We know the general outline for Smash characters. You have a set of A-attacks that generally do damage at close range in the direction you press. Then you have 4 B-moves that can do any number of things, a grab (usually short range with exceptions), shield moves, and a Final Smash.
There are characters who break that mold somewhat, such as...
This post will be a collection of ideas I've gathered earlier or while typing this post about how new characters could potentially add new playstyles to Brawl, or in other words, what could make these characters special and unique in style as well as look/concept? I'll try not to stray too far outside the set parameters, and certain rules must be upheld:
but this is an exercise in imagination. I also certainly won't cover every character, and I'll mainly list whatever comes off the top of my head, but perhaps the rest of the thread can cover things I didn't think of.
Also, this thread isn't about exact, complete movesets as much as the ideas behind them, so I won't go too much into detail, it's already long enough as is.
Keep in mind as well that these do not represent what I think the characters should or will be like, I just like to think about all the possibilities that could happen.
To begin, I will first cover a character who has zero chance of appearing as playable in Brawl, just for fun and to get the creative thoughts flowing. The rest of my mentioned characters will mostly be ones that have been mentioned on the boards as at least vaguely possible, but I may throw in a couple longshots for fun.
-The Postman- [Timed combos]
Yes, that Postman from Zelda. He does nothing else in the games but run (at blazing speed), deliver letters, and occasionally rest in the inn. That said, he's an athletic fellow, so why not consider what he could do for a moment?
He'd obviously be a fast character, possibly a good jumper as well. He'd have an array of a standard kicks and punches for his A attacks, no surprises there. Now, when I think of what could be special about the Postman, I think about what a postman does: make deliveries on time. What can we do for his moveset to capitalize on this?
After considering a few things, I decided on the following system. His B-attacks would utilize pieces of mail, boxes, or other mail items. His standard-b would be a projectile envelope that might do damage as well as "tag" the enemy. Once the enemy is "tagged," you have a short amount of time to hit them with another special attack, which ties in to the Postman's timed objectives.
The other 3 special attacks would be associated with a certain color, perhaps Red, Green, and Blue, as the neutral tagging attack would be a yellow envelope. If you hit a tagged enemy with a special attack within the time limit, the envelope becomes that color, and you gain a bonus, which could either be more damage for a short time, more speed, or even a small bit of healing, whatever seems appropriate and balanced. After the first hit, a certain order would be required in order to keep the opponent tagged. A Red attack must be followed by Green, then Blue, then Red again. At any time, if you fail to hit with the correct attack within the time limit (you wouldn't lose for hitting with a different attack first, you just have to do it with the correct one before the time runs out), the tag disappears from the enemy and you lose the bonus/bonuses you might have gained.
To summarize in a different way:
Continued combos could either maintain the same buff or give three different types of buffs, depending on what is balanced. This way the Postman player could either just play normally and use his attacks for damage, or try to work the tagging and combo order into his play.
With this you can see how timed combos could be implemented into a moveset without making things that complicated, and it's not hard to imagine characters who might actually make it in having maybe one or two moves with a similar concept.
-Isaac- [Ranged normal moves, Morphable moveset, Chance on hit]
Isaac, the Venus Adept and main character of Golden Sun, also present in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. There are quite a few directions this character could take if included in Brawl. Isaac himself has a huge array of abilities available to him:
If the above makes sense, you can see that there are many options for a moveset for this character, and choosing which should be placed where might be difficult.
I would personally expect an actual implementation of Isaac to be somewhat similar to the usual moveset mold - A-attacks for simple sword slashes, Smash Attacks would be Djinn-assisted attacks that might strike at long range or have special properties like Snake's, grabs would use the Force, Lift, etc. psynergies, and B-attacks would be earth Psynergy with a summon as a Final Smash.
However, in this thread I'm considering the more extreme possibilities, so what else could Isaac do?
As I mentioned above, I can see Isaac's Smash Attacks being linked to Djinn, for example a sword strike accompanied by Bane. These could have strange hitboxes or any number of unusual effects. It's also possible for them to use Unleashes in this way, or they could have simple sword smash attacks or Psynergy (this is especially possible for air attacks.)
