Make Your Move 25: Moveset Design Contest — Contest is Donezo! MYM 26 Starts March 17th!

[Slavic]

On Your Left
Venom Strange by n88 is a completely bonkers set while also being downright incredible in its own right. This is by far the most I've enjoyed a JamCon set period, and that's including Catarina and Belzeb from last contest, both of which I happily SV'ed. There's so many facets for this set that it would be believable as someone's months long passion project rather than a goof-em-up four day prompt. I do have my issues with the set, which I know I've not been alone on: the Specials. I don't think anyone would come through and say the Specials are bad by any means, but they definitely pale compare to the rest of the set, something fairly rare in MYM. Ward, Portal, and Container are presented fairly basically and the start of the set makes V-Strange feel weird and disconnected in the parts, skewing him into a full on wall-and-stall character without much magic. Technically you could consider every Summon attack as part of the Summon Special but like that would be ridiculous of course. There's not huge issues with the Specials, and they do tie into the set more clearly as time goes on, but they make for a really awkward introduction of the set: "Here's Earth's greatest sorcerer infected with a malleable alien symbiote. He can create magic portals, walls, and jars."

With that out of the way, everything else about the set blows it out of the water for me. Summon attacks are a really brilliant way to spice up this essentially two-in-one moveset, giving Strange essentially a snippet of a new moveset every few inputs. It feels really fresh to read through, and with his other three Specials Venom Strange gets this vibe as a minion mastermind we don't see terribly much. Each attack is memorable because of how they're handled, and while the input layout is a little jarring, I do understand why it was done how it was and think it's for the best. I love the idea of summons that encourage the foe to actively destroy them, since they don't go onto cooldown unless they are. The pinnacle of this is of course Venom Wolverine, who specializes in burst damage and health recovery over a short period of time. I could honestly talk about how every summon is great and feels so different from each other, but I don't want to sit here and write it all out when I have more reading to do so suffice to say every single one is a standout hit. Having said that, the Hell Charger is so out of nowhere and might be my favorite part of the set, how could I hate a set that drives a hell car straight down for DAir?

Venom Strange's own attacks are very good as well, something that a set could easily eschew when focusing on the summons particularly for a JamCon. They are full of character, fitting really well for a combination of Strange and Venom, while still playing into the same kind of moveset as a stage manipulator in completely different ways. There's little recurring themes across them that I like as well, notably the mobility tricks on a few of his aerials that repel him from or teleport him to the stage. Big, stretchy, weird attacks, and honestly this set would be a bit confrontational if he did any more with his own moves than he already does. The set strikes a perfect balance of 'summons are good, here are your own attacks, they're a bit unwieldy but overall solid'.

Before wrapping the comment up, I'd like to shout out the set and n88's actual writing style, as it is really, really good, one of the best in MYM right now I'm inclined to believe. Fantastic mix of humor, technical information, formal and informal words, the writing in this set is just good, not much else to say. Everything said, I think this is an incredible set in general, not just as a JamCon, and is only hindered by the organization of the attacks due to the unorthodox ways the set works. Nothing much to do about it, unfortunately, but very good regardless! (Also it's very serendipitous that Deadpool is the set I most associate with you and also the last chunk of the moveset, and the Tumble shout means I do have to make Venom Tumble now, thank you). This set had me both geeking out and smiling the whole time, especially towards the end. Top tier job, Nate!

For A Guy Named Light, He Seems Pretty Dark, Huh?
Light by Katapultar is a set I understand many were very hype for, and while I myself have virtually no exposure to Death Note, MYM or otherwise, is a high profile character who fits in perfectly with Kat's style of writing and character choice. I'm not entirely sure how I managed to rip Light off when I made Shiny Hoppip (Light Hoppip?) for April 1st but here we are. Because of this it's interesting to see my joke idea of 'mindgame for a move that doesn't have a hitbox' play off with great success. Light has an extremely solid core here, absolutely love how the Death Note gets woven in, the unique ways that Light can set up mindgames either directly pretending to do another attack or more traditionally like with DAir/FAir mixup.

I will say at times the moveset's writing can be a bit confusing, especially when piecing together Deathblows and who they all give heart attacks to when involving crooks and corpses. Such is the nature of a set like this, but I definitely found keeping track of the different kinds of timed Heart Attacks and Deathblows a little tricky, though certainly still something that can be pieced together. Honestly, though, my favorite interactions in the set tend to be when agents are involved, as Light does fun things with bullets when they're in play and when boosted as Deathblows. The effect of the crook being shot, stumbling, and sending the bullet backwards is one of the best 'reflectors' I've seen. And I just made a moveset that was, like, half reflectors! I don't have terribly many issues with this set outside of finding it confusing at points, though I do think Jab's Deathblow seems really strong for being relatively non-committal. I also feel like Jab does lean Light towards always going the Deathblow route instead of the Heart Attack route because he can still perform one this way, albeit not as strong, and makes it a bit redundant to have both? I don't have a tangible solution, just the vibe I get.

Kira's a very solid set all around who doesn't falter conceptually. This moveset is also efficient with wordcount, something I know I and others appreciate, though I think that might be an underlying reason why he can be a bit confusing at times. There's plenty of fun ideas throughout the whole set, love the car DSmash (how did we end up with two car summons?), the Roland-style agents involved in the grab game, and of course a very fun and fitting alternate win condition. This is a great moveset, even if I don't think it stands up to Catarina from last contest personally, excellent work!

 

[ForwardArrow]

Light Yagami
This was a really exciting character for me to see after all the years of Death Note having a... less than successful MYM track record, MYM5 Ryuk aside. I haven't watched enough of the series to say how I feel about it but its always felt like something beloved by a subset of the community that just struggled to get anywhere in the contest itself. And to get my criticism of the set out of the way, I do think the way Light is implemented into Smash feels a little janky in terms of using his actual powerset. I don't really mind the criminals and corpses even if the implementation is arguably a little jarring/weird/not how I'd personally do it, but what started to actually bother me is it felt like Light was just causing people to die from touching things, including in increasingly weird ways like reflecting bullets around and losing blood just from Light coming into contact with them, that felt like it was stretching the Death Note's actual abilities pretty thin. It feels like the Death Note is messing with reality more than its messing with causality, and I think it should lean more towards the latter. The scythe is also an undeniably weird addition to the set, a move I find pretty cool in implementation but it definitely feels like its going a little far by pulling a scythe out of the promotional material.

With all that said, and considering I've said in chat I want Nair and Jab changed, I actually still really like this set, and I think its fantastically characterized. Which might raise a few eyebrows considering how far I said it stretches Light's actual powerset, and it does, but I think it does so in service of portraying Light and Death Note really well on a whole. The demand for Light to land an exact string of moves to power them up to obscene levels, with the opponent being given enough information to react to it but not enough to necessarily know what Light's planning feels like a really, really slick way to do modern MYM mindgames. There's still a guessing game to be had, sure, but its a guessing game that feels very natural to layer on top of the reads you already have to do for Smash. The set's constantly coming up with new payoffs for it too, sometimes you can use it to make a very long-lasting hitbox, sometimes you use it to make a godkiller strong Smash attack, sometimes you even use it to make Light vastly better at powering through attacks. There's a lot of little tricks in the set to let Light really fish for whatever move he's looking for to complete the chain, and frankly if you want to go for the classic Death Note sudden heart attack death, the set has plenty of tools to set it up too in fun and fascinating ways. I just really like how Light's all about getting in the foe's head to find a way to kill them... it almost feels like him trying to piece together the names of his adversaries in canon, and just feels like a shockingly respectful set for the franchise despite how weird it is.

On top of that, its just a cool as hell and ambitious concept. Like, its probably really hard for any given character to land an exact sequence of 3-4 pre-planned attacks, and the set knows it and makes it sound feasible enough to be compelling, feeling pretty unique from almost any other buffing mechanic we've had. I honestly kind of wonder if prepping to land an exact sequence of moves could be done again in a future set, not because Light doesn't do it really well, but because Light does it in a way that's just flawed enough that I want to see it done again. I think its a concept that could be turned into a knockout SV or even SV+ tier set if it didn't have the weird baggage Light's reality warping in the set brings and a little more time to cook.

Daisy Fire Emblem
I'm just going to be honest, this comment block has partially taken as long as it has because I had no earthly clue what I'm supposed to say about Daisy. The set's honestly really unique, I've genuinely never seen a follow up mechanic quite like Neutral Special, and the ability to turn your attacks in any direction but only if you repeat them is actually a super fun concept that the set takes... decent advantage of, I'd say? I never really had a moment where I felt like "wow this is an exploration of that concept that REALLY gets me excited for it", but she can still use it to bully opponents around and chain together long strings of hits in fairly interesting ways. I also like that the gold mechanic is simple and intuitive, with some decent payoffs in what she can buy, and the concept of turning Anna's shop into a counter, and that you can steal things from it if used as a counter successfully, is actually just hilarious and pretty clever. Its got a lot of the material it needs to be a set I like.

Unfortunately, it isn't, and I'd say the biggest factor in that is the amount of RNG in the set. I've seen people defend the set's RNG and I get it, the set's clearly built around landing a lot of hits to fish for those random stun(or in a different case, critical hit) procs that Daisy can get massive payout off. She's very good at getting those 1 in 20 chances off... but I don't like how much her matches would be determined based off if she got said stun proc on Hit #5 or Hit #40, especially because this is a character that very clearly can snowball hard off her gold mechanic... and similarly if she keeps blowing gold on do-nothing swords, she's going to lose. The proc chance is too small, the result is too dramatic, and there's no mitigating factors to the RNG(like it not happening on the first few hits and having a gradually increasing chance over further strings of them), not to mention that Up Smash feels like a downright oppressively powerful snowballing tool once she gets it going. I think there's ways to tune the RNG in a way to make me fine with it, which'd probably require making a more complicated formula but I'd really rather the set wasn't operating on a flat 1 in X chance for how much it changes her matches to depend on the random number generator over the player's actual skill.

I guess as far as other stuff I'd want changed if you're interested in editing the set, I'm really convinced that more interesting payoffs to the follow up in any direction mechanic have to be possible. Its just something to think about as I do think this set has a shocking amount of potential, I just don't personally like it in its current state. Hilarious character choice though, fun to see you create something this unorthodox out of one of the weakest and most obscure characters in the entire Fire Emblem franchise, and I'm glad to see the set has its fans in spite of my misgivings.

Nino
It honestly took me a moment to "get" Nino, as while she had these big, cool, splashy potential attacks in her Specials that she can build up to and a fun mechanic to work for them, I sort of felt like there wasn't as much of an end goal beyond being a glass cannon of sorts. When the set just doubled down on that in the Smashes though, which are attacks that ALWAYS feel extreme and just become downright ludicrous once you start reaching the higher tome tiers, it all kinda clicked for me. Nino's a sort of glass cannon with overwhelming power, designed to zone her opponent out so she can land these absolutely titanic screen covering hits by just overwhelming the foe by having such a variety of them and such powerful coverage of stage space and duration. Of course, she'd probably be too oppressive if she just got there from the start, so she has to train like she does in game to get her attacks up to the point you're firing Ganondorf FSmashes that cover 2/3rds of Final Destination or whatever. And to make the training easier, she's got her beloved companion Jaffar to protect her, who is used in a variety of fun ways to pile on more damage during the big attacks, cover Nino's poor defenses, and use her own attacks to get in some surprisingly powerful backstabs.

