Thanks so much for summing up why I don't like Pac-Man myself as a candidate. I had tried to get my point across so much in the Social Roster Discussion Thread about why I find him generic and while I had been bombarded with many interesting moves from World-games, he doesn't just have any definitive way of character or playstyle that would make him interesting to play.
Lloyd again is a lot like a link-tech character with his sword abilities which he can connect well together like in his appearances. He has also lots of different moves for that kind of versatility (Demon Fang can essentially be a ground-traveling projectile) But that's just me.
Indeed. This is something I try to strife on too when doing movesets for some characters and think how'd they play out. Usually it starts from looking at their source appearances (games, stats, abilities, character) and there you have it. It's quite fun to flesh them to fighters in this norm.
For example I had thought of Pokemon Adventures' Gold (Ethan's most popular manga counterpart)- he uses a cuestick a lot in his adventures and can launch his Pokeballs around with them. Also he's kind of a trickster too. So I thought he'd have a mid-range in some of his attacks due his cue-stick and stronger attacks have a cycling move attribute thing akin to Olimar & Pikmin (with different Pokemon of his appearing to deliver the attacks) and he can switch the balls for specific moves or combo strings. He can also be a bit of a trickster archetype with the opponent usually not knowing which pokemon might come out from the ball next in the heat of a battle. And if a special move letting him to ping away a ball is implemented, he could use them as a combo-starter projectiles.
Hmm, well it's just I haven't played "Tales of" series personally, so that's part of it, perhaps I need to take a closer look at Lloyd, as he has a hard time standing out over the other swordsmen, but he DOES have more potential over Pac-Man, being the two Namco characters with a realistic chance, that is the reason I back him over Pac-Man.
You idea for Ethan/Gold for some reason reminded me of Venom from GG.
Speaking of Pokemon Trainer, this character needs to be a Turtle+Puppeteer Hybrid, not a Transforming character. He needs to be more like a Summoner of sorts who hides behind his Pokemon, like, a more defensive IC who is focused on keeping pressure by always sending out Pokemon. It's not too far fetched to see THEM fight really. I mean they ARE adventurers who put themselves in harms way on a daily basis, like a sort of Young Indiana Jones. Just change Red's design so he doesn't look so Goofy/Generic, or choose a better designed Trainer, Like May, or White, or Emerald, or Barry, or N, hell even Giovanni or Blue, if you wanna go Retro. The move-set is a bit tricky to work with Smash's controls, but I'm sure we can do something.
I think, Specials Summon different Pokemon (4?), Neutrals and Aerials Command them, Shield Works for the Pokemon only, but he gets right in front of the Trainer to Block all damage, Roll works on both, as do the movement commands, in an Ice Climbers like fashion, except the Pokemon is always a little in front of this Trainer, ready to attack. They can stray from the Trainer a bit (especially because of their Jump and Aerials) but will always return their position in from of him after they finish attacking. To deal damage, you have to attack the trainer, the fatigue mechanic is still in play. The hit stun on the Pokemon is much higher, if you want a sure fire way to interrupt attacks, it is by attacking the trainer. As for Jumps, Pokemon Trainer gets 1 jump, the Pokemon themselves vary (Charizard has 5, Squirtle 2, etc...).
The fatigue mechanic needs to be reworked, rather than Time-Based, it's now Damage based, deal damage to Pokemon to Fatigue them and faint them, if you accomplish this, they're automatically returned to the Pokeball. The KO damage has to be done to the Trainer himself. The Pokemon don't have the added knock-back from high damage, and you can have multiple Pokemon out at once, this helps compensate for the Trainers poor defenses, and the reason why he's a Turtle character.
So take this for example:
Red-
Up-B Charizard
Down-B Snorlax
Side B- Ivysaur
Neutra B- Squirtle
(I gave him two large Pokemon for added defense, I contemplated giving him Venasaur instead of Ivy as well, but whatever...)
You Summon Charizard, and you have a 10 second delay before being able to Summon another Pokemon, the Pokeballs themselves have 2.5 second delay when bringing out a Pokemon, Pokemon are invincible upon coming out, pressing Up-B again has Charizard Return to the Pokeball, the return is near instant, the moment you press Up-B, that Red Beam absorbs the Pokemon and he has invincibility. You can summon another Pokemon immediately after calling one back, there's no problem there, as long as you adhere to the 10 second delay. Now be careful with fatigue, calling a Pokemon back will allow it to heal over time, Pokemon rack up fatigue quickly, so effective use of the Trainer falls in constantly switching between teams of 2 Pokemon to maintain pressure. Having a Pokemon take too much damage will cause it to faint, meaning you cannot send him out again until Red is KOed. Once the Trainer is KOed, all Pokemon are reset back to full health. Now Summoning Pokemon after calling a certain one back after certain moves, allows you to skip the 2.5 second Pokeball delay, and even string certain combos. Which is what is part of learning this difficult character.
One more thing, Red himself CAN indeed Grab opponents, however, they cannot Chain Grab, as Red himself cannot Throw.
As for Pokemon and their Properties:
Charizard-Speedy Poker/Sniper, with good defenses, and GREAT aerial game.
Snorlax- Slow Powerhouse, INSANE defense, and even comes with Rest and Snore to allow him to heal during battle, has good grapple moves, but slow mobility, mainly serves as the Tank of the group.
Ivysaur- Midrange Grappler, with great Zoning moves, has lots of Command grabs.
Squirle- Same as Project M more or less.
Obviously because the Pokemon lack special attacks a lot of their specials were moved over to their Tilts, Smash, and Aerial Attacks, this is a fair trade as they lack the ability to rack up knock-back damage.
Oh, and one more thing, if the Pokemon fall off the stage they count as KOed and cannot be sent out again until Red is KOed.
But make that move not as well ranged as his other attacks. 