Bandana Dee Gets a Starring Role!
His first three palette swaps are his palette swaps from Kirby Star Allies – yellow with a brown bandana and orange feet, sky blue with a dark blue bandana and light purple feet, and green with a dark green bandana and green feet. His other palette swaps are based on Dedede (red with a yellow bandana and yellow feet), Meta Knight (dark blue with a silvery bandana and dark purple feet), Marx (purple with a half-blue half-red bandana with white circles on it and brown feet), and Rick (white with a brown bandana and pink feet).
For a stage, I figured I’d try something different. Normally, characters tend to have stages from towards the beginning of their games, but that archetype is covered pretty thoroughly by Green Greens and Dream Land, along with Dream Land GB to a lesser extent. Instead, I’d like to focus on an aspect of Kirby that might not be expected of the series at first glance, but it’s something that fans are well aware of – the nightmarish final bosses. The stage is
the Divine Terminus, designed as it is at the end of Guest Star Allies (which, as far as I know, is the first game where Bandana Dee can be player one). It’s a flat Final Destination-like stage, with a twist – occasionally, various final bosses from the Kirby series will show up in the background to attack the player. (or, if hazards are off, to hover back there menacingly – they won’t show up on the Battlefield or Final Destination versions of the stage) Nightmare can’t be summoned as an assist trophy on this stage, as he’s one of the hazards. Their order is random, though I’ll list them in order of their appearance in the Kirby games.
Nightmare appears in his wizard form, shooting stars out of his hand at the opponent. Given his origins as an NES boss, these are the easiest to avoid of the boss attacks Marx teleports around, using some attacks from his boss battle – I’m thinking that he’ll be smaller than the version that’s fought in World of Light and classic mode, for the sake of making him a less intrusive hazard.
Zero Two looms in the background, widening its eyes to shoot exploding energy balls at the stage. Queen Sectonia, fused with the Dream Stalk, is raised into view, summoning giant floating gems to act as platforms while using smaller flowers to act as cannons and blades. Star Dream lazily floats on screen, seemingly doing nothing until it charges up energy and fires a beam that fills half of the stage. After that, it floats around, summoning random knick-knacks to act as hazards.
The final hazard is Void Termina, which is seemingly content to watch the fighting at first. However, after a while, it roars, picking up the stage and throwing it into the air like Master Core’s giant form from Smash 4. It can also smash its fists onto the stage, creating shockwaves which cover the whole floor of the stage, though they move very slowly.
I intentionally left out Dark Matter and Magolor since they seem like other characters that people might want as DLC. I’m not sure how popular Marx is as a potential Smash Bros. character, but since he’s already a boss in Smash Bros. Ultimate, I figured he was fair game.
For his intro, Bandana Dee arrives on top of a stack of Kirby enemies – Bugzzy (on the bottom, carrying the group), Chilly, and Poppy Bros. Jr. Bandana Dee is pointing forward excitedly, but Bugzzy trips, sending the entire stack toppling over. The other three disappear in puffs of smoke, while Bandana Dee gets up, dusting himself off. For his idle animations, he holds up the spear, eyes sparkling as he looks at the point of it, and for another one, his bandana falls over his eyes and he pushes it back up.
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Much like Dedede, Bandana Dee can jump four times – he’s doing his best with his midair hops, but he’s not quite as good as Kirby or Meta Knight. Unless noted, his moves have a sweet spot at the end of the spear
A-->AA-->AAA: Bandana Dee thrusts his spear twice before using a Multi-Thrust (a rapid jab), ending with a spear jab that has a white aura around it which hits harder.
Forward A: Bandana Dee leans forward, jabbing with the butt of the spear; this move doesn’t have a sweet spot.
Up A: Skyward Thrust – Bandana Dee thrusts his spear straight up into the sky.
Down A: Ground Thrust – Bandana Dee slides along the ground before thrusting his sword upwards.
Forward Smash: for his Smash attacks, Bandana Dee borrows from the Staff moveset from Star Allies - as a result, fully charging them extends the range. For his Forward Smash attack, he swings the spear downwards starting over his head like the end of the Staff’s jab combo.
Up Smash: Bandana Dee’s spear extends upwards, stretching out to give it longer range than his up A, with a red aura around it.
Down Smash: L-R Jab – Bandana Dee’s spear is held in front of him horizontally as it stretches out on both sides – the tip of the spear is facing the same direction that Bandana Dee was, so does more damage and knockback.
Neutral Air: Bandana Dee spins his spear in a circular motion in front of himself (so it’s a circle from the player’s perspective), rapidly building up damage.
Forward Air: Bandana Dee stabs rapidly at a downwards angle, similar to the attack used by the staff after pole-vaulting (though without the extra range).
Back Air: Bandana Dee bends backwards, stabbing the spear behind him.
Up Air: Bandana Dee stabs his spear upwards, similar to his up A attack.
Down Air: Moon Drop – Bandana Dee spins horizontally before plummeting straight down, with his spear stabbing downwards
Dash Attack: sticking his spear into the ground, Bandana Dee pole-vaults, smacking into the opponent. When he lands, his spear disappears in a puff of smoke and reappears in his hand.
