KneeOfJustice99
Smash Champion
Okay, I saw the concepts for a villain-only roster and I was instantly hooked - so here's my take!
1. The Queen. (Albeit not exactly the most developed villain out there, her role as one of Disney's earlier main villains is undeniably important. Not only that, but I think her potential nature as a gateway character to introduce mechanics would be fun, such as including a poisoned apple as a projectile.)
2. Peg-Leg Pete. (I wanted to include a Mickey villain of some sort, but it was actually difficult to decide which one to go for. I originally considered Mortimer, but Pete was my final choice due mostly to his sheer importance to both Mickey and Disney as a whole.)
3. Maleficent. (I was already beginning to discover we'd have an issue regarding how many magic-based villains we have... Maleficent is probably the easiest to get a grasp onto, relying less on specific setups than characters like Ursula, Hades, or Xehanort.)
4. Cruella De Vil. (Again, she felt like an obvious choice even if I'm not absolutely sure how she'd work. I think leaning into her fashionable nature would be a good idea here, as opposed to leaning into her wanting to kill dogs.)
5. Gaston. (Beloved by many, I think he'd be a fun sword-based character - but unlike some, he's a middle of the road type, sort of like a fusion of Roy and Ike in some ways. It'd be a cool way to capture his personality.)
6. Captain Hook. (An unprescedented problem I ran into was that a lot of Disney villains seem to also be pirates. Huh. I felt he'd be a cool inclusion overall, most of his attacks being focused on his hook and the like with less focus on other pirate paraphernalia - that goes to the other one here.)
7. Chernabog. (Though I struggled with a "traditional" Mickey villain, Chernabog was an obvious choice right from the start. I'd say he's probably the "Fighting Game Boss" of this game - a powerful, but slow, tank who's basically the "main villain" of sorts.)
8. Frollo. (I don't know all too much about him, but I know he's fairly complex and would be pretty fun to see here. Maybe leaning into some religious influences would be a clever way to take him, though obviously nothing overt. This is, after all, Disney in the 2020s.)
9. The Queen of Hearts. (I felt Alice in Wonderland would be important to represent here somehow or another, given the whimsical and weird vibe of the world as a whole. She'd probably focus more on using her playing card soldiers to attack for her.)
10. Kaa. (I wanted a Jungle Book character here somewhere, and whilst I considered Shere Khan, I felt he'd be too similar to Scar due to their physiology. As such, I went with Kaa, mostly because I think his moveset and overall design would be a lot more interesting to play as given he's a snake.)
11. Hades. (Another heavily magically-oriented fighter, he'd be focused mostly on fire-based projectiles and a lot of stage control. I just think he'd be very fun to see included in a game like this. I like his vibes.)
12. Scar. (Scar is admittedly a very fun inclusion too. Being a lion, he'd have plenty of moveset potential to work with, and maybe could set his hyenas on other characters as well or something.)
13. Jafar. (I don't know a lot about Jafar specifically, but I think his overall design and the like would make him a unique inclusion. I think focusing on his alchemy as opposed to his sorcery with the power of the Genie would be a better way to handle him, though.)
14. Ursula. (Picture her as a sorcerer-grappler. I mean, with all of those tentacles, I could actually see it working pretty well. She's of course a heavyweight, but don't tell her that.)
15. Kronk. (I considered Ysma for this spot... but Kronk felt right, somehow, mostly due to Ysma's likely similarities to Maleficent and the like. I have no idea how Kronk would play. He'd just be very funny.)
16. Oogie Boogie. (This just felt very right. His creepy nature, being a bag filled with spiders? I love it. It works perfectly in something like this.)
17. Rinzler. (I genuinely very nearly put Sark here, but I felt Rinzler's nature as a much lighter, more calculated character would make him unique in this roster in terms of mechanics. Yes, I was always going to add a TRON character. I'm biased.)
18. Davy Jones. (He actually just felt really logical to me somehow. I didn't want to add too many live action characters for a few reasons but Davy felt like a really solid addition. Unlike Hook, he'd be focused a lot more on both the ocean and, well, being a pirate. Even so, I can imagine a rivalry between the pair.)
19. Xehanort. (Surprised? I know next to nothing about Kingdom Hearts, but I felt that a villain from the Kingdom Hearts series would be an obvious inclusion. Whilst I considered Sephiroth, Xehanort is the main villain of the series as a whole, so I felt he'd be more fitting overall.)
20. Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. (The first of two Disney TVA characters here, I didn't want to fill the roster with them, so I limited myself to two. Luckily, I knew in advance who to choose. Doof's different -inators would be very fun to see, as well as his scientific nature playing well in a game filled with sorcerers!)