Another thing to consider here is the possibility of Chance on Hit attacks. That is, if every sword attack Isaac used had a chance to do extra damage due to an Unleash. The chances on these aren't that low in the games, so it might not be too much of a concern, but I can still see some complaints about the randomness this would generate.
Perhaps a more interesting thought is the possibility of a morphable moveset. As it is unlikely for more than one Golden Sun character to appear, the developers might opt to give Isaac Psynergy or Djinn outside of his default Earth spells. Some fans might not like this idea, so it might even be possible for the player to change Isaac's moveset by equipping different Djinn either during character selection somehow or during battle (perhaps one special move would play a charging animation, and depending on your directional input during the charge, you would switch between one of four movesets, one for each element. It's possible this might be too complicated to implement, though, and after what happened with Shiek, there would surely be issues with balance.)
One possible workaround for this? Perhaps if you use Djinn or Psynergy too much of a particular element, those might decrease in power. Thus you would probably specialize in at least two elements to give those abilities time to "reset," which could be considered similar to an element of the GBA games, but you would always have a core set of sword attacks. Again, this might not be too popular a choice, so I see it as more likely for the "Smash attacks with unusual properties" idea to actually transfer to Isaac should he be included.
Felix would also be similar to the above with minor differences, but I referred to Isaac as he is more generally well known.
-Captain Olimar- [Army control, Character growth] *CONFIRMED*
Edit: Well, that's what I get for spending hours typing this up, heh. The Pikmin and their Captain were updated on the Dojo practically the moment I posted this. I'm still leaving this in for posterity, and we don't know how he plays at the moment anyway, so it's sort of still relevant. I added a section at the end talking further about what he could do now that we know he is in.
If he is included, it would be very improbable and nonsensical for Olimar to have a moveset that approaches "normal." In both of his games, the only action he can perform alone is a single weak punch. While new abilities could be invented for him, I can't see him being given a whole moveset, or really anything more than rudimentary punching, grabbing, and jumping skills.
In addition to this, being alone would not fit Olimar's character. Much like the proper and natural place for the Pokemon Trainer was on the sidelines directing his Pokemon in battle rather than joining in the fray, it would only be right for Olimar to command his Pikmin in some form and for most of his moves to involve them.
The Pikmin could be implemented in a number of ways. Here are basic outlines I've considered:
White and purple Pikmin could also be implemented in a number of ways, though they were generally more sparse.
Option 3 is my personal preference, though it may be complicated to implement. In any of the cases, Olimar's final smash would probably involve a stampede of Pikmin in some way, perhaps originating from landing Onions. Another possibility is for Olimar's rocket to be involved in some way.
The most difficult part of making a moveset for Olimar seems to me to be how to add Pikmin to his group, and how to handle knockback and recovery. The latter can be done mostly by making Olimar the focus of damage and recovery, but adding Pikmin to the group can be problematic. Adding Pikmin automatically and gradually might disappoint people especially in the case of Option 2 in which you have little to no actual control of Olimar. However, it seems to me like there must be some kind of limit as to how fast you can replenish your supply, assuming the supply can be depleted at all. I see Option 3 as a nice compromise between the two problems.
Olimar is now in Brawl for sure, and it seems certain that they have gone with something similar to Option 1, as Olimar is clearly controllable and on the stage with his Pikmin. So I will use this space now to analyze the information we've received so far and speculate on how he might play.
The first update that simply reveals his character does not really give much information. It makes a reference to Olimar "plucking Pikmin out of the ground" which can suggest one of a few things:
Whichever of these is chosen, it's clear that you can lose Pikmin in some way. The "can't use a smash attack without Pikmin" also suggests this. It seems unlikely that you will be able to choose what color you pull out unless the second option in this list is used, as 5 special moves for summoning Pikmin types is more than the normal control setup can do. If you can control the rate at which you pull out more Pikmin, it would probably use a decent-length animation time as a balancer so that you can't get back to full strength instantly without interference.
