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Impa, the Enigmatic Sheikah, Sage of Shadow

Gallowglass

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GoldenYuiitusin said:
What is Impa? A nanny.

Does Impa appear in the Toon games? No.

Ergo, Tetra is the closest thing to a "Toon Sheik" that exists in the Zelda series.
Click to expand...
What is Impa?
- Bodyguard of the goddess Hylia. (Skyward Sword and before)
- Guardian of the sealed prison of the demon king. (Skyward Sword)
- Personal bodyguard of the Royal Family (namely Zelda) (Ocarina of Time)
- Teacher and trainer of Zelda (Ocarina of Time)
- One of the Sages (Ocarina of Time)
- Secret Agent of Hyrule (oracle of ages)
- Seeker of Link (Legend of Zelda)
- Historian (Adventures of Link)
- Guardian of Zelda I (Adventures of Link)

She's a bit more than just a nanny.

As for the Toon Zelda and Toon Sheik there was code in either Brawl or Melee named Toon Sheik. Impa does makes a cameo in Wind Waker where her image was on one of the stain glass window.

Spire said:
As far as Ganondorf's weaponry goes, they could go one of several routes:
  • SS-style Ganondorf (I'm sure there's some unseen artwork for him withheld from Hyrule Historia) with Demise's Sword.
Despite this list, Ganondorf could easily continue playing as a martial warlock.
Click to expand...

No, there isn't. Ganondorf was never planned to be in Skyward Sword. Demise's appearance was based off of Ganondorf's initial look.
 
Diddy Kong

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Glad you're back man. :)

Impa being the body guard of a freaking GODDESS isn't quite comparable to being a nanny. :laugh: Then again, it's GoldenY speaking.
 
LaniusShrike

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I do still think the moveset I made for her is interesting:
SPECIALS:
UP, Darting Shadows
Impa fades into a shadowy silhouette which then splits into four shadows that move away in a cross formation. After traveling a bit, Impa will reappear in one of the shadows based off of a direction indicated. and the others will detonate for a small amount of damage.
(example: If you activate it in the air and indicate to the right, the shadows will spread out in a + and Impa reappears on the right. If indicating up and left, the shadows would instead spread out in a X.)

SIDE, Escalating Barrage
A multi-stage projectile assault, essentially a ranged version of Marth's side B.
1. Impa tosses a simple dagger to the side indicated.
2. Side: Tosses two weak daggers, slightly angled up and down.
- Down: Scatters caltrops onto the ground that will make enemies take damage and trip (disappear after a short while).
- Up: Throws up an arcing double-sided sickle at a 45 degree angle that cuts through enemies as it falls back to the ground.
3. Side: A flurry of three weak daggers.
- Down: Drops a bomb in front of her that goes off in a few seconds. Dangerous for those who just tripped on the caltrops and are stunned on top of it.
- Up: Throws a handful of (weak) deku nuts in a 45 degree arc. Does damage on impact, no real launch or stun.

NEUTRAL, Umbral Orb
Impa starts summoning a growing crystal ball into her hand. Once fully grown or interrupted by shielding, she can throw it where it will explode on impact. While it will not explode in her hand, if dropped or thrown without hitting anything it will start to flash and then explode. Similar to a chargeable version of Link's bombs.

DOWN, Mark of the Sheikah
Impa enters a focused pose and deflects the next attack against her; a melee hit is negated and projectiles are just disintegrated. The attacker is then marked by the Sheikah symbol above their head for a few seconds. While marked, the target gets stunned instead of launched when hit allowing a skilled Impa character to quickly rack up damage.
 
Frostwraith

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I will be honest. The only thing that interests me in Impa is her moveset potential and how can she fit the mage-fighter archetype, combining physical strength with magic powers, being efficient on both.

Zelda relies on magic to compensate her lack of physical prowess, while Sheik focuses on physical moves over magic. Impa can blend these two styles into one unique style, hence why she doesn't make any sense as a Sheik replacement.