The set's not blowing me away conceptually admittedly, the way it uses its giant death hitboxes isn't one with that much depth to it, but the process of getting there is certainly a compelling challenge and the reward is both satisfying and just flawed enough opponents are hardly out of the match once Nino starts throwing out her ultra powerful Legendary tome Smashes/Specials. Plus, when I say that, I mostly just mean in comparison to the super heavy hitters like Shroob or Jodie or Sleaze, its got plenty of appealingly fun payoffs that it'd be fun to come up with strategies for. But I also just like the way Nino's quicker, simpler options are tailored to get her there, and that they still often scale in some fun ways with better tomes. I guess to throw out an actual thing I dislike with this set though, I do think the tome downtimes are too long, Nino's flaws are kind of rough as is with how frail she gets so I don't think she really needs to spend as long as she does locked out of certain inputs or forced to use pathetic versions of them. Its a simple numbers thing, but its one I do think you should fix after JamCon voting ends for sure.

Also, this set has some of the best animations in the entire contest. Nino and Jaffar's interactions are adorable and charming, her energy really is just infectious throughout the set, and the attacks have big, satisfying impacts that translate the GBA visuals well. There's a lot of good passive characterization in how she plays, but some of the visualizations in the set are just super fun too. She's also a lot funnier than I remembered her character being, but it feels like it totally works to be honest. Her plotline is pretty serious, but she's still just a kid with a weird upbringing and an awkwardly serious bodyguard, it makes sense she'd try to pull some goofy trick like in Up Aerial or mess with Jaffar's mine strategies by just blowing it up with a fireball. I'm actually higher on this than I was Gareth, and that's saying something considering Gareth was a hell of a JamCon set.

Bellossom
Its kind of funny to see another Venusaur-style "standard Sunny Day set" in modern MYM, after the reading of the set in chat made us all realize how ridiculous that set's Uair was. I stand by my opinion it was a pretty respectable set by MYM7 standards, at least, and Bellossom is... like-wise pretty decent for MYM25 standards I'd say? It makes sense for the Pokemon given it evolves by Sunstone and has a very bright sort of theming for it to be a Sunny Day focused moveset, and the set then kinda just goes through the motions you'd expect. Plant-based moves that power up in sunlight, including charging up a really powerful Solarbeam and moves to make getting Bellossom out from under the sun a kind of frustrating but not oppressive game, and its only fair because she's pretty slow and weak without it. The set has some fun payoffs for it, Seed Bomb being the one that's stuck in my head since finishing the set the most, the way it builds up power AND plays off the fun FSmash powders makes it feel kind of like a culmination of all the tricks the set has to offer, albeit one that's pretty tricky to use properly. The set has a very basic and campy playstyle in the end though, its kind of what you'd expect from someone as simple as a Pokemon whose goal is to sit under a beam of sunlight and I think it balances and handles the concept pretty well. Its just not going to make a lot of big fans with how simple and standard the approach is, but I think its pretty respectable for the short time it was made in especially right after ANOTHER JamCon set.

Two-Face
The presentation and writing style here are very good, let's get that out of the way. You do a good job of selling the dichotomy between Two-Face and Harvey, particularly with the slickly written and presented introduction. And for what its worth, I don't think an RNG transformation and forcing the player to adapt to it is necessarily a bad thing, Harvey and Two-Face might be better at specific jobs than the other but its not something that will just swing a match entirely on its own. I, unfortunately, don't have much else to praise or really say about the set though. Its a 5,000 word set for a 2-in-1 character with two completely different moves on each part of the 2-in-1, so the descriptions of the moves and their effects end up feeling really barebones. Harvey and Two-Face's gameplans don't really feel like they have much nuance or a real goal either individually or between the two, and the "use Harvey to damage rack and Two-Face to kill" goal is actively messed with by the mechanic. Which admittedly feels like the point and allievates the problem of "you just play Mythra until its time to use Pyra to score kills" in the equivalent Smash set, but I feel like the set could've gone into more detail on that and made it a lot more compelling than just "this is a mechanic that will frustrate your ability to play Two-Face conventionally". You've said in chat aside from the presentation you weren't too happy about this one and wish it wasn't so rushed, and I'd basically agree with that assessment, but it was a nice addition to the JamCon and I know some people enjoyed it despite its slightly barebones nature.

Firelight Ekko
To get this out of the way, its cool to see you making sets again Peanut, and Firelight Ekko is clearly a quickly written experimental effort and a fun little nod to an obscure MYM18 Froy set with its Ekko Fighter nature. Unfortunately, the set really missed for me, and not because the later inputs are rushed. I just think the "minions spawn along the trail" mechanic is weirdly vague in how its written out, and it feels like a very janky and awkward way to get your summons out on the battlefield. The core of the set with Ekko flying around on his hoverboard to attack is an okay concept, but what I immediately dislike is how easily Ekko can lose the hoverboard, with it being essential to keep the minions alive to grab it for him. This just feels like a very exploitable mechanic to use against Ekko and one that'd be very frustrating for him to deal with when he summons his minions through a bizarre passive mechanic he'd probably struggle to juggle with attacking opponents properly. The ability to smash into the opponent with powered up versions of your attacks while moving is fairly neat, but I think the stone prison bomb removes a lot of the nuance of mixing opponents up with what attack you're going to hit them with, while generally being an obnoxiously powerful stun that really, really should not be given to the minions as well. Once the set gets past its core concepts, it doesn't really get to make it up for me with the melee due to its rushed development cycle either. I think getting benefits out of a trail left behind by your movement is a fun enough concept, but I feel its a weirder and more inconvenient way of putting your minion on the stage than a minion-based character really wants, and a lot of details of the execution are very off.

I hope this isn't too discouraging, as its clear this set was not everything you're capable of, but I just want to make sure you know my issues with so you don't make the same mistakes in a more committal project. Its not egregiously broken or horribly designed, for what its worth, I just think it makes a lot of smaller bad decisions that do not add up well.


Nino by FrozenRoy and Dr. Slavic is my MYM25-1 JamCon Nomination.

 

[n88]

Really impressive jamcon showings, folks!

I'm going with Nino as my nomination. Extremely close race at the top for me; Light and Valkyrie very nearly got the nod and I expect them both to fare well on my votelist come the end of the contest.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

Darkhold Tome (Venom Strange by n88 )
In chat, I called Venom Strange “ascendent”. Not entirely because it’s the best set of the JamCon around, but because after all of MYM has done it manages to what I think is essentially creating a new genre of set, or at the very least updating the ol’ Hugo set. I think the impact of the set cannot be understated and it just makes me so giddy to see something new and confusing when it comes to how a set is built up and how the connections in a set lay. For every set that has a central mechanic (mostly a buff) to refer back to that create hard interactions on their own, this set just jumbles it up completely and makes the connections wired in such weird little ways.

Other sets made this JamCon are better in execution though; the Specials here are a wee bit wonky and seem disconnected from the “making **** up part” of the set, and the Strange Standards, as lovely as they were character-wise, didn’t always do it for me. I’m also not entirely sure of the way the set is formatted, and I’d love to read a ”chronological” version of the set and see if it holds up as well as it does right now. Gut says yes, but my critical mind says I might’ve been carried away by the alien feel of the set.
Still, the groundwork present here, the sheer will and drive to experiment is exactly what MYM is about and I can absolutely see this being a biased vote both in the JamCon and the votelist as a whole. Great job!

Death Tome (Light by Katapultar )
While it didn’t surprise me as much as Venom Strange, Kat delivers on this set and perfectly puts to the test my thesis that sets without hard interactions can be beautiful in elegance.
First, I have to already give the big kudos for not making Deathblows do something else for each move, or giving it too many hard interactions. The move is stronger, and that’s it. In most sets, that would’ve fallen flat and I, among others, would’ve reached for the hard interaction route. Kat however, has such a great grasp of melee that they can tell you exactly how that slightly changed move now plays an entirely different role in a set: Saving it from the seemingly unavoidable trap of a buff being either bland or hard-interaction-based.

The sets‘ mechanics are all simple; but the characterization carries what would otherwise be the filmsy connections holding things together: Forward Smash is better on an opponent with the Death Note because Kira hires the police now. The Death Note iiis being used to handwave a good few mechanics but I’ve never seen or read the thing so I’m sure it all works.

Visually, the police being a recurring element in the set does help build a central powerset for Light, which ties really well into characterization. I would like that the visual consistency carried over in the mechanics: Some Deathblows involving gunshots add an extra shot, some don’t and the Death-Note-holding is exclusively to two Smashes iirc.

This is such a great set because character understanding and mechanical understanding go hand in hand here to create a set that dares so much, without building a house of cards. It leads to the main mechanic being the characterization in a sense? Like I can‘t really see a central mechanic other than “Light is a proper ****” and somehow that makes it a groundbreaking sets and I really like it for it.

The scythe then breaks both conventions which is like? Weird? I get that you wanted it there but placing it on Up Tilt is a wee bit awkward.

Blade Tome (Nino by Fire Emblem FrozenRoy and Slavic )
I love seeing Fire Emblem sets because I love Fire Emblem and Nino is your classic great outing with like a central mechanic where all other moves play around. Like someone else commented, I didn’t really see the appeal of the big moves at first, but it did make sense with the interspersed durability throughout. I think Light‘s Deathblows was overall better at the “upgraded move” thing for as far as one could compare the two.

What I did see immediately is that the spells are all elegant in that they have different roles other than giving Nino three projectiles. Not sure if all spells, including the Smashes, all fill different roles as a whole which is kind of a weak point in the set, but I can’t stay mad at Nino flinging big spells around. It being all wrapped up in Real and Actual Fire Emblem mechanics and moves helped sell the moves a lot more and made me appreciative of the lengths you went to include the Real GBA animations.

Jaffar is two-folded in that he’s both the mechanical reason that Nino doesn’t only have tome attacks and also a visual reason for having Nino’s friend there, as well as giving a unique backstab mechanic. The way Jaffar is implemented is overall really neat, again from both a mechanical perspective as well as a characterization one as the guardian angel (of death) for Nino.

Overall, I’d say this set is the best (so far) out of the JamCon sets this time in being a proper big classic meaty MYM set, but since this JamCon had sets that reinvigorated my love for moveset design it’s a tall order (even though i just love fire emblem so mucchhhh and this definitely reinvigorated my love for that (at your risk))

Triangle Attack (Valkyrie by ForwardArrow )
Well, talk about a jam! FA takes up the challenge to make a three-in-one set, and one with great polish. The three all have a distinct design thanks to their classic RPG tropes, which really saves on having to make three actual movesets. The attacks all have great polish and take most of their meat just from the bread-and-butter Smash, without going ham with too much differences. This saves both my and your sanity, allowing you to focus on what needs to be there and allows me to just focus on the numbers; it’s all pretty selbstverständlich and never does anything too crazy which makes this just a real solid set and allows the Assistant Valkyrie mechanic to shine in a showcase of craftsmanship and discipline to work this out in three days. Might not be my personal favorite, but it’s a robust set all things considered which should be a surprise considering the deadline, but isn’t because we’re all nut nut here and have all bangers all the time here.