Another element to consider is the possibility of character growth. In the pictures we can see Pikmin with all three stages of evolution: leaf, bud, and flower, in increasing order of power. Flower pikmin could be faster, more effective in attacks, or perhaps harder to lose. Thus Olimar wants to not only stay at his maximum number of Pikmin but to keep them alive so that they remain at the maximum power level.
There are three main ways Pikmin could grow.
-Lip- [Calling in help]
Lip is a Japanese-only character from the game Panel de Pon, known in the U.S. originally as Tetris Attack, then modified into Pokemon Puzzle League, Planet Puzzle League and a few other names (for more details on Panel de Pon, see its thread and Wikipedia.) People say certain things have cast Lip's chances into doubt, but that is not the function of this post or thread, but rather to speculate on what things could be like.
Lip as a character does not do much in the games aside from a few poses and voice phrases, onscreen at least. The game consists of clearing out blocks from the screen by aligning 3 or more in a row. With special combinations, you can unleash "garbage blocks" on your enemy to make it harder for them to clear out their normal blocks. One of Kirby's Stone forms looks similar to Lip's Garbage Block from Panel de Pon. It's the pink rectangular one with a face and some lighter pink designs on it.
She also carries a flower stick, called Lip's Stick in Melee and confirmed to return in Brawl as an item. Thus, most of the consideration for a moveset for Lip concerns her Lip's Stick and the garbage blocks. It's difficult to come up with a diverse moveset with only these, but this is where speculation comes in.
If you are familiar with other fighting games, you may have seen some that allow you to choose multiple characters for a single game, and all must be defeated in order to win. Often these characters can be switched out at will, strategically or when one has taken a lot of damage.
Now, you may have seen that it is also common for these characters to make an attack as they are switched in to the battlefield. This is where my concept of "calling in help" for Lip comes from. Lip's initial intent in Panel de Pon is to rescue the other fairies from a curse that has made them fight amongst themselves. After breaking the spell, these characters join Lip and can later be used to fight the evil ones in Lip's stead. So the idea of Lip enlisting her friends' aid in battle isn't unheard of.
In keeping with the basic rules of Smash outlined before, we can't allow multiple characters with different damage bars and lives. And if Lip is to be the focus, a setup such as Pokemon Trainer's switch between three Pokemon cannot work well. So instead we choose three characters who all operate similarly to the function of Wario's b-down, Wario Waft.
These three characters occupy Lip's B-up, B-right, and B-down slots, with the neutral-B being left for the Garbage Block and the A-attacks involving her Lip's Stick. When the corresponding attack is used, one of the fairies comes in, doing an attack and either carrying or replacing Lip for a short time, during which they would have a modified moveset, though the basics would be similar (they all summon garbage blocks, etc.) You could probably do something to restore Lip prematurely if you wished, or another fairy can be summoned immediately. However, after this attack is used, it will be a while before it can be used effectively again. If you summon the same fairy twice in a short timespan, the second time its effect will be significantly reduced, and the fairy replacement will barely last any time at all.
As an example, let's say Windy, the first fairy you encounter, is chosen by the developers as Lip's up-B. Upon using that attack, Windy swoops in, bringing you upwards and striking any enemies in the way. You would also control Windy for a short time, having some slight differences in attacks and probably some better jumping ability. Then once the time is up, Lip would return, or you could summon another fairy directly from Windy.
Her final smash would most likely involve a large combo of garbage blocks and so not include the multiple-character idea, though it is possible.
---
More to come at a later date. Thank you for reading.
There are characters who break that mold somewhat, such as...
- -Ice Climbers and Zelda/Shiek from Melee. Also Marth/Roy to an extent.
- -Pokemon Trainer and his Pokemon switching/stamina control.
- -Snake, with projectile Smash Attacks, and apparently a strange stunning grab along with the ever-mysterious land mine.
- -Any of the characters whose abilities change after a Final Smash.
This post will be a collection of ideas I've gathered earlier or while typing this post about how new characters could potentially add new playstyles to Brawl, or in other words, what could make these characters special and unique in style as well as look/concept? I'll try not to stray too far outside the set parameters, and certain rules must be upheld:
- Must somehow involve a damage meter and increasing knockback from that damage.
