deck with a similar magenta glow surrounding her body. She lands in front of the flabbergasted Whitebeard and his lackeys, bowing in a curtsy as she touches down; she's now only the size of a regular human woman, almost impossible to reconcile with the godly giantess who'd saved their bacon just moments before.

"How about it, mates? Or- would it be mateys, if you're pirates? Mind if I tag along for a few?"

... ... ... ... ...

"Oh! I never introduced myself, did I? Sorry, I got distracted! Okay, here..."



Tsukumo Sana, Speaker of Space in the Council, at your service!

(art source)​

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Ursaluna

Out first Legends: Arceus Pokeset, Ursaluna is a small step-up in details, with the Jab comparison to Bowser’s D-tilt and super armoured Dash Attack, which works nicely on big heavyweight Ursaluna. Pointing out that the regular moves have intangibility is nice, as it is a thing in Smash that doesn’t see a lot of in MYM. 13% might be a tad much for F-tilt if it’s fast and combos, whereas U-tilt deals 9% and is meatier - might be best to swap them.

11% is quite low for a meaty F-Smash, something like 20-24% at base would work, but I don’t mind the low damage if it was intentional on your part. When you say “grounded” in Up Smash, is that referring to leaving enemies in prone? Where they’re knocked down and have to get up?

(N-air is missing damage)

A few of the Aerials a kind of fun and unexpected for a bear that relies on brute strength. F-air as a hitbox that can be destroyed early, and D-air as a block that can act as a projectile. A bit strange flavour-wise, even if Ursaluna can manipulate peat moss, but is fine if the move is justified in Ursaluna’s playstyle. It’s good that the moves have some individual applications, like combing or preventing spikes like in U-air. Beyond that would be to detail how the moves work together, like what moves have to offer in neutral for instance? For instance, D-Smash being a shield-breaker could cover for Ursaluna’s attacks that are less safe on block.

As mentioned in the chat, I’d be fine with Ursaluna using Rock Climb, especially here in the set where it uses Heavy Slam. Maybe Up Special becomes Rock Climb if you hold up! A Dark Dive-style leap that can be used to climb the stage if you reach it. You did mention that Ursaluna shouldn’t have a great vertical recovery due to his heavy, grounded nature, but not being able to recover vertically would also be really difficult for him. Aside from his midair jump, but still.

Spoiler: Tsukumo Sana

The set to make Hololive a franchise, Sana is a return to your simplistic take on constructs. Create planet, shove it around with your specialised attacks. The bigger appeal for me here is the size-tweak, something I’ve been interested in seeing a serious take on for a while. I particularly like the giant weakness: how the RNG works, and the weakness’s placement giving opponents an incentive to commit to a high air assault.

The giant bonuses for shoving a big planet feel pretty balanced and satisfying too, as big Sana does her shove off the ground and thus can’t hit grounded opponents casually. Up Special is pretty neat; your more ambitious sets have some cooler melee-based recoveries, like Calliope and particularly Asbestos. I am more sold on Side Special’s placement in the set for pushing your constructs when it is not limited to your Neutral Special planets, and mentioning its use in Jab for giving Sana time to go big (or I could imagine getting charge time for Neutral Special or popping out an F-Smash).

F-Smash is a simple but satisfying projectile, which makes sense for the input given Sana’s Neutral Special and planetary pushing could be considered smash attacks on their own. D-Smash is a fun wee spammable groundbouncing attack. As I mentioned when previewing Sana, U-Smash’s varying knockback is neat, but the move (and what you said in response to me previewing) seems to imply that opponents are locked in place for the construct’s 2-4 seconds duration, as it mentions that you can push them around with Side Special or casually stab them with B-air’s sweetspot. Could foes DI out of the black hole hitbox? Or give a set limit to how long foes stay trapped, relative to whether you catch them at the start of the attack or while the black hole is a trap? Not a big deal-breaker, would be easy to fix this kind of thing. Other commenters might make better suggestions, but I won’t dock points for the way black hole is right now.

F-tilt is a cool little move that makes use of Sana’s size! U-tilt has a funny animation that makes great use of Sana’s personality and powerset. The move has a nice place in Sana’s set as a “only hits high, top-half invul” move that I was hoping to see to make use of Sana’s size-shifting. Glad to see that D-tilt uses what I suggested, a spacer when small and combo-starter when big. U-air is a neat aerial for its hard interaction, and feels like it would be a fun risk-reward melee to throw out while giant - bigger size, but you risk your limiter being struck. D-air has the opposite fun set-up. Size-shifting is explored in both a simple and satisfying way, and works quite well with Sana’s construct-based set.