Duo Hero (Two-Face by Rychu )
Ah, JamCons. Now already taken to their logical extreme between Light, Strange, Nino and Melt and Valkyrie with their word count, some people like us just want to see some fun ditties thrown out in a day. Aside from the whole “this set is not 17k how dare you”, I do have to mention that your core writing style comes through here: The animations are clear and distinct, the numbers are there and the results of the moves are there laid out. It’s solid for something so bit-sized and I’m glad you made the set!

One-Eyed Monster (Alolan Marowak by U UserShadow7989 )
Well, I always admire it when someone knows how to write melee and really understand (or dazzle me by mentioning) some peripheral mechanics like shield stun and DI and that sort of things. Alolan Marowak is what we can rely on US to do with the I believe perfect attendance record for JamCons: Take a concept and make a solid set around it. No matter how small the concept, the set around it will always respect fundamentals. Sometimes, when reading Fruity Yummy Mummy at 11PM in the final week of reading, that consistency is infuriating and when taking to its extremes it can also lead to bloated word counts. On solid sets like Marowak and Honchkrow however, that robust fundament that you can count on US to deliver is entirely positively admirable and ensures even a Pokéset gets treated with the indiscriminating respect US gives to his sets.

Marowak specifically only has one thing to keep in mind other than US’ writing, so it meshes really well. Bonemerang is an interesting move that ensures the melee is now both in service of writing a respectful Smash set and also the capabilitiy it has to enhance the Boning.

Wouldn’t believe your eyes (Firelight Ekko by ProfPeanut )
I’m gonna be entirely honest and say I didn’t read the full set yet. Not because of the quality, I enjoyed what I was reading, but I found the font to be a bit too small and couldn’t find a way to zoom in and didn’t feel like disfiguring my neck more than I already did. That’s not on you and definitely not on Ekko, because League of Legends sets are always fun to see and I definitely could see that MOBA influence peering through the set; it’s overall an ambitious set that just needs refining but you definitely already got the ideas and the heart in the right place.

With that said, I’m allowed to cast my vote: My nomination goes to Light. However, one of the criminals he summoned was Jaffar, who threatened to let Nino write in the Death Note even if she can’t read. This caused Light to hand over the nomination to them for tie-breaking purposes and so I am glad to announce that Nino and Jaffar should be the winners of this JamCon. Sorry Kira, but you should be able to handle a bit of election rigging. All hail Fire Emblem.

 

[UserShadow7989]

Mai and Yui by Katapultar ***

We've got quite a few two-character sets this contest, haven't we? Mai and Yui use a control scheme not unlike Mario & Luigi of MYM past, A and B being divided among the two characters instead of being Standards vs Specials. The duo hit like a freight train even on their lonesome and are absurdly strong as a single unit, but it comes at the cost of everything else, being slow as molasses and light as a feather. Needing to take out two targets alleviates this a tiny bit, but the two have substantial weaknesses and need to properly read their foes or bait out mistakes to make headway.

On top of a solid concept, the two make up for their lack of Specials through the quirks of individual moves. At moments I worried the effects might be a bit tacked on, but the set makes sure to highlight the uses of each and how they interact with the rest of the set while still being a solid (and deliberately flawed) melee kit and set of tricks, all with important niches in their game plan. Down Smash being a long-lasting attack to set up combos, Dash Attack to split the two up over one of two set distances, Forward Smash being a projectile and ground-based nuisance that can help them cancel out of an attack to compensate for their lag, and more.

I wonder if the twins might be a little too strong at points, but given their weaknesses and the demanding execution needed to make the most of both of them, I feel like it's fine. I had concerns about the nitty gritty details of their mechanic, but you addressed those already, leaving me with little to pick at in terms of criticism. Up and Down Throws would normally raise an eyebrow, but "Side" Throw provides a proper full grab game in itself, and Held Pummel brings up the count of actual throw inputs while also having a ton of cool features packed in.

I'm a big fan of this set, which I'm saying a lot this contest, but I do mean it. Mai and Yui are giving me the itch to do another duo character just having read them, and fit into the same category as Valkyrie of showing they don't have to be ridiculously complex affairs.

 

[FrozenRoy]

Hary Chu-Face (Two-Face Rychu )

A set that you basically said was rushed and hard to make, I generally agree with the thrust of the main point n88 made which I will re-iterate: There's not enough carrot for the stick here in transformation, and the way Two-Face's coin flipping works right now is more of a negative mechanic compared to a standard style swap and therefor should come with some more bonuses to get use out of it. Personally, I would give Harvey here some kind of buff for the next 5~ seconds after a flip is decided (probably a general movement speed etc buff for Harvey, while Two-Face gets a damage buff instead) during which time he can't swap out. This would make flipping the coin feel like it can be rewarding in addition to the forced part of it, counteracted by the fact you could be swapping to a less ideal set for a matchup and are locked out of coin swapping to potentially reverse it + the attack's lag itself. It would also make the set feel like it is cycling through periods of higher power (right after finishing a flip) and higher vulnerability (whenever he needs to flip), which is a good dynamic.

It's hard to say much outside of that point. Writing that many moves in about a 6k set leaves almost no room to describe much outside of what the attacks do (for reference, with 45 inputs over 5,793 words that is roughly a scant 128.7 words per move...but that doesn't include the intro or stats, so it is likely closer to 110-120 words per move) and there isn't a clear and evident playstyle in the moves outside of the most basic. To be honest, I felt he could be prop heavier than he is, this guy has canonically used a giant penny to try and crush Batman to death. The straightforward melee approach could work but I think it needed more spice (I'd probably put more emphasize on Harvey having a police-y, even Snake-y combat style to Two-Face's more crime lord style, F-Smash did this well at least). The presentation is obviously top notch, primarily in the intro though I also like Forward Aerial, but like. Aside from the presentation this set definitely feels "no thoughts head empty youtube video" to me.

Angel Food Cake (Valkyries ForwardArrow )

You seemed down on this set's ability to potentially win the Jamcon, but I thought that it had a pretty good shot when previewing it, and so far the results have bared out that possibility! Valkyries take an underutilized idea in MYM of an Echo Fighter Swap that Pyra/Mythra showed off in Smash, albeit taking it to the Pokemon Trainer level of having THREE variants to choose from and more variation overall for them. That's a triple decker sandwich of set now! This is another comment where I want to echo a point that n88 made, specifically that I was impressed with making Ortlinde more than the "middle child" of the stats and playstyle as expected, and what is done with her feels clever overall. I'll get to some specific later, but one that is immediately notable is that Ortlinde shows off a bit of a "buffer" between the two on attacks like Nova (where she leaves a debuff that all three can take advantage of) or Primeval Rune (where she has the longest duration buff which lasts even when swapping), allowing her to both be the most "balanced" and serve as a bit of a funky glue girl between the other two.

The following moves work most firmly on a solid melee focused base that is quite smart and clever about it. Think even a move like Jab, with the thought of differentiation by how Hildr can combo out of it or Ortlinde's additional super armor use despite not having the most of it (a decision I like). There's also a wise decision in how to divvy up buffs and not have every Valkyrie be uwu-special on every move, for example the tilts largely give each Valkyrie a specific one they're good at. This helps reduce a lot of redundant clutter (to be blunt: A lot of 3-in-1 sets feel the need to make every move amazing for every character, Valkyrie wisely doesn't) and enhances both the readability and actual playability in the process. Some other moves I'll note is Neutral Aerial (Thrud getting a little help with her combo food problem on NAir vs. the others feels right), Down Smash (actually one of my favorite moves in the set), Dash Attack (I love this kind of defensive tool w/ Ortlinde here),

In addition to just plain having a sharp playstyle based around converting semi-solid defense (Forward Tilt, Up Tilt, Down Smash all being clear-cut examples along with Ortlinde Dash Attack) into an offensive gameplan heavy on aerial launching combos, lingering strikes with Assistant Valkyries, a potent edgeguarding game and the ability to strike suddenly with Side Special / Dash Attack (/ Up Special?) mixups for an overall interesting bait and punish character.

And I haven't even discussed the big aspect of this set, which is the Team Rocket Grunt / Ace Trainer JOE swapping mechanic that lets one of the Valkyrie stick around briefly for an attack. IMO Team Rocket Grunt's core mechanic stands the test of the time, just not the rest of the set, and I liked seeing how it went off on a more melee-oriented set than the very interaction heavy Grunt. That in turn reminds me of Ace Trainer JOE and his assist abilities, which also have a similar feel (I have a set I ain't finished yet but in the ol' works kinda like that!). It really ties into the Valkyries IMO because it enhances a lot of their strengths (such as coverage, niche counter hitboxes and burst movement) in exchange for adding on weaknesses (catching two Valkyrie in a combo or even just a big attack is brutal!) and weaving into how each Valkyrie has their own niche. This ties into the one big "interaction point" of the set in Up Smash, which proves to be a flashy finisher with Assist Valkyrie or for covering a lot of the stage. It also adds a lot of dimension to their bait and punish game, primarily but not exclusively on the offensive end, and makes them an intriguing high skill ceiling character.

Oh and this is a real nice grab game, too. Valkyrie is overall a pretty strong set with few weaknesses. I do have a few of the normal minor nitpicks that might be found with most sets. Forward Tilt's heavy armor feels maybe a touch too high for Hildr's Forward Tilt, Up Throw kinda forgets the possibility of stage spiking with the cargo throw (though this can be inferred well enough as the same applications as DK), you know small stuff. It's also definitely possible the set could get more intricate with the Assistant Valkyrie than it does, but there's a beauty in the simplicity that I think is critical to how the set functions. This set isn't on the Belzeb/Catarina tier I feel, but it IS a set I highly rate, and so if I'm able to vote has a good shot at taking the nomination!

Daisy Banaisy ASMR (Daisy Fire Emblem WeirdChillFever )

Daisy (Fire Emblem) is a set long desired, at least for the grand total of one (1) MYMer (me), so seeing her come out finished for this Jamcon was certainly a treat! She's a set that uses every part of the Fire Emblem buffalo as it were: The very first move being an item shop that is ALSO a Down Special Counter in Fire Emblem fashion really sets the tone for the rest of the set, with the idea of it being conceptially interesting and very unique move! It reminds me of Robo Link Mk. II but, you know, not a meme. It'd be funny if she waved the Member Card to make the shop appear, lol. The Hero's Sword is the obvious standout among them because the idea of specifically doubling hit count is very unique (it's something I had conceptualized about for a Fate Musashi set, so seeing the execution here was of particular interest to me!), and I do like the idea of Daisy having some hitstun / stun-ish sword sword to take advantage of her RNG-hitcount playstyle. The issue I have with them right now is one I somewhat brought up in previewing, which is that having three stunning swords feels overly redundant. I think having the swords do different stuff for status effects would add more strategy to what swords Daisy wants to purchase AND to her overall playstyle.