21. Bill Cipher. (The other TVA character I knew I had to include, I think his nature as a semi-eldritch being would be fun to play into here. Compared to various sorcerers and magicians, him being this chaos deity of sorts would make him really weird and unique, as well as a solid TVA pick from a beloved IP.)
22. Hopper. (A Bug's Life might not be the first Pixar film you'd expect here, but I felt his nature as a grasshopper would make him a very unique character to be included - and this is in, like, no order whatsoever. I don't know a lot about it, but the moveset potential is vast.)
23. Randall. (Monsters Inc. is beloved, and Randall's nature as a chameleon-like monster makes him an obvious and quite fitting pick here. I can imagine him being quite evasive but skilled at landing surprise attacks.)
24. Chick Hicks. (On the other end of the spectrum of surprise is Chick Hicks, who you'd see from a mile away. Look, a Cars antagonist felt like an obvious way to take Pixar's representation here, and I didn't even consider the other Cars antagonists - Chick just has such an interesting personality.)
25. Emperor Zurg. (I'd suggest this should be based on his fictionalised self in the Space Rangers canon. Zurg might not stand out as the first pick for a Toy Story villain - perhaps Lotso or Stinky Pete - but I felt his nature as a robot alien of sorts made him exceptionally unique and a solid choice.)
26. Syndrome. (Again stepping away from fantasy, Syndrome just felt obvious. A supervillain here felt like a really clever inclusion, and if Marvel characters were to perhaps be added as DLC or the like, seeing him fight them would be quite fun to observe.)
27. King Candy/Turbo. (Yes, he can switch between the two. Turbo would be a lot faster and more combo-oriented whereas Candy is slower but heavier-hitting. Also, they both have great connections to racing and the like so maybe they share a kart-based Side-B?)
28. Yokai. (Straying a little into Marvel territory, Yokai might not be the most prominent character to see here, but his moveset revolving around his small robots and his ability to say "That was his stake!" at any time would be really fun and unique to see. Also... I just really like Big Hero 6.)
Roster image. In no particular order, of course.
You'll notice I took care not to add any Marvel or Star Wars characters... it just felt right. I mean, maybe for DLC they'd be good, I can picture Thanos and Darth Vader working really well, but this would be focused a lot more on Disney. I also didn't want to give TVA too much focus so I limited it to two characters that are generally really well recieved from the whole block. Also, there were some characters I did consider adding, but just ended up not doing - such as Shan Yu from Mulan and Prince Hans from Frozen, neither of which I decided to add because they didn't really add anything unique to the game and didn't have a lot of instant "woah, they have lots of potential" or "woah, they have lots of personality that you could craft a moveset around." Hans came close, but I reasoned that the inclusion of Gaston kinda made him a bit pointless.
Hope this is good! Sorry if any of these unintentionally spoiled any of the movies...
1. The Queen. (Albeit not exactly the most developed villain out there, her role as one of Disney's earlier main villains is undeniably important. Not only that, but I think her potential nature as a gateway character to introduce mechanics would be fun, such as including a poisoned apple as a projectile.)
2. Peg-Leg Pete. (I wanted to include a Mickey villain of some sort, but it was actually difficult to decide which one to go for. I originally considered Mortimer, but Pete was my final choice due mostly to his sheer importance to both Mickey and Disney as a whole.)
3. Maleficent. (I was already beginning to discover we'd have an issue regarding how many magic-based villains we have... Maleficent is probably the easiest to get a grasp onto, relying less on specific setups than characters like Ursula, Hades, or Xehanort.)
4. Cruella De Vil. (Again, she felt like an obvious choice even if I'm not absolutely sure how she'd work. I think leaning into her fashionable nature would be a good idea here, as opposed to leaning into her wanting to kill dogs.)
5. Gaston. (Beloved by many, I think he'd be a fun sword-based character - but unlike some, he's a middle of the road type, sort of like a fusion of Roy and Ike in some ways. It'd be a cool way to capture his personality.)
6. Captain Hook. (An unprescedented problem I ran into was that a lot of Disney villains seem to also be pirates. Huh. I felt he'd be a cool inclusion overall, most of his attacks being focused on his hook and the like with less focus on other pirate paraphernalia - that goes to the other one here.)
7. Chernabog. (Though I struggled with a "traditional" Mickey villain, Chernabog was an obvious choice right from the start. I'd say he's probably the "Fighting Game Boss" of this game - a powerful, but slow, tank who's basically the "main villain" of sorts.)
8. Frollo. (I don't know all too much about him, but I know he's fairly complex and would be pretty fun to see here. Maybe leaning into some religious influences would be a clever way to take him, though obviously nothing overt. This is, after all, Disney in the 2020s.)