- Must be able to be ko'd by being knocked off the stage. No stamina-only characters.
- Skills should do generally what they are supposed to do. Pressing the shield button might do damage, but it should still be a shield.
- No secondary bars/meters. Smash has historically avoided these even for mechanics such as the Wario Waft and Stamina, so until I see such a thing included, no onscreen meters are allowed, nor are attacks that require exact numbers of Stamina or the like.
but this is an exercise in imagination. I also certainly won't cover every character, and I'll mainly list whatever comes off the top of my head, but perhaps the rest of the thread can cover things I didn't think of.
Also, this thread isn't about exact, complete movesets as much as the ideas behind them, so I won't go too much into detail, it's already long enough as is.
Keep in mind as well that these do not represent what I think the characters should or will be like, I just like to think about all the possibilities that could happen.
To begin, I will first cover a character who has zero chance of appearing as playable in Brawl, just for fun and to get the creative thoughts flowing. The rest of my mentioned characters will mostly be ones that have been mentioned on the boards as at least vaguely possible, but I may throw in a couple longshots for fun.
-The Postman- [Timed combos]
Yes, that Postman from Zelda. He does nothing else in the games but run (at blazing speed), deliver letters, and occasionally rest in the inn. That said, he's an athletic fellow, so why not consider what he could do for a moment?
He'd obviously be a fast character, possibly a good jumper as well. He'd have an array of a standard kicks and punches for his A attacks, no surprises there. Now, when I think of what could be special about the Postman, I think about what a postman does: make deliveries on time. What can we do for his moveset to capitalize on this?
After considering a few things, I decided on the following system. His B-attacks would utilize pieces of mail, boxes, or other mail items. His standard-b would be a projectile envelope that might do damage as well as "tag" the enemy. Once the enemy is "tagged," you have a short amount of time to hit them with another special attack, which ties in to the Postman's timed objectives.
The other 3 special attacks would be associated with a certain color, perhaps Red, Green, and Blue, as the neutral tagging attack would be a yellow envelope. If you hit a tagged enemy with a special attack within the time limit, the envelope becomes that color, and you gain a bonus, which could either be more damage for a short time, more speed, or even a small bit of healing, whatever seems appropriate and balanced. After the first hit, a certain order would be required in order to keep the opponent tagged. A Red attack must be followed by Green, then Blue, then Red again. At any time, if you fail to hit with the correct attack within the time limit (you wouldn't lose for hitting with a different attack first, you just have to do it with the correct one before the time runs out), the tag disappears from the enemy and you lose the bonus/bonuses you might have gained.
To summarize in a different way:
- The postman has Yellow Envelope on neutral B, Red Mailbox on B-right, Green Airmail on B-up, and Blue Parcel on B-down.
- Neutral B: Yellow Envelope is used. The enemy is tagged, and the next special attack will give the envelope that color. Afterwards,
- Tag is blue: Red Mailbox required for buff
- Tag is red: Green Airmail required for buff
- Tag is green: Blue Parcel required for buff
Continued combos could either maintain the same buff or give three different types of buffs, depending on what is balanced. This way the Postman player could either just play normally and use his attacks for damage, or try to work the tagging and combo order into his play.
With this you can see how timed combos could be implemented into a moveset without making things that complicated, and it's not hard to imagine characters who might actually make it in having maybe one or two moves with a similar concept.
-Isaac- [Ranged normal moves, Morphable moveset, Chance on hit]
Isaac, the Venus Adept and main character of Golden Sun, also present in Golden Sun: The Lost Age. There are quite a few directions this character could take if included in Brawl. Isaac himself has a huge array of abilities available to him:
- Sword attacks. Isaac is able to use a few types of weapons in the games, but he is most often seen in art using a sword, so that is the most likely should he appear. These would probably be similar to other basic a-attack sword slashes.
- Sword unleashes. When attacking in Golden Sun, a large amount of weapons have a decent chance to "unleash" an effect unique to that weapon. If this was to be translated to Brawl, Isaac would most likely unleash Megiddo, a strike by a meteorite that deals more fire damage.