Berserk Sword feels like the most obvious to inflict some kind of "Berserk" status effect on the foe, perhaps it makes them take more damage but also deal more damage? That would give it a rather unique niche in the set as a status effect you want earlier in your multihits rather than later, and can let her increase the damage of an entire combo chain if she gets it early, especially valuable with Pursuit! The Silence Sword is a bit trickier (Sleep feels like the most natural to keep as the Stun Sword), but some kind of move-sealing Silence effect or other "sealing" effect could be interesting, alternately it could be a stun sword and the Sleep Sword has some other ability, or she has two stun swords with different niches and two non-stun swords.

Another specific thought would be to swap out the Silence Sword for another one, in which case I recommend a sword that did first appear in Genealogy of a Holy War: Light Brand. It could shoot out light energy when Daisy attacks with it (maybe the size or power is increased with Gold?), and the ranged boost would then work into how Pursuit and its angling works because she now has some ranged options to strike at people normally out of reach! There's a lot of options here and I'll say right now that I think the most agreed upon thing of comments is that different sword effects is the way to go and that I think a Daisy Fire Emblem with not just three stun swords could go places on my personal rankings.

Oh, and the idea Daisy can swipe a weapon for free by triggering the counter to steal while Anna is distracted is just plain great.

Finally leaving the first move, Pursuit is a great mechanic-sorry Special for Daisy to use throughout the attack, and I love stuff like the slight super armor to give it a Fire Emblem attack phase feel, the way it works with the Hero's Sword or even the connection of "Daisy's combos usually end after Pursuit" to "second hit in Fire Emblem ends the combat round". Amateur Astra is a fun idea that feels very Octoslash-ish and fits into her "attack a lot to trigger debuffs" strategy, although n88 brings up an excellent point (which I didn't think about it until he did!) that such attacks could not work well since they'll get de-stunned by later hits. My easy solution to that is: While any of the hits can TRIGGER the stun effect, only the last hit APPLIES it. So if, say, the first hit of Amateur Astra hits the opponent, it won't apply until the last hit of the strike (or the foe falls out in which case it applies then). This keeps the multiplicative nature of the RNG without compromise! I'll also note Amateur Astra is one of the coolest attacks to use out of Pursuit and I like the idea of a "build-a-Quick Attack" coming out of this Quick Draw/Octaslash hybrid. Up Special is a neat move but I'd probably make the super armor kick in a bit earlier.

Down Smash taking the Pursuit idea of "Genealogy jank = one move mechanic" is a fitting and enjoyable usage, and I appreciate the use of weapon durability to increase crit rate here as I think it gives Daisy a fun range to fish for crits rather than just "ha ha high gold". Up Smash being a full on MINIATURE GREAT AETHER depending on her gold and abilities feels WILD but in a good way and in the flavor of the set (where gold is representing both gold and in its own way Daisy's protectiveness and her overall "damage dealt" which is almost like EXP for a unit in Fire Emblem?) is something I also quite enjoy. Forward Smash being an early kill tool that falls off late gives it a unique niche within Daisy's overall set ecosystem, which seems much more geared to long term damage racking and later kills, and helps keep her from being overly one dimensional. Also randomly not listing the first hit's damage consistantly threw me off but nbd.

The set generally has a bit more variable quality past the Forward Smash I feel, with Jab not even bothering with a damage percent for the multihit attack finisher. This isn't to say, however, that Daisy is without interesting moves: Forward Tilt is very simple but IMO effective, in part because "long specific stab into sweeping strike" feels like it is very useful with Pursuit's omnidirectional shenanigans. Down Tilt feels like an excellent glue move and I think her having such a strong l'il shield poking tool plays sweetly into Pursuit and the high shield pressure she can put out. Dash Attack starts out cool but Luna just seems...missing? I guess the multihit attack here is the "Luna" portion but it feels like such a limp end to the attack. Maybe some attack that can deal partial damage through shields 'cause Luna is an anti-defense tool?

"My favorite movesetting trick is to steal moves from the Miis, since no one plays them. " Joke's on you, I almost have Mii Swordfighter AND Mii Gunner in Elite! Her aerials are solid enough, with Forward Aerial being smart in shorthop design with Pursuit, and the other one's being solid enough but not blowin' me away or anything. Neutral Aerial's my second favorite here. The grab game is where the FUNKY STUFF returns as Daisy just, you know, pops up an entire castle for the grab because why not. I like the pummel pickpocketing. Forward Throw is cool, but I think it'd be fun for it to have variable damage and knockback based on the durability of the weapon. It could either scale so a lower durability weapon does more (to further emphasize the usage there) OR it could make it so a HIGHER durability weapon does more and there's some tension in tossing away a fresh weapon for higher damage at the cost of some replacement gold expenditure. It's probably stupid but my first thought with the Arena was going to be some "whoever gets X damage first gets a temp buff" or something due to the Arena, although frankly an easy combo throw is kind of nice in the set. Up Throw is kinda cool with Daisy's variable options for how to finish up with it. Daisy's grab is definitely a YMMV one as I am sure some people find it too wild, but Daisy is already an audacious set that is trying to rep basically all of Genealogy while retaining her identity, so why not this key Genealogy mechanic that later became a much expanded one?

There's a lot about Daisy Fire Emblem that could be picked apart, but this is a set I truly admire for the wild creativity on display and how much it tries to get down such a specific vibe of blending together huge franchise / game mechanics with the specific, extremely obscure character. It actually reminds me in many ways of Madoka Kaname in how it is trying to rep Genealogy, albeit not as polished or well executed but Madoka was a literal 10/10 set so that's not bad. The lack of sword variety does a real number on the set, I do worry about the balance, some of Pursuit falls off as the set goes on because it doesn't take the best advantage of the omnidirectional nature (this feels biggest in the aerials because Daisy can move during it), there's some info that feels like it got rushed or whatnot. And while I do love a lot of the flavor, it is extremely bold and thus at times it can be a little "eeeehhh I don't know", I'm willing to accept it anyway. But if it isn't obvious I'm actually pretty high on Daisy Fire Emblem and found her one of the most creative sets this contest! If you polish up that execution I genuinely think this set could be a pretty strong contender, even if IDK if it'd be Constance level. It's a fun read and obviously stuck out in people's heads, so well done dude!

 

[Rychu]

Comments

(Shroob, Jodie, Heavy, Quaxly, Customer, Veronica, Wheelie, Blastoise)

 

[UserShadow7989]

The Dragonborn by wizfoot ***

Man, you're a real machine this contest! You're on fire with this output, wiz, and I'm glad to have you around. The Dragonborn's specials and smashes are cool in and of themselves, and having the ability to invest 1~3 of 3 resources into it with a timer limiting abuse is a good concept to balance out strong options. Kat made mention of how using the stronger time-slow effects would prevent smash use, for example, and the armor effect on Down Special is a similar case where powering through other attacks to deliver his own would be scarier on his kill moves. It's a simple but effective limiter that feels like it'd be fun to play with in practice, the cooldown just enough to prevent spam and force you to diversify your choices or invest, but not be a major pain. I feel the core concept here is a little more fun than prior sets, and some tricks in the individual moves that give them personality like Down Aerial are a promising sign.

The Smashes are also good fun to imagine in use, Up Smash in particular being a favorite of mine on a conceptual level, though I feel it could stand to describe the lightning strikes portion of the input in better detail. That said, one thing that's a step back for me from your last two sets is it doesn't feel like there's as much inter-connectivity between the moves and the Specials. It takes until Back Air and Forward Air before we get a reference to the Specials again, and given how potent some of those effects are, it'd be cool to see a note here or there of a combo you'll only likely get with Tiid Klo or Tiid Klo Ul in swing, or that goes from a potential combo to a true one, for example. It feels like there's potential for people playing to sort of develop their own style of playing the character between the 7 Dovah Charge-using inputs throughout, which is a nice touch given how flexible Dovahkin is in lore/character creation.

For a more specific nitpick, the Throws section are nicely diversified with a clear purpose for each throw, but it feels a little thin. For example, you could note that the Forward/Up throws coming out so fast can lead to someone expecting the former unintentionally buffering an air dodge meant to be a tech, or that Down Throw (leaving foes prone ahead of you) or Back Throw (being the longest throw animation and keeping foes close) can be of more help under an Up Smash thunder cloud, keeping opponents in place for another lightning strike.

The main thing I'm uncertain of beyond that is the 30/60/90 frame charge up on the Specials feels a little long for the sake of Neutral Special and Down Special, Side Special's effect justifying it and Up Special halting your fall to prevent issues. Neutral Special's base level effect justifies the frames, but its higher versions likely don't need to scale so hard. Numbers are my weak point, though, so take that with a grain of salt.

Outside of nitpicks, I feel my advice keeps coming back to 'more please'; there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the sets themselves, and what's there is good, but I keep wanting to see things elaborated on a little more.

 

[Slavic]

JAMCOMMENTARY GO!​

Kaga Joke, Kaga Joke, Ice Cold Fire Emblem Take
Coming up with titles as fast as I'm trying is hard, but regardless this comment is for Daisy by WeirdChillFever . Fittingly, Daisy is certainly a weird set, but I love her all the more for it. Among all of Fire Emblem, the Kaga games have the most absurd and obtuse mechanics, so naturally a fail-condition late game nobody from Genealogy makes for a perfect WCF character choice.

The Good:

• I love the idea behind Under the Counter so much. Like, one of my favorite moves conceptually, fantastic work. Good use of Anna and thieves in general, great way to combine character with mechanic, someone may have slipped me information about this move before the set was actually posted and I was very excited for it.
• The general incorporation of the absurd Genealogy mechanics is enjoyable. Pursuit as a central mechanic is really fun, though imagining all these moves working in 8 directions can be a little awkward for my small-brain... brain. Plays well into what the set thinks the main mechanic should be (more on that later).
• Astra is very similar to Walter White's Fly Ladder and that's a good thing, I think spending resources to improve recovery is a solid choice when done well (and it is here).
• Castle Grab and following throws are incredibly fun, I love my unorthodox Grab Games.
• Prayer sword encouraging survival on a glass cannon is very fun, reminds me of how Dunban was best at very low or very high percentages.

The Ungood:

• I think focusing so hard on the different sword status effects might be a bit of a pitfall. The idea does work, giving Daisy RNG on hit effects in tandem with Pursuit, but I think in practice just winds up being spamming Pursuit until Daisy gets lucky with a Sleep or what have you. I don't actually mind the sword effects being similar, essentially allowing her to pay more for better stunning effect chances, but I don't think how it's handled makes for a compelling core for the set when compared to basically everything else Daisy does.
• I don't think the set is overly cohesive outside of, like, get a lot of hits in to activate effects. A lot of moves are self-contained gimmicks which, while fun, aren't going to lead to the smoothest experience.

Unique and fun set that pays homage to one of the stranger FE entties, I'm very glad this set exists but I think it sits in an awkward spot where the personality and gameplay are tearing away from each other. I don't think this set can be more cohesive without losing the wonderful flavor it has, and any more flavor and it would possibly deteriorate from being a serious moveset. To be clear, don't hate this set by any means, very enjoyable. Comments right now, not very good!

