Sandy
Smash Champion
Something I've never really liked about Smash Bros. is the handling of alternate costumes. For the most part, all the character gets is a mere color swap. There are a few exceptions,of course. Three of the Pokemon in Melee have different headgear, Peach has a daisy model change (new gloves, dress, crown, hair, etc.), and Falcon has the Bloodhawk costume. I'd even be willing to count Kirby's black and white costume as a clever alternative. But the other characters need some more originality thrown in, especially since many of them have had many different looks and outfits over the years.
I've never understood why HAL has been so hesitant to replicate some of these in Smas Bros. It can't be for a lack of availability (Mario could have about 50 alternate costumes), and I doubt it's because they take up too much memory or are too hard to program. Most fighting games have alternate costumes which radically alter the character's appearence, yet they still perform just as well. For example: Soul Calibur. Seung Mina has one outfit where she's basically wearing a bikini, and another where she's wearing a traditional asian dress (don't know what it's called). You'd think that her wild moveset would be restrained by the bulky dress, but it's not. Almost every character in that game has at least one (in most cases, 2) alternate costume which looks incredibly different from their standard, and they all look and perform well in battle. Ironic, though, that I use SC for an example, since Link's in the game and his alternate costumes are all SSB-ish color swaps.
So I'm holding out hope that Brawl will give us something more than mere color swaps for alternate costumes. How will they handle this? Well, I, for one, hope that alternate costumes are unlockable. It would add a flair of specialness to the costumes that would otherwise be missing. Think about how neat it would be if, instead of having it straight from the beginning, you unlocked the Daisy costume after oplaying for a while? Wouldn't that be neat? Well, I think so. Also, THIS is the way, I think, that clones should be handled. Some alternate costumes could be alternate "characters" in the sense that Daisy and Blood Falcon were alternate costumes. Dr. Mario, for instance, could be an alternate costume for Mario rather than taking up space on the character roster (with no physical changes, of course, just aesthetic). Even some of the moves for such costumes could be different in appearence (but not in function). Finally, adding new costumes to "boring" returning characters would probably boost their appeal.
Here are some of my ideas for alternate costumes in Brawl:
**MARIO**
Dr. Mario: Unlike Melee, plays exactly the same as Mario. Shoots pills instead of fireballs, but don't behave any differently or cause any more or less damage.
Hammer Bros. Mario: Homage to SMB3 (and one of my favorite Mario outfits). Black shell on back, helmet on head. Hammers instead of fireballs (again, no function change).
Paper Mario: Flat, Paper Mario-esque model of Mario and his moves.
Shadow Mario: Watery villain from Mario Sunshine. Fires paint instead of fireballs. Voice sounds all gurgly.
**Link**
Zora Armor: From Twilight Princess. Should replace the blue costume in Brawl.
Magic Armor: Ditto. Should replace the red costume in Brawl.
Fierce Deity Link: From Majora's mask. Change in appearence only (with that groovy sword, of course).
Wind Waker Link: Cel-Shaded Link with the same moveset. I'm a bit iffy on this one, since there might be a size change which could alter Link's stats.
Dark Link: I don't like those Cliché "dark" characters that every video game hero seems to have (even Meta-Knight is really just an evil version of Kirby, really), but this one should be simple enough, as evidence in SSBM (just make him all black, with red eyes).
**Pikachu**
No complaints here. The Pokemon (besides poor Metwo) have always had interesting costumes in SSB, and I hope that tradition continues.
**Kirby**
None. Kirby is one of the very few characters who I think should remain as purely color-swap. He's already got a ton of alternate costumes by copying his opponents. It'd just be too complicated.
**Fox**
Starfox Adventures: My favorite incarnation of Fox. No helmet, less-flashy boots, open-fingered gloves, backpack.
Starfox Assault: Has the outfit from SFA (vest, shoulder pads). Fires the SFA pistol.
Star Wolf: Here's where wolf should go, maybe as more of a "goodguy dressed as badguy" thing (like the Bloodhawk costume in Melee).
James McLoud: Pretty much the same has his regular costume, but with groovy shades.
**Samus** (for the record: I believe Samus and Zero-Suit Samus are seperate characters)
Power Suit: As opposed to the Varia suit we're always stuck with. I actually prefer the smaller shoulder pads.
Fusion Suit: From Metroid Fusion, we also got to see ti in 3D in Prime. None of the functionality changes, of course. Maybe she should shoot spazer beams or something.
Prime Suit: If the final model looks more like the Super Metroid suit we've been seeing, then we should at LEAST get an homage to the excellent Prime series in the form of a costume alternative.
Dark Samus: Here's where the much-desired (not by me) Samus should go. She would float a la Mewtwo rather than walk, and fire Phazon beams (with no differing effect, just looks blue and stuff).
Light Suit: I always thought it looked cool.
**Meta-Knight**
Classic Costume: MK's old mask from his first appearence in Kirby's Adventure. Has the standard, diamond-shaped Kirby sword.
Samurai Meta-Knight: From Samurai Kirby (in Kirby's Super Star). No cape, has a pony tail, sandals, a scar on one side of his mask, and a samurai sword.
**Pit**
Final Battle Pit: The Hermes-esque costume from the last stage of Kid Icarus (where you're flying around). No idea what it's really called.
**Zero-Suit Samus**
Justin Bailey: "Swimsuit" Samus from the first Metroid game. The first way we actually knew samus was a girl. Should have green hair.
Victory/Defeat TankTop: From Super metroid, the black tanktop you see either win you win the game or, briefly, when you die.
**Wario**
Classic Wario: The standard, yellow-and-purple affair that's a total rip-off of Mario, but essential to Wario's identity.
Bull Wario: Has horned Viking helmet from Wario Land rather than the biker helmet from WarioWare.