- Psynergy. Isaac is an Adept, which means he has the ability to use magic, called "Psynergy" in the games. The four elements in the game correspond to the elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, and though Isaac is by default an Earth user, the game's class system allows him to become specialized in other elements instead, and sometimes multiple at once. Isaac's default Earth psynergy includes earthquakes, attacks with vines, healing spells, and his signature Ragnarok. In addition, there are a number of neutral Psynergies used in the overworld that mostly involve pushing and pulling objects telekinetically.
- Djinn. Small creatures that befriend the characters. They can be "equipped" and provide stat boosts and special abilities depending on the Djinn, as well as influencing the character's class. All Djinn have one unique ability similar to Psynergy, though generally a little more powerful at the expense that it requires some work before it can be used again. There are quite a few of these Isaac could make use of in his moveset.
- Summons. If enough Djinn have been used, characters can summon powerful creatures that usually do a lot of damage to the enemy, though they sometimes have other effects. Isaac's signature summon is Judgment, though he can technically use any summon in the game. Isaac's thread in this forum will probably provide more details on this and the above.
If the above makes sense, you can see that there are many options for a moveset for this character, and choosing which should be placed where might be difficult.
I would personally expect an actual implementation of Isaac to be somewhat similar to the usual moveset mold - A-attacks for simple sword slashes, Smash Attacks would be Djinn-assisted attacks that might strike at long range or have special properties like Snake's, grabs would use the Force, Lift, etc. psynergies, and B-attacks would be earth Psynergy with a summon as a Final Smash.
However, in this thread I'm considering the more extreme possibilities, so what else could Isaac do?
As I mentioned above, I can see Isaac's Smash Attacks being linked to Djinn, for example a sword strike accompanied by Bane. These could have strange hitboxes or any number of unusual effects. It's also possible for them to use Unleashes in this way, or they could have simple sword smash attacks or Psynergy (this is especially possible for air attacks.)
Another thing to consider here is the possibility of Chance on Hit attacks. That is, if every sword attack Isaac used had a chance to do extra damage due to an Unleash. The chances on these aren't that low in the games, so it might not be too much of a concern, but I can still see some complaints about the randomness this would generate.
Perhaps a more interesting thought is the possibility of a morphable moveset. As it is unlikely for more than one Golden Sun character to appear, the developers might opt to give Isaac Psynergy or Djinn outside of his default Earth spells. Some fans might not like this idea, so it might even be possible for the player to change Isaac's moveset by equipping different Djinn either during character selection somehow or during battle (perhaps one special move would play a charging animation, and depending on your directional input during the charge, you would switch between one of four movesets, one for each element. It's possible this might be too complicated to implement, though, and after what happened with Shiek, there would surely be issues with balance.)
One possible workaround for this? Perhaps if you use Djinn or Psynergy too much of a particular element, those might decrease in power. Thus you would probably specialize in at least two elements to give those abilities time to "reset," which could be considered similar to an element of the GBA games, but you would always have a core set of sword attacks. Again, this might not be too popular a choice, so I see it as more likely for the "Smash attacks with unusual properties" idea to actually transfer to Isaac should he be included.
Felix would also be similar to the above with minor differences, but I referred to Isaac as he is more generally well known.
-Captain Olimar- [Army control, Character growth] *CONFIRMED*
Edit: Well, that's what I get for spending hours typing this up, heh. The Pikmin and their Captain were updated on the Dojo practically the moment I posted this. I'm still leaving this in for posterity, and we don't know how he plays at the moment anyway, so it's sort of still relevant. I added a section at the end talking further about what he could do now that we know he is in.
If he is included, it would be very improbable and nonsensical for Olimar to have a moveset that approaches "normal." In both of his games, the only action he can perform alone is a single weak punch. While new abilities could be invented for him, I can't see him being given a whole moveset, or really anything more than rudimentary punching, grabbing, and jumping skills.
In addition to this, being alone would not fit Olimar's character. Much like the proper and natural place for the Pokemon Trainer was on the sidelines directing his Pokemon in battle rather than joining in the fray, it would only be right for Olimar to command his Pikmin in some form and for most of his moves to involve them.