I Planned on making a Two Guns, ***** Joke for This, But It's Already in the Moveset
Two-Face by Rychu is a pretty hype set from a character stand-point, though in retrospect he does have one of the more... down-to-earth powersets of Batman's villains. The set is very short, and I know it hasn't had the warmest of receptions nor is it particularly pleasing to Rychu himself, but it shouldn't be completely discounted. There's some cool parts of the set despite the brevity. The idea of a nerf when refusing to engage with the coin flip mechanics is fun IMO, though I absolutely agree with others that he should gain a strong buff after flipping the coin to encourage frequent switching. Despite the miniscule length of both sets, Two-Face and Dent do feel suitably different from each other in mannerisms and animations, obviously something that could be expanded upon with more time.

I don't think there's terribly much use for me giving the same criticisms on this set as others, it's not a long or ambitious set as is and nothing I could say would be new information for anyone. Instead, I want to talk about the parts of the set I like or would like to see more. First off, the Smashes are pretty fun. Dent DSmash is a really fun twist on a classic, the multi-hit gun firing but while walking forward is weirdly profound, giving a really unique approach tool that still has serious weaknesses. I also love that, on the opposite hand, Two-Face has the ability to bury the foe with a baseball bat and then blast them with a double-barreled shotgun. This is not profound but very over the top and I love it. I wish the set had more acid in it, like, a good amount more, as it's one of the biggest things I associate with Two-Face outside of his coin and gun. It would have been a unique way to differentiate the two personalities as well beyond just one's brutal and one's less brutal. It's a set very much in the spirit of JamCon, and I think the competition it received from sets like Melt, Nino, and Venom Strange really highlighted the set's weaknesses way more than it would otherwise. Still, a neat set I'm glad to have either way and one that's already inspired me on a few sets.

I'm The Only One Who Can Spell This Right
I can't even stay consistent with how I'm doing comments I'm doing this at such blistering speed, but here's a comment for @Bellossom by FrozenRoy . Obviously this set gains may nomination as I do need its Sunny Day mechanic for Shiny Hoppip to properly function, but beyond that this is hardly incompetent for a one-day Pokemon set for a very random Pokemon. Bellossom is basically what you expect from a Grass-type Pokemon, relying on Chlorphyll, Solar Beam, poisoning effects, and health draining to create a fighter with a unique style of survival and sustainability. If there's one immediate thing I would want different about Bellossom it would be a stronger focus on dancing, something which is at least vaguely present throughout but should be front and center. There's only so long you can spend on animations in one day, so I do get it not coming out as strongly, but I do feel like it's robbing her a bit of her character.

On the plus side, this is a very straightforward and effective utilization of both sunlight and Solar Beam, both of which I think have been either over or underthought in the past regularly. Bellossom is probably not the best Sunny Day set but it's not like any others come to mind for me outside of, like, Exeggcute or Venusaur, so maybe she is! I like the internal consistencies of this moveset a lot, things like how many of Bellossom's moves are multi-hits as well as her unique ways of being both defensive and anti-defensive. Acid makes for a very cool Jab, the kind you definitely don't see that much.

I think Bellossom might have some notably strong points that might make her annoying to fight if not overpowered. She has a lot of sustain thanks to Leech Seed and Giga Drain, and the fact that she can amplify these values so much further with Poisonpowder and Toxic make her potentially very hard to kill. More notably though is how her poison damage can go overboard thanks to the same mechanics, on top of the fact this a somewhat weird thing to base a moveset on anyways but I'm willing to allow it. Her damage output is pretty terrifying when she's passively charging Solar Beam the whole time on top of that. The other part that seems really strong is Back Air Seed Bomb. I'm not convinced it's completely broken and overpowered, but it's very threatening as a fnuky projectile that can create serious issues when combined with Bellossom's different powders. Overall, very impressive for a one day set but possibly too strong of a set in many ways while also lacking a lot of character.

Three Stooges????
Valkyrie by ForwardArrow is an interesting idea of an Echo Fighter of Three Stooges of last contest. JK obviously, lmao. I would personally describe Valkyrie as 'genre-defining', as it takes the progress made by Three Stooges crawling out of the Hugo swamp and growing legs to run. Despite such a lofty praise, I also thank this leaves a lot of room for growth and expansion, which isn't an inherently bad thing for Valkyrie, just a note that I think this set in particular is going to spawn a wave of sets that build on or subvert them. Valkyrie finds strength in simplicity, giving the same moves across three Echo Fighters with different effects, damage, and frame data. The only move that truly feels different between the Valkyrie would be Up Special, as the variations in recovery are going to be felt very hard compared to other minor changes.

Valkyrie in this style makes for a perfect JamCon choice, as it's possible to squeeze a lot of unique interactions out of a simple-to-write concept by utilizing the same animations for the three fighters. While I'm not as hot on the set necessarily as others are, mainly due to the fact I think there's a lot of potential missed out on by focusing so hard on the melee games, I'm very happy it's soaked up the attention it has because conceptually I think this moveset is very important.

I do find myself wishing there were more variations between the three Valkyrie, as it does get a bit repetitive to see similar changes in frame data and damage as the main changes across most of the moves (and kind of makes it hard to digest just a bit). The set does a great job at explaining each fighters' use, and the whole experience leaves me thirsty for a potential FA set in this style not confined by a JamCon! This is a very good set and something I hope starts a major trend, and while it isn't my favorite of the sets this JamCon it's easily in the top three and one of the best we've seen, excellent work!

Ekko Echo Ecco E-ko Eco
I'm out of wind for writing but here we are! Firelight Ekko by ProfPeanut is an incredibly hype literal last minute entry to the contest, the return of a lost prince with a unique choice for a JamCon. Doing an Echo of an old set is a fun choice, though given Ekko is fairly under the radar and from 7 contests ago I do think some of the impact of being an Echo is lost. With a little more time, it would have been nice to have more direct explanations of the references, as Froy seems to enjoy them well and I would too had I know what I was looking for.

Timing wasn't the kindest to this set, as many of the later inputs drop down to two or three sentences, but I don't think harping on about this further is really a benefit to anyone. Instead, I do want to commend the set on doing some cool things. One of the big ones I really enjoyed was how shielding worked while onboard Ekko's hoverboard. Losing the actual shield to instead block moves with the board is honestly really fun, and so is the idea of leaving a trail as effectively a trap to summon minions is also very cool.

Given the length there is only so much to say about the set that hasn't been said already, but I do think he tends towards the underpowered side. While I personally don't mind the idea of his hoverboard recovering based on the presence of Firelights, I do think it should be a much faster recovery time while Firelights are up. If this were the case, I would also suggest weakning the Firelights a bit, making them a tad more killable. This could even encourage the foe to riskily enter the trail on purpose, knowing it's their primary way of gimping Ekko in the end.

All said, very exciting to see your return, and I think this moveset does at least show enough to expect good things from you in spite of the later inputs and what have you.

--

All said, I will happily give my JamCon nomination to Venom Strange, a set I think has well earned it. Everyone did a bang up job, though, and made this the strongest JamCon yet! Great work!

 

[Almand]

ALEX

He's been a long time coming, huh? Let's rumble.​

 

[Katapultar]

Jamcon 25-1 is finished! And the results are...

1) Nino by FrozenRoy and Slavic
4.5 Points: Arctic Tern, ForwardArrow, n88, WeirdChillFever, voter bonus

2) Valkyrie by ForwardArrow
3.5 Points: UserShadow, GolisoPower, bubbyboytoo, voter bonus

3) Venom Strange by n88
2.5 Points: Katapultar, Slavic, voter bonus


Double Voter Bonus (1.5 points)
Meltryllis by GolisoPower and Arctic Tern

Voter Bonus (0.5 points)
Light Yagami by Katapultar
Alolan Marowak by UserShadow7989
Taranza by bubbyboytoo
Daisy by WeirdChillFever

No Bonus
Two-Face by Rychu
Belossom by FrozenRoy
Firelight Ekko E by ProfPeanut​

Congratulations to FrozenRoy and Slavic for their joint victory! These two will get to decide the next Jamcon theme, and when it will start.

​

 

[FrozenRoy]

Sandwich Melt (Meltryllis GolisoPower and Arctic Tern )

Kinda agree the intro doesn't do the best job at selling Melt here, largely because it is a bit too heavily focused on events and not enough on Melt as a person, y'know? I feel like skipping over the emotional turmoil of what happens in SE.RA.PH. means it's harder for someone outside the series to connect with why she became popular. This isn't really a big deal in a 3-day 29k Jamcon set but I saw multiple comments bring up the intro and so I wanted to add my :2cents:.

"Much like how Goliso made Passionlip a brand new “ultra-heavyweight” class of fighter, Meltryllis is a brand new “flyweight” class, being lighter than PICHU of all characters." Rattata sends his regards. I do like keeping in mind her unfortunately useless hands. "To contrast with Passionlip’s take on an armor mechanic, Meltryllis has her own take on a dodge leniency mechanic in the form of “Crime Ballet”." And so THIS is where Moriarty got his daughter...

Melt Virus is a LOT to take in and, TBH, I feel like having an explanation for why every character is in that segment is a bit much and I wonder if it'd be better as a non-explanation list and just having the explanations link separately or something because I think reading them all gave me a little mind rot. I do in turn appreciate the level of thought that went into why each character is in each segment though. The actual effect is obviously very flashy and unique, calling to mind a very wild version of Himiko Toga or Fairy Knight Gawain in stealing mechanics and stats rather than single moves! It's clear a good chunk of thought went into this, although to be blunt having an entire section dedicated to Kazuya and Ken attacks feels like it might be TOO much dedication to people who will only matter in one match. I feel like giving some generalized examples of what kind of mechanic uses have in her set, or at least connecting the more intricate cases to more general ones more often. Although since we KNOW everyone in Smash this isn't as bad because, well, you ARE going over everyone she would face in Smash! I think part of the difficulty here is just, by definition, the mechanic has to be a LOT since it is going over like 40 mechanics that may not even matter sometimes. I dunno, it all feels like it could be more...elegant, somehow. I also wonder how some of the stuff within it works from an animation standpoint, primarily Melt gaining 3 active frames on every attack (does she just hold out the hitbox animation for longer? Do some attacks get some extra animation to make it not look janky?) and the range increases (I assume this is just, like, a splash of water on the end of attacks that deals damage) but these are small enough they don't bother me too much, just you know the kind of thing I think about.