Holding out your grab indefinitely is surprisingly MYM’ian, heh. Using your grab to grab your projectiles and constructs is not something I was entirely expecting - I see as being a big stickler for in-smashness, given the content of your sets, your comments and votelist from last contest. I don’t think your regular grab games are bad at all, but I’m glad to see you being more ambitious on Sana’s grab game by giving her two grab games - big one only hitting airborne foes, but being more rewarding. Small U-throw is the kind of throw I wanted with Sana making use of her planet, even if doesn’t do a lot (aside from fun follow-ups if you’re close to the planet). D-throw is neat by default for being a prone throw: my friend, there are plenty of characters with proning throws in MYM, I would hardly say there are a shortage of them. Big D-throw’s meteor effect against outside opponents is fun - a shame that Sana can’t use her throws on her own planets, lol.

Extras are fun too: the link to your stage doc, which has incredible effort put into it. Looking at the basis of Sana’s stage makes me wonder what you’d use for Baelz’s stage if you ever made a set for her (I know I’m interested in doing her, but still!). Kind of makes me want to resume work on stages if I can catch a breather. Anyway, wasn’t expecting fanart of a Kirby Sana hat. Fun that her classic mode takes advantage of another set’s item extra too in Hat Kid, which seems like a set you’d vibe to. Also love that your MYM classic mode scenarios take place on your own stages rather than Smash’s. Finally, the long Final Smash is a nice way to close the set before Sana’s final message. Very funly-written Final Smash that goes all out.

In the end, I came off Sana higher than I was expecting, enjoying every part of her moveset. I wouldn’t say she’s an absolute breakthrough of a set, but she’s definitely my favourite you’ve written as of now. Great work Bubby, was worth the wait!

 

[Katapultar]

"Hehe. Nope, not going to tell you. Solving the puzzle's the fun part!" ​

 

[tunz]

I wrote this with my buddy Jo at 1-3AM last night and I don't even remember half of it. Here, for anyone who wants to read this ridiculous joke moveset, is:

Bipples The Penguin Man

Bipples

*THIS IS A JOKE SET, I AM NOT CONCERNED ABOUT BALANCING OR MAKING SENSE IN THE SLIGHTEST* BIPPLES A penguin with the mind of a man. Has science gone too far? Josiah Howell was a Canadian man born January 2nd 1998. He was a woodcarver who liked to ride BMX, could juggle and had a mean throwing a...

docs.google.com

 

[BKupa666]

"I had a good GSP score until Sakurai added OP DLC!"

"I better call Saul!"

"I was out playing a free-for-all party game with items turned on, mindin' my own business..."

The competitive tryhard friend no one likes: "You are under arrest!"

"I better call Saul!"

"Hi, I'm Saul Goodman. Did you know that you have rights? The Smashboards Terms of Service say you do, and so do I."

"I believe that until proven guilty, every heavyweight male antagonist, Witchverse OC and Giganotosaurus in this contest is innocent."

"And that's why I fight for -you-, Make Your Move!"



[A BKupa666/Rychu joint production]

 

[OldManHan]

Seven months of work. A character that has no right in Smash. A being with such divine power, that she shatters the very fundamentals of the game, and breaks a new mold.

The Turbo Superheavyweight, Goddess Ilias. She has come to cast her divine judgment, and bestow her holy light upon the mortals of the Smash world. Will they worship her, or will she eliminate them as she has with humanity itself?

The Cunning Goddess of Light

Goddess Ilias The Cunning Goddess of Light --------------------------------------------------------------- Series: Monster Girl Quest! Many, many years ago, in a time man cannot comprehend, I created this world. A beautiful world, made up of the skies, the earth, the sea.. And my most beloved c...

docs.google.com

 

[WeirdChillFever]

Plan and Execution (Saul Goodman by BKupa666 and Rychu )

After Cranky came in with Chicanery, a whole lot of teasing and Irene Landry’s Mallwalkers single-handedly upheaving my setmaking philosophy (for three days), Saul was probably my most-anticipated set and here he is, just in time for the Emmy Awards!

Saul Goodman is, as the title of the comment proclaims, a set with a plan and an execution and both are stunning to see come together. If Rychu came up with the general idea of catching opponents in various lawbreaking activities in order to earn money in order to buy business associates, that’s a genius, characterful plan for a set. If BKupa then was responsible for all the references, the exact business associates and the general number crunching, that‘s perfect execution from the greatest setting mind I’ve ever known.