9. The Queen of Hearts. (I felt Alice in Wonderland would be important to represent here somehow or another, given the whimsical and weird vibe of the world as a whole. She'd probably focus more on using her playing card soldiers to attack for her.)
10. Kaa. (I wanted a Jungle Book character here somewhere, and whilst I considered Shere Khan, I felt he'd be too similar to Scar due to their physiology. As such, I went with Kaa, mostly because I think his moveset and overall design would be a lot more interesting to play as given he's a snake.)
11. Hades. (Another heavily magically-oriented fighter, he'd be focused mostly on fire-based projectiles and a lot of stage control. I just think he'd be very fun to see included in a game like this. I like his vibes.)
12. Scar. (Scar is admittedly a very fun inclusion too. Being a lion, he'd have plenty of moveset potential to work with, and maybe could set his hyenas on other characters as well or something.)
13. Jafar. (I don't know a lot about Jafar specifically, but I think his overall design and the like would make him a unique inclusion. I think focusing on his alchemy as opposed to his sorcery with the power of the Genie would be a better way to handle him, though.)
14. Ursula. (Picture her as a sorcerer-grappler. I mean, with all of those tentacles, I could actually see it working pretty well. She's of course a heavyweight, but don't tell her that.)
15. Kronk. (I considered Ysma for this spot... but Kronk felt right, somehow, mostly due to Ysma's likely similarities to Maleficent and the like. I have no idea how Kronk would play. He'd just be very funny.)
16. Oogie Boogie. (This just felt very right. His creepy nature, being a bag filled with spiders? I love it. It works perfectly in something like this.)
17. Rinzler. (I genuinely very nearly put Sark here, but I felt Rinzler's nature as a much lighter, more calculated character would make him unique in this roster in terms of mechanics. Yes, I was always going to add a TRON character. I'm biased.)
18. Davy Jones. (He actually just felt really logical to me somehow. I didn't want to add too many live action characters for a few reasons but Davy felt like a really solid addition. Unlike Hook, he'd be focused a lot more on both the ocean and, well, being a pirate. Even so, I can imagine a rivalry between the pair.)
19. Xehanort. (Surprised? I know next to nothing about Kingdom Hearts, but I felt that a villain from the Kingdom Hearts series would be an obvious inclusion. Whilst I considered Sephiroth, Xehanort is the main villain of the series as a whole, so I felt he'd be more fitting overall.)
20. Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. (The first of two Disney TVA characters here, I didn't want to fill the roster with them, so I limited myself to two. Luckily, I knew in advance who to choose. Doof's different -inators would be very fun to see, as well as his scientific nature playing well in a game filled with sorcerers!)
21. Bill Cipher. (The other TVA character I knew I had to include, I think his nature as a semi-eldritch being would be fun to play into here. Compared to various sorcerers and magicians, him being this chaos deity of sorts would make him really weird and unique, as well as a solid TVA pick from a beloved IP.)
22. Hopper. (A Bug's Life might not be the first Pixar film you'd expect here, but I felt his nature as a grasshopper would make him a very unique character to be included - and this is in, like, no order whatsoever. I don't know a lot about it, but the moveset potential is vast.)
23. Randall. (Monsters Inc. is beloved, and Randall's nature as a chameleon-like monster makes him an obvious and quite fitting pick here. I can imagine him being quite evasive but skilled at landing surprise attacks.)
24. Chick Hicks. (On the other end of the spectrum of surprise is Chick Hicks, who you'd see from a mile away. Look, a Cars antagonist felt like an obvious way to take Pixar's representation here, and I didn't even consider the other Cars antagonists - Chick just has such an interesting personality.)
25. Emperor Zurg. (I'd suggest this should be based on his fictionalised self in the Space Rangers canon. Zurg might not stand out as the first pick for a Toy Story villain - perhaps Lotso or Stinky Pete - but I felt his nature as a robot alien of sorts made him exceptionally unique and a solid choice.)
26. Syndrome. (Again stepping away from fantasy, Syndrome just felt obvious. A supervillain here felt like a really clever inclusion, and if Marvel characters were to perhaps be added as DLC or the like, seeing him fight them would be quite fun to observe.)
27. King Candy/Turbo. (Yes, he can switch between the two. Turbo would be a lot faster and more combo-oriented whereas Candy is slower but heavier-hitting. Also, they both have great connections to racing and the like so maybe they share a kart-based Side-B?)
28. Yokai. (Straying a little into Marvel territory, Yokai might not be the most prominent character to see here, but his moveset revolving around his small robots and his ability to say "That was his stake!" at any time would be really fun and unique to see. Also... I just really like Big Hero 6.)
Roster image. In no particular order, of course.
Hope this is good! Sorry if any of these unintentionally spoiled any of the movies...