The Specials are definitely pretty messy with Up Special's Crit Star mechanic having a lot of little inconsistencies or exceptions to get it to work right, but the core idea of Sadistic Nature to make Melt into a MORE extreme featherweight aggressive character is a fun one that seems well done enough and I think Side Special is a fairly cool (if maybe a bit strong) move to go along with it for some aggressive-slow movement strikes. And while I did mention the entire segments of Kazuya and stuff might be too much I DO like how, for example, we get Power Meter NSpec or Limit Down Special. I also like the idea that the moves she gets are designed to counter that opponent, seeing as the moves are inherently matchup dependant. It gives some more personality to them (especially since Melt feels sadistic and spiteful enough to tailor her stolen abilities to torment the person she stole them from) and the only other time she'd be doing it is 2v2s/FFAs anyway (and at that point it is perfectly fine to let the reader imagine their uses imo). I will say I appreciate moving the damage etc explanation to the start of a move but when they say stuff like:

"Function: Angleable strike with various uses depending on angle/Defensive attack used to cover all direct-approach options, Damage (No Damage Modifications): 7% (Normal), 8% (Angled Up), 5% (Angled Down), 12.4% (Crit Star Sweet Spot), 1.1% x 4 hits + 5.6% (Sarasvati), 4%/11%/7%/5%( Plus 1%/5 sec D.o.T.)/9% (Red/Blue/Yellow/White/Purple Pikmin), Range: 0.45, Kill Percentage: 198% (Normal), 219% (Angled Up), Trip (Angled Down Early Percentage), 254% (Angled Down Late Percentage), 125% (Crit Star Sweet Spot), 167%, (Sarasvati), 266%/154%/197%/289%/172% (Red/Blue/Yellow/White/Purple Pikmin); Knockback Angle: 33 degrees (Normal), 42 degrees (Angled Up), Sakurai Angle (Angled Down), 48 degrees (Sarasvati), Sakurai Angle/49/Sakurai Angle/Sakurai Angle/27 degrees (Red/Blue/Yellow/White/Purple Pikmin); Startup/Active/Endlag (S/A/E): 9/3/33 (Normal), 9/2/1/2/1/2/1/2/1/2/33 (Sarasvati), 7/2/19 (Pikmin)"

My brain conks out WAY more than if one just described it organically due to the move because there's a lot of information just kinda slapped out there.

I do think the set starts to come alive in the Standards, because of the fact that there's more uses to some abilities such as Force Dance in the tilts, but there is the fact a lot of these are inherently niche...at the same time, the nature of how the mechanic works means she has niche stuff for most matchups and so it does alleviate the issue by making it so Melt always has at least SOMETHING. I will say part of me wonders if the set would have more usage if it was more like MYM14 Vyse (I still remember you...), where the buffs Melt gains are divided into "classes" depending on what the opponent is, but then again it loses the individualized nature that makes Melt cool here so ???. The good thing is, like I said, the set starts to pick up here: Melt is a glass cannon offensive character with issues against shield that she needs to be tricky to get around and all of Melt's normals (as opposed to some character's abnormals-) build up to that in a fluid-like-water way. The Volcano Kick part of Melt seems pretty fun although I do wonder if the "terrible secondary hitbox" part of it is a necessary nerf. To be honest, I kinda wish some of the attacks in Kazuya's Attacks were folded into her main attacks instead, in particular her version of Neijiri Uraken.

To be honest, Kazuya and Ken's attacks being in the middle of the set feels pretty weird. I was thinking they might show, for example, ways the mechanic could work broadly by using specific examples, and Kazuya does do that somewhat (I like some of the MU stuff in them) but it feels like a big pacebreaker in the middle of the entire set and not important to it ultimately. I feel like they should have been appended to the end or in their own document or something, not much to say about the attacks themselves.

"Function: Two-stage hit-and-run Side Smash that can allow Melt to approach aggressively with the first stage, then cover her escape with the second stage, Damage (No Damage Modifications): 10%-14% (First Hit), 11.5% (Second Hit), 15% (Crit Star First Hit), 16.5% (Crit Star Second Hit); 12.5% (Sarasvati Second Hit), 20-28% (Hero Crit First Hit), 23-29% (Hero Crit Second Hit), 12.7%-17.8% (Pikmin); Range: 0.9 Units, Kill Percentage: N/A% (Crit Star/First Hit), 147% (Second Hit), 132% (Crit Star), 231% (Sarasvati), 73% (Hero Crits), 132% (Pikmin); Knockback Angle: N/A [3 Set Grids of hit a second time] (First Hit), 44 degrees (Second Hit), 45 degrees (Pikmin); Startup/Active/Endlag (S/A/E): 18(Charges at Frame 5)/2/8 (First Hit), 4/2/19 (Second Hit), 15(Charges at Frame 8)/2/30 (Pikmin)"

Seriously clustering THIS much info all together instead of disseminating it throughout the move makes it far more of a pain to read. This is especially true because the move reiterates all the info ANYWAY so it isn't like it saved any space or anything? At least Forward Smash itself is cool, those poor Pikmin though are gonna be dying 1/5th of the time! Up Smash is a reasonably cool move although the Crit Star variant seems like the water geyser is odd with how the Crit Star works, do like the movement to it, and Down Smash on the other hand is just plain cool 'n' funky? It's such a great idea that feels very in character, because you can't just staple a ballerina spin on any character and have it fit, and the overlapping strike combined with the dodging gives it a flair unlike most moves I've seen. I also like it because the nature of it means it feels like it probably has some funky combinations with mechanics or theoretical mechanics, like a magnetism one for example. Moves that feel like they have open-ended ways to append to them are the best for the Melt Virus because it means you can imagine how mechanics enhance or detract from it! This is another move where how Crit Stars works doesn't seem communicated right? Because Down Smash shouldn't use it at all because it is not a melee attack even though the effect is very cool.

Not much to say on the throws, Neutral Aerial is a cool aerial (especially with the right absorbs), Forward Aerial has some cool stuff with landing it and positioning and to be honest overall this is a set I can't tell if I am underrating or overrating because on one hand the melee IS quite nice and I see a lot of potential with the hyper-glass cannon build and Melt Virus has a LOT of matchup potential but on the other hand this set has parts that don't work as worded, some of it is fit together rather awkwardly, there's some Melt Virus stuff that takes up a big chunk but doesn't feel like it adds much, and the balance is odd. I definitely felt fatigued by the end of the set, but I also feel like it is solidly Goliso's best I've read (yet to read Veronica though! Can't comment on Tern as no Blastoise/Sam & Max reads here either), and hey it should find a spot on my votelist. So overall good work and I am glad we got a good set for this character (even if I prefer Passionlip as a character don't @ me). The fact this set didn't get a single nomination is sad even if I am on the low end of people who liked it as it is clearly high effort and clearly has huge fans.

 

[GolisoPower]

The vast jungle had been nothing short of an obstacle for a singular five-man squadron of purple mushroom men, their red eyes intent as they hacked through the various flora blocking their way.

Their Princess had heard tales of an artifact that could turn the tides in their favor, but her first scouting party had suddenly vanished, almost as though they had been taken away from the very fabric of reality as we know it. The object of her desires and why they’ve been sent? A powerful stone that can convert all its light touched into gold.

The quintet stopped abruptly, as their squadron leader noticed a set of footprints that led further into the jungle.

“This was the last known location of the scouting party before they vanished,” rumbled their commander, a purple mushroom man with a golden crest on his head, his speech in gibberish-like tongues only he and his comrades would understand. “They lead deeper inside.”

“Weapons at the ready, boys,” said another in thick glasses, prompting his squadmates to take out large toy-like ray guns and aim them in the direction the tracks were heading.

Past the last layer of thick leaves was a beauty to behold: Extravagant buildings as far as the eye can see. Ruby jewel constructs of an enticing red light. And most importantly…all of it was made of solid gold.

And at that moment, the Shroobs knew they had arrived.

“Praise be to the Princess, we’ve found it,” shrieked a Blue Shroob.

“A city of solid gold,” mused a white Shroob with teal spots. “I…never would’ve imagined that this was real!”

“OUR GLORIOUS EMPIRE IS RICH, RICH I TELL YOU,” shrieked a red Shroob with a fire on its head as he bolted to collect as much gold as his stubby little arms could carry. Or at least he tried to if it hadn’t been for the combination of him getting tired in mere seconds and the Shroob commander firing a blast near his feet.

“Hold,” the commander coldly growled. “Our job is not to seek this city out. That was the job of the scouting party, of which it is our job to find. Now get back here.”

“I…I guess…” grumbled the Blazing Shroob, not even bothering to argue the logic of his commander. Though he would snatch a small jeweled chalice and stash it away before catching up with his companions.

They wandered the city, enticed by the gold around them. Even though this world was entirely new to them since Planet Shroob was completely barren and desolate, they still couldn’t help but feel curious. Even the tempered Commander Shroob, for all his self-control, couldn’t help but feel intrigued by it all.

“...do you think the scouting party got lost exploring this place,” asked the glasses Shroob. “...no, that couldn’t be, they had explicit orders to report the location to the Princess as soon as possible!”

“Indeed,” said the white Shroob. “It isn’t like us Shroobs to defy orders. They would never disobey the Princess unless something bad had happened to them.”

Suddenly, a sound pierced the air, causing them to stop in their tracks like a predator noticing the sound of their prey. The five surveyed their surroundings before the commander noticed a familiar pink light.

“LOOK OUT, MEN,” he shouted. Almost on cue, the Shroob squadron leaped back to avoid the laser blast that would’ve almost hit them. They followed the direction in which the laser blast came from, and found something that instilled great shock amongst the five.

It was a Shroob. But he wasn’t normal to them: his stare was more blank and vacant than they usually were, and a majority of his body was transmuted into solid gold. He shambled towards them, his ray gun raised and poised to fire at them.

“S-stand down,” shouted the commander, taking out his ray gun and pointing it at him. The gold Shroob didn’t listen, only glaring at his former comrades as he slowly walked towards him, his ray gun never lowering.

Joining the gold Shroob were more life forms. Humans. Shroobs. Gooballs. Pokemon. Symbiotes. Even several animals. Countless lifeforms of many shapes and sizes were surrounding them, their bodies mostly coated in deadly aurum, and every last weapon was aimed at the new intruders.

“That…that is an order, soldier,” screamed the commander to the golden Shroob, desperate to reach through to him. “I order you to lower your weapon at once! Remember who you serve!”

“He remembers…and yet he has abandoned your princess, hongos miserables.”

The Shroobs tensed at this new voice. Deep like the ocean yet powerful like a supernova. Had it not been for the intense Shroob Empire indoctrination, they would’ve bent the knee on pure instinct alone. After a moment of silence, a new figure appeared.

He was a massive figure, who stood out even among the giants that served as some of the gilded warriors. Covered head to toe in gold and jewels, he held an aura of authority to him that could stop even the most resistant of fellows. His violet cape billowed with every step he took, the red shell-like stone in his chest glowing with ominous power. The half-gold creatures recognized who it was and promptly groveled before him, telling all Shroobs that he was the master of these golden wretches.

The Blazing Shroob attempted to strike him with a barrage of fireballs, hoping to melt the gold off him and expose whatever weaknesses he had within. But to his surprise, the fireballs converted to solid gold as though they had passed through an invisible barrier, helplessly bouncing off the giant’s body before falling to the ground.

Underneath the golden helmet, the new figure sneered before lifting the offender up in a single hand.

“You attack in vain,” he rumbled. “As long as I hold the sacred Eldlixir, no harm shall ever befall me.”

The Blazing Shroob glared at the golden oppressor and flailed about helplessly in his grasp. But to his horror, the chalice he had taken fell off him, catching the attention of the golden one. The smile underneath his golden helm only grew wider.

“Ah…so you have come here for the gold,” he grinned, motioning to a gold-plated beast came to come to his side and open its maw. “You must have ventured far to reach this place. I am feeling generous today, and I always…reward ambitious travelers such as you.”

With a wave of his hand, the beast started to choke before the Shroob bore witness to bright light from within its open maw.