The Pikmin could be implemented in a number of ways. Here are basic outlines I've considered:
- You control Olimar, and a group of Pikmin follow him wherever he goes and assist him. The Pikmin act like Nana: damage to them will not damage you. They may even have hit points rather than being knocked off. If Olimar takes enough damage and is knocked off, the Pikmin currently on the stage disappear. Pikmin could be summoned automatically (through a floating Onion in the background, after which Olimar must dig the Pikmin out of the ground) or through special moves.
- You control the Pikmin. Olimar stands in the background like the Pokemon Trainer, and will periodically add new Pikmin to the group, up to a maximum. If the opponent knocks Pikmin off faster than Olimar automatically replenishes them (damage would still accumulate no matter what), eventually the last Pikmin will be knocked off and Olimar will lose 1 stock. B-attacks would probably correspond to special attacks originating from a certain color of Pikmin.
- A combination of 1) and 2), Olimar and Louie act in tandem. You control Olimar, who is surrounded by his Pikmin. Louie stands in the background, periodically gaining new Pikmin or plucking them out of the ground. The B button will make Louie throw Pikmin to the foreground (if you hold it down, you will be able to aim and possibly cause damage.) Afterwards, that Pikmin will join Olimar if he isn't at his maximum, and you can use it to attack. B-right, B-up, and B-down might correspond to doing a special attack involving red, yellow, or blue Pikmin depending on the button.
White and purple Pikmin could also be implemented in a number of ways, though they were generally more sparse.
Option 3 is my personal preference, though it may be complicated to implement. In any of the cases, Olimar's final smash would probably involve a stampede of Pikmin in some way, perhaps originating from landing Onions. Another possibility is for Olimar's rocket to be involved in some way.
The most difficult part of making a moveset for Olimar seems to me to be how to add Pikmin to his group, and how to handle knockback and recovery. The latter can be done mostly by making Olimar the focus of damage and recovery, but adding Pikmin to the group can be problematic. Adding Pikmin automatically and gradually might disappoint people especially in the case of Option 2 in which you have little to no actual control of Olimar. However, it seems to me like there must be some kind of limit as to how fast you can replenish your supply, assuming the supply can be depleted at all. I see Option 3 as a nice compromise between the two problems.
Olimar is now in Brawl for sure, and it seems certain that they have gone with something similar to Option 1, as Olimar is clearly controllable and on the stage with his Pikmin. So I will use this space now to analyze the information we've received so far and speculate on how he might play.
The first update that simply reveals his character does not really give much information. It makes a reference to Olimar "plucking Pikmin out of the ground" which can suggest one of a few things:
- Option A - He digs Pikmin out of nowhere with a special move. Probably b-down, he pulls a Pikmin out from any location on the ground like Peach can with her turnips. This would probably result in a random Pikmin color.
- Option B - Pikmin periodically are seeded onto the stage by an Onion. As I mentioned in Option 1 above, it is possible that Pikmin could be gradually added to the stage by an Onion in the background, after which Olimar must dig them from the ground with some sort of move. The problem with this is what happens when there are multiple Olimars in the same fight, since there isn't really much chance for visual distinction when only the sprout is sticking out of the ground.
- Option C - Pikmin leave seeds when they die. It's possible that the need for seeding new Pikmin could be avoided by having them leave sprouts when they die of their color, which Olimar would then have to pluck again at some point. Perhaps there would be a waiting period before it reaches the initial leaf stage.
- Option D - He gains Pikmin automatically. It's possible he might just automatically reach into the ground and take out a Pikmin once in a while when he is below his maximum and not doing something else.
Whichever of these is chosen, it's clear that you can lose Pikmin in some way. The "can't use a smash attack without Pikmin" also suggests this. It seems unlikely that you will be able to choose what color you pull out unless the second option in this list is used, as 5 special moves for summoning Pikmin types is more than the normal control setup can do. If you can control the rate at which you pull out more Pikmin, it would probably use a decent-length animation time as a balancer so that you can't get back to full strength instantly without interference.
