Hey, I know Cadence! In fact, I've played enough NecroDancer to put together a brief moveset for her that I think covers all the core mechanics of it.
Note that I have no idea what goes on in Cadence of Hyrule, so none of this is going to be based on that.
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Unlike most rhythm games, NecroDancer actually has combat and the like. And frankly... I don't think I can come up with a concept for a Smash character with rhythm-based gameplay that doesn't feel one or more of "impossible to implement", "overly limiting in terms of music", "not actually how rhythm games feel", or "halfhearted". So, honestly...
let's just not do a rhythm mechanic. I think NecroDancer has enough to work with for a moveset to not
need a rhythm mechanic - and I think we can bring across some things while keeping it low-key. Now that I'm thinking of it,
we could put a rhythm mechanic on the stage instead, which lets us control exactly which music plays, and also lets it be turned off for situations where music would be problematic to include.
Anyway, Cadence's playstyle is very much inspired by the gameplay of NecroDancer - she's a
highly positional character who likes staying out of range of enemy attacks and getting opponents into
specific ranges for various attacks. She's a bit similar to Byleth in that her normals make use of
various weapons, but there's a lot more variety in the ones she uses. Her most prominent weapon is the
dagger. In terms of movement, she's
pretty slow regularly, but there's specific movement techniques that let her move more quickly. In particular, her initial dash is much, much faster than her run, so her
foxtrot is actually her fastest method of grounded movement if timed well; and a lot of her normals move her around and have low endlag, so
her attacks are movement as well.
Jab: A close-range, four-hit slashing combo with her
dagger. The hits are a lot less rapid than most other jabs.
Forward Tilt: A forward slash with a
longsword. Longer reach than her jab and more damage than one hit thereof, but less damage than all four hits.
Up Tilt: An overhead swing with a
broadsword. Hits on both sides of Cadence.
Down Tilt: One of Cadence's traversal normals. She performs an absolutely killer dropkick that goes crazy far, but has a lot of endlag if it whiffs or hits a shield. High-risk, high-reward; use this if you need to move quickly and you know there's not going to be consequences. She'd need a pretty unique crouch animation to lead into this properly. Maybe something with her leaned forward, hand on the ground, into a frontflip. This is based on the
boots of lunging.
Dash Attack: A slash with her dagger. Uniquely for a dash attack, this actually goes into the second hit of her jab combo.
Forward Smash: A devastating but slow swing with a
warhammer. Covers a large area in front of Cadence, including in the air. It actually sends opponents downward, causing them to bounce off the ground and go up; it's specifically coded so they can't tech this. As a side effect, it's a crazy spike at the ledge, but it's easy to see coming.
Up Smash: An upward stab with a
spear that also covers a decent distance in from of Cadence. Quicker than her forward smash, but not nearly as devastating,
Down Smash: A big swing with a
flail. Hits on both sides.
Neutral Air: A lash with a
whip. It covers a wide area vertically both up and down in front of Cadence, but it's actually only aimed at the closest enemy within this area; Cadence won't attack anywhere else, and the attack will fail completely if nobody's in that range.
Forward Air: One of Cadence's traversal normals. It's a forward lunge with a
rapier. It has a sweetspot if you hit the opponent right as the lunge ends.
Backward Air: One of Cadence's traversal normals. It's a backward lunge with an
axe. These two moves are great for her horizontal movement.
Up Air: One of Cadence's traversal normals. A lash with a
cat o' nine tails. It has the same mechanic as the whip, where Cadence automatically aims within its effective range. Here, it's because she's lashing downward on the opponent, popping her upward a significant amount (though it only sends the enemy sideways).
Down Air: One of Cadence's traversal normals, and easily the most typical. It's a stall-then-fall featuring Cadence delivering a downward kick. Based vaguely on the
lead boots.
Cadence's
grab and
throws have nothing particularly interesting going on.
Now we come to the exciting part: the specials. Each of the specials is themed around a different item in Cadence's starting loadout. Between the four of them, I think I've come to represent a variety of game mechanics.
Neutral Special: Dagger Throw: Cadence enters a dagger-throwing stance. Hitting B again while holding a direction will make her throw her dagger in that direction. It travels as fast as a bullet, but Cadence winds up for the throw for just enough time to dodge it. You won't run out of daggers or anything, but it's slow enough that it's not a particularly reusable projectile - but it's handy if you can't get in.
Side Special: Torch: A two-part move. The first part is a dash while holding a torch. The second part happens when you press B again, allowing you to go into a fiery multi-hit torch swing. It's yet another one of Cadence's movement options to make up for her lackluster speed, falling somewhere in between her air normals and her down tilt in terms of commitment.
Up Special: Shovel: Now this is a fun one. It's a directional recovery like Fox's or Sephiroth's, but it deals no damage. As a tradeoff, it's a lot faster and doesn't leave you helpless if you do it downward. But the fun part is that you can use it to go
through the stage. While she's doing the move, Cadence will treat solid platforms as though they don't exist, and if she ends the move inside a platform, she'll keep falling inside of it until she's out. You can use it to recover from under the stage, or edgeguard someone by going from atop the stage to below the ledge and then double-jumping back. Lots of fun stuff to do with this one.
Down Special: Bomb: Cadence puts down a bomb. It'll stay there - even in midair - until it explodes. It'll do damage to her as well. Use it to make an area an absolute no-fly zone.
Final Smash: Golden Lute: Cadence pulls out the Golden Lute, then plays it while quickly dashing in player-chosen directions four times. The notes she's playing drag enemies she passes by with her in a barrage of multi-hits. She ends the attack with one final strum on the Lute, blasting everyone away.
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I haven't particularly looked at any movesets for Cadence anyone's made, but I think I may have made some very unpopular choices with this one. I don't know, what do y'all think?