Both plan and execution stretch the limit of the moveset though, meaning the is over the top in ways that only Saul Goodman could pull off: Several attack inspirations were groan-worthy and, though definitely in the sort of hokey realm Saul Goodman operates in anyway, did push the envelope (probably including a post card on how amazing Huell is) a bit too much (said postcard-attack included).

Similarly, Saul does overshoot its potential in the specials, which makes the set lose a wee bit of steam in the rest due to the Cranky Problem of having to balance nine business associates, several felonies and a cash mechanic, which makes the set lose itself a bit into the initial plan of sueing, just-making-money and hiring, rather than truly moving outside of that. I absolutely do not hold that against the set, because the execution of it does make the nine business contacts equally promising and does spread out the several felonies throughout the set, but the set does lose itself a bit in the cycle, as each part of the plan ties more into another part of the plan rather than gearing one of the set pieces towards killing, damaging and the like.

 

[ComicWaterz]

Felicia Moveset


The longest moveset i've ever written. Really absurd gimmick for a really minor character lol

 

[OldManHan]

A horrific being from beyond the seams of reality, hellbent on annihilating any remains of this paradox-stricken world.

The foil to Goddess Ilias, trading raw power for versatility and sheer fear factor. A twisted amalgamation that rips apart the very seams of the game. Adramelech, the XX-Class Apoptosis.

High-Class Apoptosis Lifeform

Adramelech High-Class Apoptosis Lifeform Theme (First half of match) Theme (Second half of match) --------------------------------------------------------------- Series: Monster Girl Quest! Paradox RPG “Class-Two Cross-World Contact detected – Eliminating.” The Apoptosis effect - The unive...

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[OldManHan]

A pair of sneaky con artists, one bringing plague and the other bringing misfortune. Spearheaded by the younger sister of the two, Jo'on Yorigami, the Yorigami sisters are sure to blitz you and leave you strapped for cash, before you can even blink!

A disastrous duo minmaxed for damage, combos, and nothing else, Jo'on is sure to slaughter you once she gets in. And god forbid Shion gets involved, she will make you beg for mercy!

The Most Despicable and Disastrous Gods

Jo’on and Shion Yorigami The Most Despicable and Disastrous Gods --------------------------------------------------------------- Series: Touhou Project Jo’on and Shion Yorigami are the two most hated individuals of Gensokyo, the Plague and Poverty gods who rob innocents of their wealth through...

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[Arctic Tern]

TSUKUMO SANA (Bubby)

Sana’s so big, even the header for her comment is massive!

Sana manages to make her mark as easily my favorite set of Bubby’s! The stage control via planets is already decently interesting, especially with how they can be moved with SSpec, but the main attraction is obviously the DSpec size shifting move. We haven’t seen a lot of this in MYM, but Sana gets a good amount of mileage out of it, with a standout move being the FTilt and being harder to hit with if due to the hitbox not changing with her size. The weirder parts of the set, like the USmash black hole construct, also appealed to me, especially with Sana being able to hit foes caught in them with her power moves. I do have more to say, but the last day sets are really chunky so I’ll just say that Sana = good.

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[UnknownFate]

Black Dahlia

One of my latest movesets for my first (and very late) entry to any competition of this caliber. Black Dahlia is one of the main antagonist of the Skullgirls Series, she was recently announced as a playable character, so I added couple of things to resemble her in-game mechanics, like newer N-Special ammo, and updates of the sort in the form of "Do the combo" patch notes.

 

[TortoiseNotTurtle]

My name is Tortoise Not Turtle and this is my moveset for King Koopa from the Super Mario Brothers Super Show!




https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PTwK1GCVJ4-waPti-M0YNRqpj3-NDqWiuV8CsjsN5RE/edit?usp=drivesdk

 

[OldManHan]

(This is an OLD MOVESET. The remake will take far too long for the sake of this contest, so I will be submitting this as a sort of demo to gain criticism for the recreation!)

The theatrical necromancer known for her heinous crimes against the circle of life, the enigmatic right hand of Promestein..
La Croix, the Infamous Necromancer of the Artiste Family, joins to Seek the Truth!'

La Croix Moveset

Name: La Croix Series: Monster Girl Quest! Trailer Tagline: La Croix Seeks the Truth! Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHrftVDITso&ab_channel=KonaStar (Don’t let the title confuse you, the theme is moreso associated with her and a group of others.) Second form Theme: https://m.youtub...

docs.google.com