“Come…take the Eldlixir…ser recompensado…”

With a mighty heave, the beast launched a black stone in the shape of a seashell from its throat, embedding itself into the poor Shroob’s flesh and causing the fungal alien to scream out in indescribable pain. The gold tyrant let go of the mushroom alien, unceremoniously dropping him to the gold-touched dirt below. The red fungus creature pulled the stone from his face before he looked down at what hit him. The sight silenced him in horror.

The hand that pulled the strange black stone from his flesh had been fused to that same stone, converted to shining gold. Before he could process what happened, more pain erupted throughout his entire body, patches of gold starting to bloom like deadly flowers over his fungal flesh. After what felt like ages, the Blazing Shroob’s agonized movement ceased, and he slowly turned towards his former comrades in arms, his partially-golden body in full display for their horror-laden eyes to behold.

The Shroob squadron was understandably shaking like leaves at this new development before they turned to face the four-eyed gold giant before them.

“Wh-what have you done to him,” squeaked the commander, slowly raising his weapon to the monster before him.

“Oh? Why the hostilities,” asked the gilded villain, his eyes curled upwards in sardonic glee. “I was merely showing my…generosity. You would reward one who has gone through a great endeavor too, would you not?”

“Who…who even are you,” growled the Blue Shroob, his voice betraying this attempted display of defiance, which caused the gold man to laugh at this pitiful attempt.

“Who I am should be obvious. After all, you and your kind have heard of the legends of this place. However, I will happily regale you…”

He raised his arms into the air as his gold-covered servants gathered aside him in veneration of their leader.

“I am the undefeated ruler of this blessed land! I am the founder of the Seven Cities of Gold, and soon-to-be conqueror of this world and all beyond the stars!”

“¡PARA SIEMPRE LA TIERRA DORADO!”

The golden soldiers raised their fists and weapons as their shouts echoed throughout the gilded lands, the king’s crimson eyes widening in sadistic glee at his soon-to-be new servants.

“You stand before Eldlich, the Golden Lord! Submit to my rule and I shall grant you the most gilded of mercies!”

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Eldlich the Golden Lord

I’ve been loving your character choices this contest, and the fact that your wordcount has absolutely spiked between this contest and the last. Eldlich is a different way to approach a YGO monster set too: instead of making up original attacks for most of the moves, inspiration is taken from other cards, specifically golden-themed cards which I think is pretty cool. It’s certainly a good way to get around the difficulty of making up original attacks for characters with little source material on their own.

As someone who made a minion set for a Yu-Gi-Oh! monster last contest, I can’t help but be reminded of Ferrijit; but Eldlich uses his minions to spread his golden influence, for general stage control and projectile sponges to help with his superheavyweight problem, and just casually kill off his minions to get bonuses on his attacks. We don’t get a lot of these hard interaction-based minions sets in this modern era, so Eldlich is a very fun read in that area.

• The control scheme of double-tapping B to summon all of your minions at once works well with the way your two different minions on that input are summoned - one without golden land, the other with golden land.
• I like the reference to historical horseback - you’re good at including this fun kind of research in your sets.
• I appreciate the frame data on the minions’ attacks via alt text, and talking about how the minions work together playstyle-wise. Said frame data feels pretty balanced to me.
• Side Special has a cool interaction with stage platforms.
• Forward Tilt is a simple but fun hard interaction on your minions and golden statues. I like how the minion teleporting is not tied to any of the buffs.
• I love Up Tilt’s use as a smug pseudo-taunt. I would have put it on the B-air, but Up Tilt makes sense too.
• And how Down Tilt can sink your minion into the ground and use it as a land mine.
• Forward Smash dealing less damage when you have minions out is pretty neat. I actually think it’s a great way to balance out the anti-projectile effect and potential reflector on golden land. I also like it being a super powerful move on Cursed Eldland with no minions out, which ties in well with Eldlich being incentivized to kill his own minions.
• “It’s pretty slow though, with an 18-frame start-up and a FAF of 74, just to remind you that it’s not the busted card that was literally cheated into the system in the anime. I mean, if this were the anime version, it’d be a near-instant indestructible construct that constantly hurts anyone that touches it, with counter-frames that are active even while holding a charge. Hmm. Remind me to add that if I decide to make a 3v1 in the future.” Love this reference. Also enjoy Up Smash as both a risky counter and powerful tech chase option when you have Golden Land.
• Down Smash is a simple but fun way to play off Golden Land.
• Eldlich’s grab is really crazy in a way that reminds me of Syndrome’s grab, in a good way! Very fun way to play off his Golden Land. In fact, I love this grab for just how ridiculous and creative it is. Making a platform, but having to sacrifice your grab for close-range and defensive purposes is a fun little trade-off.
• The Golden Land variant of Forward Throw works particularly well with the fact that you can make the Homunculus golden and stand on his back to get the effect.
• I feel like Eldlich’s entire grab game did a good job of being self-aware and useful to Eldlich’s playstye, like how Back Throw can be used in tandem with the Homunculus’s potentially huge reach to knock foes towards Eldlich for a Down Smash, and Up Throw making use of the Homunculus platform to follow up off of it.
• I appreciate you using my suggestion to incorporate Golden Land and Cursed Eldland into Eldlich’s Aerials! Helps to give the set a stronger finish.
• What if, by holding A during Down Air’s start-up, you could angle the beam at the cost of added start-up? Could make the gold statue teleporting hard interaction more useful; teleport a statue that’s diagonally below you down onto an opponent beneath you. In fact, maybe you could sweep the beam along the stage by rotating the control sticking during your end lag: has no hitbox, but teleports the first golden enemy it touches. I assume there’s no limit to Eldlich being able to refresh the duration of his Golden Land or Cursed Eldland, but it obviously wouldn’t be practical to use Down Air just for the sake of that when foes can exploit Eldlich’s lag.
• I wonder if Up Air should be able to store minions without the Golden Land buff? Feels tricky to use when you have to be over Golden Land. Also, from how Cursed Up Air is described, the Eldlixir created from it should cause the minion you create from it to start out as a golden statue, which will naturally fall as a powerful hitbox in midair. The way the move is described right now, it sounds like the Eldlixir is the same as the ones you could summon using Neutral Special, which you can do by jumping into the air anyway.

Eldlich is easily my favourite set of yours at the moment. Specifically, my favourite solo set of yours (though Eldlich is not far from Meltryllis at all!). Practically every input feels interesting and relevant, the combos and applications feel like they would work, and there are some genuinely creative moves, which is something that can make me really love a set. The minion hard interactions feel relevant and not overdone too - props for avoiding that minion set pitfall. I was interested in seeing how you’d do with a one-man set after seeing Veronica, and I dare say that between the two girls and Eldlich you have definitely had a breakthrough this contest. Golden work here!

By the way, I adore how you’ve brought Eldlich to life character-wise, both in this set and your story mode write-ups for him.

 

[Arctic Tern]

ALEX (Almand)

Alex is a really long set, in no small part due to his smorgasbord of mechanics. To name a few, he has a meter to expend on his Specials, he can only perform his Specials with command inputs, and he can access various buffs with his taunts. Nevertheless, all of these mechanics add up to the most literal interpretation of Street Fighter possible. I particularly like how his grabs are fast, but can’t hit people in jumpsquat, and how his grounded combo game literally cannot KO if the foe is grounded. It makes for an interesting take on a combo heavyweight, and his mixup game is translated very accurately as well.

The set itself is surprisingly easy to comprehend after the mechanics section, as most of the moves are just simple strikes that are left at that. Alex isn’t without his gimmicks in that section, however, my favorite being the ability to shieldpoke foes when any part of his moves hit the foe instead of all of it. Every move has a purpose in the grand scheme of the set, whether it be comboing, spacing, shield pressure, or killing the foe; a particular highlight was how his Power Bomb does not have Zero-Angle, allowing it to kill if he lands it raw. The set also shows awareness of how Alex’s taunt buffs affect his set, from making his moves safer on shields to giving him more advantage on hit. Lastly, the set’s combo game allows it to be just as flashy as other heavyweights; if the player has enough resources, there’s more than a few 100%+ combos, as displayed by the set’s combo section.

Overall, Alex is a very mechanically complex character that works with simple moves to provide a very in-depth experience. Not for everyone, but certainly for me.

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Alex

Man, this set is insane, and I mean that in a good way. Forget Alex, you practically made a moveset for Street Fighter itself! I’m not into Street Fighter myself, but it’s absolutely fascinating to see someone translate the game into Smash to this absolute extreme, right down to getting very educational about gameplay mechanics from the source material. Alex’s abundance of SF-ported mechanics make him an exceptionally unique set, and that’s not even getting into his moveset!

The Counterhit mechanic is especially cool, in how it gives Alex a bigger advantage if he hits with a move raw vs comboing off of it from a cancelled move, and how he can use his powerful command grabs to catch out opponents who fear attacking and whiffing. I never thought a SLOW backwards walk would be useful until I read this set, but it could work well for microspacing and catching out opponents who mis-space their attack. The zero-angle aspect against grounded opponents feels like risky territory, but imo it feels surprisingly viable in Smash.

I do like how this set takes fun creative liberties, like giving Alex a V-Skill entirely original to this set, and making Choke Sleeper a different type of proning move compared to regular Smash proning. It reminds me of how Sleaze’s Up Special gave foes a frame 1 air dodge to react to his follow-ups, which was quite cool.

It’s clear that the various follow-ups Alex can get under different circumstances contribute to his behemoth length. Personally, I did find it a lot to keep track of; the full implications of what Alex can do off of each of his cancels and V-Skills kind of melded together and were lost on me. That didn’t stop me from enjoying Alex a good deal, though! Alex’s mechanics were a highlight for me, in how they worked with his neutral game, and I appreciated moves like Dash Attack B’s ability to dash cancel out of hitting a shield. Up Smash A was also a cool way of doing juggles and taking further from SF’s game mechanics, Down Smash A being better against shields, and Down Smash B having ridiculous rewards from the right reads with the right resources.

I also appreciate that you’re self-aware of Alex’s complexity and give readers a quick moveset summary in the “Now That You Know The Basics…” section, which will be very useful when the formatting is fixed (I can’t read the text on the far right). I really like the combo section at the end of the set, too! The GIFs, the damage output and how much meter you get from the combo. Really sells how much passion and effort you put into this set.

Massive props to you for posting two massive sets this contest in Sleaze and Alex. And the latter for being one of the longest sets in the history of MYM! (bar Kactuar and its mountain of extras)

 

[n88]

The Dragonborn by wizfoot
This feels a step or two ahead of Heavy - I haven’t read the in-between sets yet, but cool to see a jump forward here. There’s an interesting central conceit to the set in managing this resource of the Dovah charges, and implementations on the key moves feel both a bit more compelling and also intuitive. I have no experience with Dragonborn's home games, so I can't speak well to the adaptation choices here, unfortunately, but the style of the thing feels cool. Swordie with some flashy magic stuff. NSpec is a stand-out move in my mind for having that clear three-stage progression; those sorts of things are always satisfying to use, and it's a cool way to pack a lot of utility into a move that's slow and flashy in its most iconic form.