**Snake**
Future Snake: You know, the older looking Snake with an eye patch and a moustache. I really like it when old dudes fight. He has that whole "I seen things and done things that none of these young whipper-snappers even dreamed of" thing that Sean Connery has going on.
Any other ideas?
I've never understood why HAL has been so hesitant to replicate some of these in Smas Bros. It can't be for a lack of availability (Mario could have about 50 alternate costumes), and I doubt it's because they take up too much memory or are too hard to program. Most fighting games have alternate costumes which radically alter the character's appearence, yet they still perform just as well. For example: Soul Calibur. Seung Mina has one outfit where she's basically wearing a bikini, and another where she's wearing a traditional asian dress (don't know what it's called). You'd think that her wild moveset would be restrained by the bulky dress, but it's not. Almost every character in that game has at least one (in most cases, 2) alternate costume which looks incredibly different from their standard, and they all look and perform well in battle. Ironic, though, that I use SC for an example, since Link's in the game and his alternate costumes are all SSB-ish color swaps.
So I'm holding out hope that Brawl will give us something more than mere color swaps for alternate costumes. How will they handle this? Well, I, for one, hope that alternate costumes are unlockable. It would add a flair of specialness to the costumes that would otherwise be missing. Think about how neat it would be if, instead of having it straight from the beginning, you unlocked the Daisy costume after oplaying for a while? Wouldn't that be neat? Well, I think so. Also, THIS is the way, I think, that clones should be handled. Some alternate costumes could be alternate "characters" in the sense that Daisy and Blood Falcon were alternate costumes. Dr. Mario, for instance, could be an alternate costume for Mario rather than taking up space on the character roster (with no physical changes, of course, just aesthetic). Even some of the moves for such costumes could be different in appearence (but not in function). Finally, adding new costumes to "boring" returning characters would probably boost their appeal.
Here are some of my ideas for alternate costumes in Brawl:
**MARIO**
Dr. Mario: Unlike Melee, plays exactly the same as Mario. Shoots pills instead of fireballs, but don't behave any differently or cause any more or less damage.
Hammer Bros. Mario: Homage to SMB3 (and one of my favorite Mario outfits). Black shell on back, helmet on head. Hammers instead of fireballs (again, no function change).
Paper Mario: Flat, Paper Mario-esque model of Mario and his moves.
Shadow Mario: Watery villain from Mario Sunshine. Fires paint instead of fireballs. Voice sounds all gurgly.
**Link**
Zora Armor: From Twilight Princess. Should replace the blue costume in Brawl.
Magic Armor: Ditto. Should replace the red costume in Brawl.
Fierce Deity Link: From Majora's mask. Change in appearence only (with that groovy sword, of course).
Wind Waker Link: Cel-Shaded Link with the same moveset. I'm a bit iffy on this one, since there might be a size change which could alter Link's stats.
Dark Link: I don't like those Cliché "dark" characters that every video game hero seems to have (even Meta-Knight is really just an evil version of Kirby, really), but this one should be simple enough, as evidence in SSBM (just make him all black, with red eyes).
**Pikachu**
No complaints here. The Pokemon (besides poor Metwo) have always had interesting costumes in SSB, and I hope that tradition continues.
**Kirby**
None. Kirby is one of the very few characters who I think should remain as purely color-swap. He's already got a ton of alternate costumes by copying his opponents. It'd just be too complicated.
**Fox**
Starfox Adventures: My favorite incarnation of Fox. No helmet, less-flashy boots, open-fingered gloves, backpack.
Starfox Assault: Has the outfit from SFA (vest, shoulder pads). Fires the SFA pistol.
Star Wolf: Here's where wolf should go, maybe as more of a "goodguy dressed as badguy" thing (like the Bloodhawk costume in Melee).
James McLoud: Pretty much the same has his regular costume, but with groovy shades.
**Samus** (for the record: I believe Samus and Zero-Suit Samus are seperate characters)
Power Suit: As opposed to the Varia suit we're always stuck with. I actually prefer the smaller shoulder pads.
Fusion Suit: From Metroid Fusion, we also got to see ti in 3D in Prime. None of the functionality changes, of course. Maybe she should shoot spazer beams or something.
Prime Suit: If the final model looks more like the Super Metroid suit we've been seeing, then we should at LEAST get an homage to the excellent Prime series in the form of a costume alternative.
Dark Samus: Here's where the much-desired (not by me) Samus should go. She would float a la Mewtwo rather than walk, and fire Phazon beams (with no differing effect, just looks blue and stuff).
Light Suit: I always thought it looked cool.
**Meta-Knight**
Classic Costume: MK's old mask from his first appearence in Kirby's Adventure. Has the standard, diamond-shaped Kirby sword.
Samurai Meta-Knight: From Samurai Kirby (in Kirby's Super Star). No cape, has a pony tail, sandals, a scar on one side of his mask, and a samurai sword.
**Pit**
Final Battle Pit: The Hermes-esque costume from the last stage of Kid Icarus (where you're flying around). No idea what it's really called.
**Zero-Suit Samus**
Justin Bailey: "Swimsuit" Samus from the first Metroid game. The first way we actually knew samus was a girl. Should have green hair.
Victory/Defeat TankTop: From Super metroid, the black tanktop you see either win you win the game or, briefly, when you die.
**Wario**
Classic Wario: The standard, yellow-and-purple affair that's a total rip-off of Mario, but essential to Wario's identity.
Bull Wario: Has horned Viking helmet from Wario Land rather than the biker helmet from WarioWare.
**Snake**
Future Snake: You know, the older looking Snake with an eye patch and a moustache. I really like it when old dudes fight. He has that whole "I seen things and done things that none of these young whipper-snappers even dreamed of" thing that Sean Connery has going on.
Any other ideas?