Impa as a Sheik replacement is idiocy, since it throws much of her potential off the window by basically re-skinning a character we already have.

Between Impa as a Sheik replacement inheriting her moveset and keeping Sheik, what does make more sense from a development standpoint?

Do note that Sheik and Impa possess different body proportions (Impa is taller than Sheik) and Sakurai's team could be using Brawl's models as bases for the new SSB4 models.
It would be faster and more efficient from a development standpoint to recycle Brawl's Sheik model, revamp it, redesign it and stick the same moveset rather than working on a differently proportioned model from scratch, rearranging the moves Sheik had to fit the new model.

Replacing Sheik with Impa for the sake of replacement isn't a very bright idea. Relevancy and recentness be damned,. SS Zelda turning into a newly designed Sheik doesn't have to make sense in Zelda canon, since Smash isn't canon to begin with.
 
Diddy Kong

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I agree with most of what you say Frost, still you shouldn't really rule out Impa replacing Sheik downrightly, even if it's a rather wasteful move. Impa could easily qualify as a mage-fighter by having Sheik's moves, but unique Bs. Keep in mind that I don't want this to happen either, but I AM expecting a playstyle that is literally a spiritual replacement for Sheik's moveset.

Impa's appeal to me also greatly comes out of her potential moveset. But damn, I really like how they did her character in Skyward Sword. Most tragic role in a game I've played- being beaten only by Sir Sigurd himself. It's definitely a very honorable, and deep role as far as Zelda characters go. Maybe only Midna had this earlier in Twilight Princess, but other than that... Close to nothing. It helps she's also a long time veteran in the series, thus is very likely to get a role in future Zelda's again.

Sheik and Impa do however have different models, no doubt. But they are similar enough to make Impa work with small alterations to Sheik's body. Just make her slightly skinnier, and with longer arms and legs.

And sure Smash doesn't HAS to be canon, but it's not like they go out of their way to establish AGAINST canon either. Thusfar it has only happened with Sheik, again, in Brawl. But as said before, the roster was decided in 2005. And it's possible Sheik was still intended to appear in Twilight Princess at that point in time.
 
LaniusShrike

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Frostwraith said:
I will be honest. The only thing that interests me in Impa is her moveset potential and how can she fit the mage-fighter archetype, combining physical strength with magic powers, being efficient on both.

Zelda relies on magic to compensate her lack of physical prowess, while Sheik focuses on physical moves over magic. Impa can blend these two styles into one unique style, hence why she doesn't make any sense as a Sheik replacement.

Impa as a Sheik replacement is idiocy, since it throws much of her potential off the window by basically re-skinning a character we already have.

Between Impa as a Sheik replacement inheriting her moveset and keeping Sheik, what does make more sense from a development standpoint?

Do note that Sheik and Impa possess different body proportions (Impa is taller than Sheik) and Sakurai's team could be using Brawl's models as bases for the new SSB4 models.
It would be faster and more efficient from a development standpoint to recycle Brawl's Sheik model, revamp it, redesign it and stick the same moveset rather than working on a differently proportioned model from scratch, rearranging the moves Sheik had to fit the new model.

Replacing Sheik with Impa for the sake of replacement isn't a very bright idea. Relevancy and recentness be damned,. SS Zelda turning into a newly designed Sheik doesn't have to make sense in Zelda canon, since Smash isn't canon to begin with.
Click to expand...
Agreed on the whole. I need to edit the OP and take out the stuff arguing for Impa replacing Sheik since at this point I'd rather just see Impa in as a completely separate character and people are pretty married to the idea of Sheik staying, which makes sense. Don't drop veteran characters if you don't need to.

I don't really feel like the Impa and Sheik having different body proportions is that big of a deal, though. The height difference would only really matter if we had scenes of SS Impa standing next to Sheik, but since there's no cannon height comparison nobody would complain if Impa's Smash height was modified to be the same as Sheik's. Some people have also mentioned that Impa's skinnier than Sheik, but I feel like it's pretty obvious why that doesn't matter (the character's animations are based off of their bone structure, not body fat).

