Kaede Plays Along! Danganronpa for Smash Ultimate

[Clumsyzephyr]

Kaede Akamatsu from the Danganronpa series


Who is she?
Kaede is the main protagonist of the third entry in the Danganronpa series. She's the ultimate pianist, thrown into a killing game against her will. Kaede is an overly-optimistic natural leader determined to overcome the grim enviroment she finds herself in.


What is Danganronpa/Why should she be in Smash?
Danganronpa is an adventure game/horror visual novel that has the player investigating murders and revealing who the culprit is in "class trials" that involve interactive minigames to counter statements made by the other classmates. It is a genre that could be very fun to see translated to Smash as we lack a character who falls under a detective archetype, someone who uses investigating and evidence as a method of fighting. It's also a series that has been rapidly growing in popularity, and representation here could boost it even more.


Moveset
Thanks to amageish for this really creative and interesting moveset idea!

Spoiler: Moveset

Neutral Special: Truth Sword. A sword slices down in front of Kaede, similar to the rebuttals in DR and Palutena's side-special.

- Up Special: This is hard. Um… Mui has a jetpack in her art. Kaede has it pop out of her backpack and flies straight up in one burst... If that doesn't work... um... What if she just flew up powered by the power of friendship? No? Okay, my best idea (I think) is for this to be the Psyche Taxi. She lifts up her hand and the taxi appears above her, driving upwards, propelling her up with it.

- Side Special: Truth Bullet. Words appear beside Kaede as she fires a bullet into the middle of them, dealing damage relative to the amount found in her investigation (see below).

- Down Special: Investigation/Perjury. Upon pressing the button, Kaede absorbs all attacks made against her, similar to a counter or Villager's pocket. Next to her portrait, she has 6 rounds with percentages written on them, reflecting the amount of damage those attacks would have done to her had she not investigated. She can either choose to fire the bullet now via her side-special (doing that amount of damage) or hold down the down special to commit perjury, which will artificially inflate the percentage of damage done by the move at the expense of lessening the knockback.

- Normal Attacks: She kicks and punches things. I'd like to use the mines somewhere, but can't figure out where, so maybe they turn up here in some moves.

- Smash Attacks: Hangman's Gambit. Letters appear around Kaede depending on the direction she's facing, spelling out "SMASH." Upon release, bullets fire out hitting the letters (and hopefully nearby opponents), similar to Duck Hunt’s smash attacks. If the attack is released while the letters line up, then it does extra damage.

Alts
It's possible that her alts could be based on the other protagonists of the series like hero. Everyone not only performs the same "moves" but also share the same poses while doing them too. It is possible however that they could just make her alts colors based on the other students in her game.

Makoto Naegi and Hajime Hinata, the protagonists of the first and second games respectively


Stage

Trial Room

The stage can be the room class trials take place in, as it is easily one of the most iconic locations in the series. The layout would probably be very simple, something similar to mementos, having a platform in front of the pedestals while having a ton of cameos in the background of the other students from the series.



Music

Spoiler: Music Tracks

DANGANRONPA - Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc
BOX 15 - Trigger Happy Havoc
Discussion - Trigger Happy Havoc
New World Order - Trigger Happy Havoc
Mr. Monokuma's Lesson - Trigger Happy Havoc
Ms. Monomi's Practice Lesson - Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair
Ekoroshia - Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair
Objection CROSS SWORD - Danganronpa 2 Goodbye Despair
Warriors of Hope - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
It's a Kid's World - Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
Scrum Debate - Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony
Hope Searching - Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony
Despair Searching - Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony

Supporters

Spoiler: Supporters

Clumsyzephyr
amageish
ninjahmos

​

 

[amageish]

I support! I really like your selection of music a lot especially.

I wonder what the choice would be for the victory theme... The main DANGANRONPA theme remixed? Trial themes? Clair de Lune as its basically Kaede's theme anyway? Hard to say...

 

[Clumsyzephyr]

I support! I really like your selection of music a lot especially.

I wonder what the choice would be for the victory theme... The main DANGANRONPA theme remixed? Trial themes? Clair de Lune as its basically Kaede's theme anyway? Hard to say...

I didn't actually think about that...assuming it's all of them, it could very possibly be something that's more general like the main theme. If it was just Kaede, I think it could be either.

 

[amageish]

I didn't actually think about that...assuming it's all of them, it could very possibly be something that's more general like the main theme. If it was just Kaede, I think it could be either.

That's fair... I mean, they could pull a Mementos and have specific themes per character? Off the top of my head, I think that may be unprecedented, but also the Smash team just does unprecedented things for time to time...

Granted, it's not like Makoto or Hajime have personal themes in quite the same way Kaede does...

 

[ninjahmos]

I support Danganronpa for Smash! Though my first choice for visual novel representation for Smash would be Ace Attorney, but I digress. Count me in!

 

[Clumsyzephyr]

I support Danganronpa for Smash!

Welcome! I've added you to the supporters list!