Hey everyone, after much consideration and consulting with my editor, I have reached a final verdict on Sans’s moveset. I will do a brief intro first.
Who is Sans?
Sans is a character from the cult classic indie title, Undertale. He first appears in Snowdin, along with his brother Papyrus. He served as a supporting character in the pacifist and neutral route, as well as the heroic antagonist as well as final boss, of the genocide route.
Why should he be in Smash?
I’m sure all of you know that we ALL have our fair share of indie disputes on who should make it first. (Myself included) The reason I picked Sans is because he actually has in-game attacks to use. Fnaf is a point and click, with the only method of attacking being jumpscares. Batim is a horror survival game that is like resident evil combined with an evil Mickey Mouse. Minecraft could work, as well as Banjo Kazooie or Crash Bandicoot, (Even though they’re not indie games) but which indie title has the best relationship with Nintendo? That’s right. Undertale. Besides Cuphead and Shovel Knight, I don’t see any mega Indie title characters having workable attacks to incorporate into a moveset. You can’t enter smash without a proper attack method. What’s B.O.I. Issac gonna do? Cry at his enemies? Sure. With the roasting of indie games out of the way, let’s get to the moveset itself.
Sans’s standard attacks could consist of basic punches, kicks, and bone swings. Gaster Blasters were tricky here. I wanted to incorporate his gaster blasters I’m a way they could be charged up, (i.e., smash attacks) but I wanted to have bones be a big part of those moves. So I decided to have his gaster blasters used exclusively for his specials. His jabs consist of a Kirby style of punches for example. Keep in mind that Sans won’t be using “regular” attacks often. The goal of playing as Sans is to move as little as possible while keeping your opponents as far away from you as possible. The only time he’ll have to get even remotely close is for his grabs. More on that later.
Status effects- Sans’s bone attacks inflict KR. This stands for Karmic Retribution. If you’re hit by a bone, poison is inflicted upon you, and it gradually does damage overtime. Only bone attacks do this.
Sometimes bones will be blue. If you see a bone that’s coming at you and it’s blue, don’t move, and it won’t hurt you. If you do move while touching a blue bone, you’ll take damage.
Specials- Now for the REAL part of the moveset: the specials.
Neutral- Gaster Blaster
Sans spawns a Gaster Blaster in front of him and fires it. It can be charged, and while you’re charging it, you can aim with the circle pad while holding B. When fully charged up, it can reach all the way across the stage, AND off the screen entirely! Each Gaster Blaster takes about 4-5 seconds to charge.
Side special- Bone spam
Sans shoots unlimited bones in a straight line forward. Sometimes the bones he shoots will come out blue instead of white. Like the Gaster Blaster it can be aimed in any direction via holding B and aiming via circle pad. (80% of Sans attacks are ranged based.) Each bone itself doesn’t do much damage, but because of how quickly it comes out, combined with the poison effect due to KR, if you end up getting hit by one bone, you’ll more then likely end up getting hit by another 50-something bones. (Not to mention the poison racking up damage simultaneously as well.)
Up special- Bone Cage
Originally I had a weird thing where if an opponent showed up behind Sans while he was doing his up special, a second blue bone cage would pop up. That was kind of weird, looking back on it. My solution? Ditch the two bone cages on either side thing, and have the blue bones sometimes pop up in front of Sans. When you imput upward while pressing B, a five-boned cage will pop up in front of Sans, occasionally being blue. You have the option of sending it forward, by simply imputing the direction you’re facing directly after imputing B and up. Doing this will send the bones sliding across the ground, or if you’re in midair, in a direct straight line. (This is one of his attacks you can’t aim with.) Sometimes a six-bone cage will spawn, in the shape of stairs. (Three tall bones next to three short bones.) Yes, those too shall occasionally be blue as well.
Down special- Shortcut
Sans disappears using his shortcut ability. Where you reappear depends on which direction you imput.
Grabs- Sans has MAJOR grabbing range, due to his ability to grab a character’s soul. When grabbing as Sans, instead of grabbing them with your hands, you grab them by their soul. The higher damage they’ve taken the more difficult it is to break free. (Note that you can only grab one character at a time.)
Throws- Sans has GREAT combo potential. One of the coolest is his soul throwing. After grabbing an opponent, imput in any direction you choose and Sans will send the opposing fighter flying in that direction in a straight line. If you want to get REALLY complex, you can spawn bone cages on nearby floors or walls to throw your opponents into. Simply press B while currently grabbing or currently throwing an opponent, and a special bone cage will spawn for you to throw them at. (Note that the “special” bone cages only spawn on walls and floors.) P. S.- Remember that you can only switch throwing directions directly AFTER you’ve slammed an opponent onto a wall or ceiling. You can’t change directions mid-throw.
Final Smash-
Send opposing fighters through your pre-“do nothing” attack, as they’re sent through a storm of Gaster Blasters, flurries of bones, and slammed around via soul throwing.
Taunts- After all those detailed descriptions, now comes the fun part!
Up- Sans drinks ketchup
Sides- Sans plays the trombone like he did in the Papyrus date scene.
Down- Sans shrugs while winking. This also triggers the “badum tsh” sound effect.
Winning animations- Sans can’t be a fighter without these!
1st- Sans says “Gettttt dunked on!!!!!!!” from the sparing Sans scene in Undertale.
2nd- Sans lies on the ground sleeping with the annoying dog.
3rd- Sans winks and teleports away.
Palette Swaps- And finally, the piece de resistance, the alternative costumes Sans can wear. It was a bit somewhat difficult deciding on whether to include the various AU’s, but after thoughtful consideration, I decided to pick a grab bag of Sans-es that I think you’ll find very innovative.
1st- Undertale look
2nd- Underfell look
3rd- Underswap look
4th- Outertale look
5th- Mobtale look
6th- Sans with Papyrus’s scarf on (post genocide Papyrus fight)
7th- Dusttale look
8th- Ultratale look
And that’s about it. Hope you enjoyed it. As always, stay determined. Have a good night.