Wake-Up Attack: Bandana Dee spins the spear above his head similar to his recovery move, lifting himself back onto his feet.
Climb Attack: Bandana Dee swipes the spear at ankle-height for most fighters before climbing back on-stage.
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Grab: it’s basically the same as Kirby’s grab. Bandana Dee’s spear is holstered to his back somehow.
Pummel: the same as Kirby’s – he smacks the grabbed opponent with his free hand.
Forward Throw: borrowing a move from Knuckle Joe, he throws them forward using the Fighter ability’s Arm Throw move.
Back Throw: Bandana Dee uses a suplex, though like Dan Hibiki, he struggles with lifting the opponent first, with exaggerated sweat marks coming off of him.
Up Throw: sliding the spear underneath the opponent, Bandana Dee flings them into the air like he’s flipping a pancake.
Down Throw: setting the opponent on the ground, Bandana Dee punches the opponent with the same animation as he used in the Megaton Punch game from Kirby Super Star
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Up Taunt: Bandana Dee spins around before raising his hand in the air, like what happens when you get a major collectible in Star Allies.
Side Taunt: Bandana Dee pulls out a glass of apple juice and drinks it through a straw, somehow.
Down Taunt: Bandana Dee plants his spear in the ground and sits against it before hopping back up, seemingly worried that he was caught napping.
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B: Waddle Spear Throw. He tosses a spear in an arc. If this is held, it can become Waddle Triple Throw, where he throws three spears at once.
Up B: Waddle Copter. Bandana Dee spins his spear over his head, gaining some height before slowly descending. It’s more useful for horizontal recovery, much like Donkey Kong’s up B.
Side B: Friend Train – Bandana Dee’s bandana becomes a mix between a train conductor hat and a smokestack, as his eyes grow wide and sparkly. He dashes forward with a spherical aura surrounding him. However, without the power of friendship, the train has no fuel supply, so he stops after a short bit. Much like in Star Allies, this can let him run up walls, and you can jump during it, though you only get one jump before you hit the ground. This move has no sweet spot.
Down B: Sizzle Spear/Blizzard Spear/Zap Spear – Bandana Dee holds his spear into the air, and a heart outline appears above it. In that heart outline, icons for the fire, ice, and plasma abilities from Kirby Star Allies are cycled through, one at a time. Once the button is released, one of the aforementioned elements (fire, ice, or lightning) hits the spear, charging it up for a few seconds. While his spear is powered up like this, his attacks are a little slower, but his specials have additional effects. Blizzard Spear gives the biggest power boost and speed penalty, while Zap Spear gives the smallest power boost and speed penalty. The lightning from Zap Spear’s effects doesn’t do much damage or cause much knockback, to make up for its range.
- Sizzle Spear: Spear Throw leaves flames behind, Copter shoots out fireballs that fall to the ground as he flies around, and Friend Train shoots fireballs out of the smokestack
- Blizzard Spear: Spear Toss causes spikes of ice to sprout where Bandana Dee is, as well as where the spears land. Spear Copter causes icicles to fall straight down from the spear on either side of Bandana Dee. Friend Train leaves a trail of ice spikes behind Bandana Dee, though they disappear quickly. Still, it’s good for dealing with people who would dodge roll or spot dodge to avoid it.
- Zap Spear: Spear Throw and Spear Copter cause lightning bolts to strike the spear(s). (once in the case of Spear Throw, at regular intervals in the case of Spear Copter) For Friend Train, lightning strikes the smokestack as Bandana Dee runs.
Final Smash: Megaton Punch – Bandana Dee pulls large steel square weights out of hammerspace, dropping them on the ground. If this connects, it goes into a cinematic final smash, transporting the opponent(s) to a recreation of
the Megaton Punch stage from Kirby Super Star, complete with a cheering crowd. Bandana Dee is up in the rafters, though now he’s in a similar style to Little Mac’s trailer from Smash 4 or
the Manga Waddle Dee sticker from Planet Robobot (I figure the contrast between the ultra-dramatic shading and Dee’s harmless-looking design would be funny). His eye gleams, and he leaps from the rafter, delivering one punch (
JAM Project music optional, but recommended) that floors the opponent(s), shatters the weights, and (as the camera zooms out to show) leaves a crack in Pop Star that’s visible from space.
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For his victory poses, one of them would be
his victory dance from Return to Dream Land that he does when you beat a level with him. This will likely be shortened since the Smash victory theme is shorter than the Kirby one. For another, he gets up on his tip-toes and waves to the crowd, like he does in the unlikely event that he wins at Megaton Punch. For a third, an idea that I have is that a bunch of regular Waddle Dees swarm him, only to toss him into the air in celebration.
Seeing as he’s already a Kirby character, he gets Kirby’s victory theme. If Kirby copies him, he gets Bandana Dee’s bandana and spear, and he can use Waddle Spear Throw (or Triple Throw).