Another element to consider is the possibility of character growth. In the pictures we can see Pikmin with all three stages of evolution: leaf, bud, and flower, in increasing order of power. Flower pikmin could be faster, more effective in attacks, or perhaps harder to lose. Thus Olimar wants to not only stay at his maximum number of Pikmin but to keep them alive so that they remain at the maximum power level.
There are three main ways Pikmin could grow.
- If Option B for plucking Pikmin is used, leaving them in the ground makes Pikmin grow gradually into the more powerful stages. Thus the Olimar player must decide between getting instant reinforcements or waiting a little bit for more powerful reinforcements.
- Pikmin could also possibly grow by being used in combat for a while. This is not like the games, but it is somewhat likely for Smash as the honey used to upgrade existing Pikmin might not be included.
- Honey could be another special move available to Olimar. This could be used to upgrade his existing Pikmin, and would have to be interruptable.
-Lip- [Calling in help]
Lip is a Japanese-only character from the game Panel de Pon, known in the U.S. originally as Tetris Attack, then modified into Pokemon Puzzle League, Planet Puzzle League and a few other names (for more details on Panel de Pon, see its thread and Wikipedia.) People say certain things have cast Lip's chances into doubt, but that is not the function of this post or thread, but rather to speculate on what things could be like.
Lip as a character does not do much in the games aside from a few poses and voice phrases, onscreen at least. The game consists of clearing out blocks from the screen by aligning 3 or more in a row. With special combinations, you can unleash "garbage blocks" on your enemy to make it harder for them to clear out their normal blocks. One of Kirby's Stone forms looks similar to Lip's Garbage Block from Panel de Pon. It's the pink rectangular one with a face and some lighter pink designs on it.
She also carries a flower stick, called Lip's Stick in Melee and confirmed to return in Brawl as an item. Thus, most of the consideration for a moveset for Lip concerns her Lip's Stick and the garbage blocks. It's difficult to come up with a diverse moveset with only these, but this is where speculation comes in.
If you are familiar with other fighting games, you may have seen some that allow you to choose multiple characters for a single game, and all must be defeated in order to win. Often these characters can be switched out at will, strategically or when one has taken a lot of damage.
Now, you may have seen that it is also common for these characters to make an attack as they are switched in to the battlefield. This is where my concept of "calling in help" for Lip comes from. Lip's initial intent in Panel de Pon is to rescue the other fairies from a curse that has made them fight amongst themselves. After breaking the spell, these characters join Lip and can later be used to fight the evil ones in Lip's stead. So the idea of Lip enlisting her friends' aid in battle isn't unheard of.
In keeping with the basic rules of Smash outlined before, we can't allow multiple characters with different damage bars and lives. And if Lip is to be the focus, a setup such as Pokemon Trainer's switch between three Pokemon cannot work well. So instead we choose three characters who all operate similarly to the function of Wario's b-down, Wario Waft.
These three characters occupy Lip's B-up, B-right, and B-down slots, with the neutral-B being left for the Garbage Block and the A-attacks involving her Lip's Stick. When the corresponding attack is used, one of the fairies comes in, doing an attack and either carrying or replacing Lip for a short time, during which they would have a modified moveset, though the basics would be similar (they all summon garbage blocks, etc.) You could probably do something to restore Lip prematurely if you wished, or another fairy can be summoned immediately. However, after this attack is used, it will be a while before it can be used effectively again. If you summon the same fairy twice in a short timespan, the second time its effect will be significantly reduced, and the fairy replacement will barely last any time at all.
As an example, let's say Windy, the first fairy you encounter, is chosen by the developers as Lip's up-B. Upon using that attack, Windy swoops in, bringing you upwards and striking any enemies in the way. You would also control Windy for a short time, having some slight differences in attacks and probably some better jumping ability. Then once the time is up, Lip would return, or you could summon another fairy directly from Windy.
Her final smash would most likely involve a large combo of garbage blocks and so not include the multiple-character idea, though it is possible.
---
More to come at a later date. Thank you for reading.