Largely, I just liked "Impa replacing Sheik" as an excuse to separate Zelda and "Sheik" into two different characters. I still want Zelda to be separated.
 
Spire

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Master Rapier said:
What is Impa?
No, there isn't. Ganondorf was never planned to be in Skyward Sword. Demise's appearance was based off of Ganondorf's initial look.
Click to expand...
There is literally no way for either you or myself to know whether or not there is more SS concept art, but typically when artwork is released, you don't see all of it. I know who Demise is and what purpose he plays in the series. IIRC, there were only one or two sketches of Demise in Hyrule Historia. For such an important character, you'd think they'd show more concept art of him... There's always the off-chance there's a SS Ganondorf design, if even a jostle of a sketch not included in the Hyrule Historia.

I mean, the Hyrule Historia revealed more Zelda artwork than ever seen before, no doubt. However, at the time of Sheik's unveiling for Brawl, Sakurai announced that she is based on an unused Twilight Princess design. It was not until then that anyone was aware this design existed, so there too may be some SS Ganondorf play at hand.
 
Diddy Kong

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I think Hyrule Historia also covered the Skyward Sword section. So no, I do not think there are any designs for a SS Ganondorf, or a SS Sheik.
 
Scoliosis Jones

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Considering Skyward Sword is the first in the timeline, neither Sheik or Ganondorf would have made sense to appear.
 
LaniusShrike

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Scoliosis Jones said:
Considering Skyward Sword is the first in the timeline, neither Sheik or Ganondorf would have made sense to appear.
Click to expand...
Actually, there's something I wonder... Having a character named "Sheik" of the Sheikah seems really weird; it's like inventing a character named Mexy the Mexican. It's a really suspicious name and would really stand out if you're trying to remain anonymous as Zelda was.

Unlesssss, maybe the Sheikah are named after their founder, someone named Sheik. Zelda could have been modeling her costume after a historical figure, the most famous and honored of the Sheikah. If that's the case, then I actually could see someone named "Sheik" appearing in a prequel as the founder of the Shadow Tribe.
Maybe we'll see a game that features the first Sheik and the first Impa that chronicles the beginnings of the Hyrulean royalty and the Sheikah.
 
Diddy Kong

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Now that would be awesome. Shame it'll probably never happen however...
 
_R@bid_

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I'm kind of an iffy Impa supporter. The only reason I want her is so that she'd replace Sheik and be a solo character with the same moveset- she's just an excuse to clean up the balancing mess Sakurai always seems to create with transforming characters.
 
Diddy Kong

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Oh **** I'm Diddy King now. Not be be confused with MewtwoKing ofcoarse. :reverse:

I hate Fs and Vs. in my own language I even have trouble with them.
 
Diddy Kong

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So yeah, someone pointed outmin the other thread Impa has more pages of support than Ghirahim has. And modt likely also Tingle. Does this make Impa actually the most wanted newcomer of the Zelda characters?
 
Autumn ♫

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Diddy Kong said:
So yeah, someone pointed outmin the other thread Impa has more pages of support than Ghirahim has. And modt likely also Tingle. Does this make Impa actually the most wanted newcomer of the Zelda characters?
Click to expand...
Either that or people just post more on this to argue more to keep Sheik. If that previous sentence made any sense to anyone. It feels like I typed it wrong.
 
Swamp Sensei

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Diddy Kong said:
So yeah, someone pointed outmin the other thread Impa has more pages of support than Ghirahim has. And modt likely also Tingle. Does this make Impa actually the most wanted newcomer of the Zelda characters?
Click to expand...
You realize that most of those posts are us arguing with and/or trolling you, right?
 
Swamp Sensei

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You guys can't forget Dr. Sheik.
 
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