Hey guys. Just wanted to say hi and show my support for the wanderer swordsman in Smash.
When all has been said and done, Ys and Falcom are among the oldest and most important names in Japanese videogame history not represented in Smash in any shape, together with Koei Tecmo.
Falcom singlehandedly defined the JRPG landscape in personal computers while Square and Enix competed for the console space, with Ys, Legend of Heroes and Dragon Slayer as its main franchises. The company is celebrating its 40 anniversary this year and is teasing projects, and a Smash collab would nicely fit in the agenda. With the decline of PSVita, Switch has become the portable console of choice for his latest Ys and LoH titles, such as Ys VIII, IX, and Trails of Cold Steel III and IV. Apart from the recent Ys Origin port, even more ports are on the way, like the first two Cold Steel titles and Hajimari no Kiseki, although these are announced for Asia only for the time being. Nevertheless, it seems that Falcom and NISA want to put their main titles on Switch, both classic and new, so this is a partner Nintendo may be interested in representing.
Ys in itself is one of the earliest JRPG franchises that is still running today, 34 years later. It has both classic and modern presence back at Famicom/NES and current Switch, pioneering many technological innovations from release to release such as animated cutscenes, dubbed dialogue and redbook music, and taking video game music to new levels. It was really big early on, spanning its own symphonic recording, rock arrangement albums, an anime series, manga, audio dramas, etc.
Finally, Adol is one of the first recurring Japanese J/RPG characters alongside Link and still stars his own games today, which gives him icon status. As some of you nicely worded, Adol is the original anime swordsman in video games, and he would define and consolidate the image of the stereotypical outline of the JRPG hero (which inspired other medieval fantasy series like Fire Emblem) until the late 2000s when the image of the typical JRPG hero started to change.
So, Adol would not only be representing Ys or Falcom, huge names in the Japanese video game industry, but also filling a big gap in the representation of Japanese video game history by covering the PC. This makes him one of those "didnt see it coming but it makes sense in hindsight" picks, especially after Joker or Terry, since there is little overlap between Falcom players and Smash players, but as a marketing move it would definitely get both fandoms interested in the other one and further consolidate Smash as a museum of gaming.
Being an unexplored territory in Smash, it's easy to picture Sakurai gushing about the PC-88 and the PC-Engine, praising how advanced they were for the time and dishing out lots of trivia about Falcom and Ys, being the video game historian he is. I imagine he would like to delve into the nostalgic aesthetic and culture of Japanese PC and PC Engine RPG, similar to Terry representing NeoGeo and arcade aesthetic and culture. I can picture lots of FM music, still cutscenes, luxurious interfaces and dialogue boxes. In fact, his reveal trailer could be made with bitmap stills like the cutscenes for PC and PC Engine games!
Regarding representation, let's address the easy part first: the stage. A stage depicting the old kingdom of Ys would be the obvious choice, since it's the most important locale in the series (featured in Ys I, II, IV: Dawn of Ys and Origin) and the one that gives the franchise its name. A floating platform before a panoramic view of Esteria framing Dharm's Tower and Ys' crater in the distance, maybe a cruise stage stopping at different locations, such as Roda's tree and the roof of the tower before flying up to the Temple of Salomon, mirroring the first two games' progression. There is a lot of potential for notable characters, monsters and bosses cameoing along the journey, either as cosmetic background elements or hazards.
Secondly, let's talk about music, definitely one of the most exciting elements of the collaboration. While Falcom is nowadays known for their rocking tunes, the FM and redbook sounds are a unique feature of Ys, Falcom, classic PCs and PC Engine. For that reason, I would expect an assortment of classic tunes and modern arrangements. Securing redbook arrangements could prove difficult due to, as far as I know, Hudson being responsible for those. A SNK-style approach to music would be amazing but taking into consideration that Falcom profits off their arrangements I assume the selection would be limited and closer to other DLC stages, maybe with classic and modern versions of each tune, like Falcom does with their remakes and re-releases.
The track selection would mostly be Ys I&II centric to match the stage, with names such as:
First Step Towards War
Tower of Death
To Make the End of Battle (good choice for a reveal trailer)
Ruins of Moondoria
Ice Ridge of Noltia
Temple of Salomon
Subterranean Channel
Termination
However, other notable tracks from classic Ys games such as Wanderers of Ys / The Oath in Felghana would be fantastic.
The Boy with Wings (another good choice for the reveal)
Illbern Ruins
Valentine Castle
The Strongest Foe
And to finally round it up, maybe throw in some tracks from Origin, VI, Seven, Celceta, VIII, IX, and some LoH games too. Some medleys would be expected too.
By the way, did you know that famous composer Yuzo Koshiro, from Streets of Rage, Etrian Odyssey and Smash Bros. fame started in Falcom? He celebrated Ys II’s 32th anniversary with a new FM arrangement he posted on his twitter, check it out. I bet he would be stoked at the prospect of being able to work with his Ys tunes again for Smash!
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What about the fighter himself? Ys are super fast paced hack and slash games, so it's natural that Adol should be a rushdowm swordie, with fast movement but short range to balance him. Smash characters tend to be amalgamations that borrow from the whole history of the character, so he could represent the top down games (I&II, IV, V), the sidescroller (Ys III), the 3D top down ones (Origin, VI, Felghana) and finally the modern 3D ones with skills and party system (Seven, Celcetta, VIII, IX). The bump system could either be a move (either dash attack or side B), or a character gimmick as some of you suggested that activates when dashing around for a certain distance. Sakurai has more than enough games to build an interesting moveset, considering that for some Fire Emblem characters he only had around three animations to work with.
Mii Costumes would reference some Ys characters, as well as other Falcom characters from series like Legend of Heroes. Some candidates could include Dogi as a Brawler, Hugo as a Gunner, and Yunica, Estelle from Trails and Rean from ToCS as Swordfighters.
For spirits, there are lots of characters to reference. A Mii Brawler posing as Dogi, two Palutenas spamming down smash and forward smash as Reah and Feena, a Robin posing as Hugo that turns into Sephiroth when defeated, put a female Byleth using Amyr moves and pretend it’s Yunica, etc.
I will finish the exposition with some bullet points summarizing why the character has the merits to be in Smash:
· Falcom is one of the oldest Japanese game makers still in the business and with a very good output on Switch.
· Similarly, Ys is one of the oldest and most influential JRPG series, with classic and modern value and that would mesh well with the other RPG characters in Smash.
· For that reason, Adol is one of the earlier iconic JRPG characters alongside Link and Erdrick, as the face of Falcom, Ys and the JRPGs on PC and PC Engine, with enough source material and interesting mechanics (bump system) to build a moveset.
· Representing the neglected, yet defining part of Japanese videogame history of PC and PC-Engine in the form of visuals, sound effects and music.
I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts about the character. Keep your fingers crossed for some Falcom goodness in Smash!