Funneling most all his magic stuff through the meter is interesting, and the set does acknowledge the trade-offs he has to make in places, but rarely goes much further than that. I’m not always the most verbose about these things myself, so don’t think I’m asking you to write a book about every move, but it would have been nice to get just a few more thoughts on how using different Shout options can shake up his gameplan. An armored-up Dragonborn is different from a time-slowing one. We get just a flash of that kind of discussion in FAir and it’s great! More, please!

The explanation of the Dovah Charges is a little muddled. I thought the initial “Gimmick” section was suggesting some sort of mix-and-match Specials in the way it described being able to deplete the meter with words from different Specials. I was also a little vague on what it meant to only use some words from a Shout… which was then explained in the following paragraph at the top of the Specials. The way the information is broken out doesn’t flow naturally, and I’d recommend bringing the specifics about how the Specials (and the Smashes, if you like) interact with the mechanic up into the mechanical section. Not that that’s the only way to relay information in a set, but I think that’s the least-intrusive change to what you’ve currently got to get the info out in a more intuitive way,

You’re doing an impressive amount of numbers work here, but there are still some key details missing. Unrelenting Force gives me a bunch of frame data, but doesn’t really tell me about the range of the attacks, which makes it really hard to understand how effective the move is. You don’t need to get too wildly specific about range for say, most melee attacks; as long as you establish it in a general way, that kind of thing is easy to visualize. But I have no idea what constitutes short or long range by the standards of magic shout energy, or how fast the energy itself travels.

This set is just alright for me, but I think it could be retooled into something I liked with a handful of clarifications and a few more active attempts to tie things together. From a mechanical design perspective my only significant beef with the moveset is that Slow Time doesn’t seem to have a range or area of effect. Possibly that’s just an oversight, but if that attack is meant to hit everywhere, that feels pretty frustrating/boring for opponents.

Stray thoughts:

• I didn’t even realize you could give a paragraph a background color until I copied this doc and played with it to see how you were getting this formatting on your sets. Interesting, but I really recommend altering the background color for the page itself in File -> Page Setup to avoid those white margins.
• DSpec doesn’t give a point where the armor breaks.
• “Neutral” doesn’t mean “ground”, I wouldn’t use it as your label for all grounded attacks.
• Jab would be a more natural choice for interrupting melee attacks than FTilt, no? More range, hits faster, lower knockback makes it easier to take advantage of the shift in momentum.
• How often does Up Smash shoot lightning? Cool move, but ‘periodically’ is a bit vague.
• smh his pummel can’t even kill
• “making them drop to the ground as if they’ve been hit with a Focus Attack” - the name of that effect is ‘crumple’
• I’d make the laggy space-clearing throw do more damage than the combo throws, not less.
• A bit surprised the alts don’t pull out some more varied appearances, for a customizable character.

 

[UserShadow7989]

Alex by Almand

Like has been said, Alex is a mechanically heavy set that goes down to the frame, and builds its main gameplay in how he can make the most of every single one. With mechanics transplanted from Street Fighter V, he effectively brings the feel of his home game into Smash in a way that meshes better than you'd think. That said, I am very much not a mechanical nitty-gritty guy, and trying to track every detail went over my head a bit (though that's more on me between poor sleep schedule and general poor memory); I've always been focused more on the concepts.

And conceptually? Alex is fantastic. Each mechanic ties together nicely with each other and the rest of his set. Each of his comparatively (thankfully) simple moves and the subtle variations of his specials give him a very neat kit that comes together to sell his pseudo-shoto pseudo-grappler style in a way that's digestible and satisfying to picture. The love for the character and his home series shines through, even including some of his tricks lost in transition from 3 to 5. I do have to wonder though if more visually subtle mechanics might clash in a way that'd mess with someone not familiar with his home series.

The big one being how hitting can be conditional on whether Alex and his opponent are grounded or airborne, which might lead people to confusion as to why the attack that visually connected just went through the opponent. Then there's the two meters, the taunt-related stances, counterhits, crush counter, zero-angle knockback, knockdowns, lows, overheads/meaty which isn't a mechanic technically but still important terminology, dash attack having an extra input method, different flavors of cancelling... and I'm pretty sure I missed something. Individually, that's all simple enough to discover organically by toying around with him, it's just the volume of things to learn that seems like it might be daunting. I do think it'd take some getting used to, but I think that's hardly a fair criticism given, well, literally EVERYTHING else in MYM. Everything Alex has is utilized well, though, and in contrast to other behemoth-sized sets, I feel Alex would mostly be simple enough to pick up and play in practice besides the ground/air sticking point.

Admittedly, my eyes kinda glazed over at some point from the sheer detail and the large chart didn't help as much as I hoped, but once you actually get to the moves it's smoother sailing, and you find there's quite a few tricks beyond even what's been noted on the chart. Timing Power Drop for when the foe gets out of shield stun from Sledgehammer or Heavy Flash Chop ("Yami Drop" as the set calls it) is the first part I noticed specifically. Like before, the use of gifs and text descriptions in tandem makes it very easy to picture how he plays in practice, and the elaboration on combo chains he can pull off helps create that satisfying mental image. Despite all that, the moves would also be simple enough to use as 'hit in x direction' without respects to their individual intricacies, which is key for preventing all the mechanics and quirks to how Alex's attacks work from being overwhelming.

The complexity in practice beyond that is just figuring out the lovingly crafted combo chains and mix-ups, as while he doesn't have super big or long combos, the ones he does have can hit ridiculously hard with proper execution, rewarding mastery and giving even newbie players satisfyingly powerful blows to offset the learning curve until they get up to speed. I feel Alex is an example of a massive set with lots of bells and whistles that works in this manner, setting it apart from others of its kind (I feel this is the big thing my Jodie set fails at, for example). It may have taken me longer to read than I'd have liked, but the set overall gave me a good impression walking away from it.

 

[Arctic Tern]

ELDLICH THE GOLDEN LORD (Goliso)

Eldlich is an old-school minion set, with a variety of minions to summon and a lot of tools for playing off them. The main difference, I feel, is that Eldlich’s moveset is far more in depth about fighting the foe than most others of its kind, with several moves that are just attacks. That’s not to say the minion interactions are bad; they’re actually pretty creative and implemented into Eldlich’s gameplan fairly well. I particularly like the decision to base his moves and their effects on actual gold-themed Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, a unique way of building potential. Lastly, the Golden and Cursed land effects all add very cool effects and payoffs for the set up required.

That said, I do feel the set verges on the overpowered end. First, and this may be a personal thing, 3 minions at once by default is a bit too much stage control, and 5 at max definitely is. I’d just limit him to 2 by default and 3 at max. Secondly, UTilt’s explosion effect is very powerful, and it can be used cost free on a minion constantly patrolling the stage. I would make that interaction the Golden Land effect with the Cursed Eldland effect still being a buff, but nerfed to “usable, but not high” kill percents. The NAir buff should stay that powerful, though, since it takes so much time to set up. On a side note, the duration for said buff isn’t stated despite the fact the move states there’s a limit.

Despite those, though, Eldlich was a nice throwback to the minion sets of old, one I highly appreciated. Not gold, sadly, but a firm silver nonetheless.

See more comments and ratings on my personal page!

 

[UserShadow7989]

Eldlich the Golden Lord by GolisoPower

Another excellent addition to the list of Yu-Gi-Oh! sets in modern MYM, Edlich is every bit as ambitious as Wolf Witch Veronica in his assorted interactions and card references, even if he's not a full on 3-in-1 set. I'm getting to be a broken record with this sort of praise, but there's just been so many good sets this contest, so I'll keep it short: the moves all fit their own niche, tie into each other in terms of practical application, and play nicely off of his specials, check check and check for the big thing I look for first in sets.

Eldlich does it all in style, too- he slowly takes control of the stage by transmuting it to Golden Land and then Cursed Eldland, bringing out his minions who carry their own oppressive qualities and can be manipulated or enhanced in a number of neat ways. Eldlich himself carries the strength of your normal heavyweights, with the same flaws being covered by the sorts of preparations he can make and his assorted buffs when fighting from his ever-expanding home turf. He has a habit of coming back for more thanks both to his weight and a few key options that let him escape disadvantage, metaphorically interpreting his own effect nicely- and more literally in the case of him being able to set his own respawn point to an Eldlixir in play.

That's selling short how much I like some of the interactions here, like the use case for FTilt and UTilt's golden land effects in tandem with each other. Then there's how aerials are handled in regards to Golden Land/Cursed Eldland, simple yet effective. I love everything about the Golden Homonculus. Flavor is fantastic too, the mechanics tying into his corruptive conqueror mindset on the large scale and stuff like UTilt's animation and effects on the small scale putting a smile on my face. You've gotten quite good at conveying character and how they would feel to play over your setmaking career.

Make no mistake, I'm a huge fan of this set, though I did walk away with a few questions. Golden statues shatter into shards when destroyed as stated, but what are we talking about in terms of hitbox? An AoE, a projectile in the direction of the knockback angle? How big/far is the range on this? FThrow's Golden Land variant mentions that it's a good aerial ladder starter if Eldlich was atop the Homonculus when it lands. If I'm reading this correctly, does this mean Eldlich using Grab again while it's out will have it perform the Grab where it is on his behalf? It's implied, but not explicitly stated in the Grab itself; that and the detail that his minions won't attack grabbed foes mentioned at the start of FThrow should be noted in Grab.

Questions aside, I do have some suggestions: Dash Attack is a strange (if interesting) input placement for a get-off-me move, and it being slow to come out feels a bit off for that purpose; you could make it so the sweetspot first appears a little earlier than the disjoint proper, which comes in at the same time as it does now, meaning opponents are discouraged from getting in his golden grill recklessly lest they talk to the hand.

Much as I love Up Tilt's Golden Land effect, I do wonder if there should be a time limit on the latter for minions, as it could get pretty oppressive with two or three prepped minions at once limiting where the foe can really attack. The set-up time does at least limit this, but it's still a little scary to just have those lying around for characters without the disjoint on their attacks to hit the minion from a safe distance as easily.

I'd be down for said time limit being paused when a minion is stored in Down Tilt or Up Aerial, though- speaking of which, I agree with the design decision to count them toward Eldlich's limit and in-play minion counter for logistic and balance reasons, but if there could be one exception, it could be for Forward Smash's conditions; with DTilt and UAir temporarily lowering your minion count to 0 for FSmash, that'd be some nice synergy for the one input I believe doesn't tie into the rest of the set a lot (not that Forward Smash isn't fine as-is).

That aside, I have some quick typo nitpicks. This is near the end of Down Special: "Oh, and to indicate which one you want to summon while on Cursed Eldland, just Tap B for the Huaquero and double-tap for the Huaquero." I think the second Huaquero is meant to be Conquistador. This is in the Jab: "For the first hit of this attack, the Mammoth will erupt from the earth in a post" probably 'pose'.

Overall, I feel like I slightly prefer Eldlich to Veronica, being more streamlined comparatively while keeping the charm and mechanical attention to detail. 'lolnice' indeed.

 

[UserShadow7989]

The whole world had gone crazy.

Yeah, she'd seen some odd stuff when she served under general Ike. The end of it all still felt like a bad dream, but that faint tingling she'd feel in her fingers whenever she touched her trusty spear, and the almost soothing warmth the blessing that'd been imbued in it gave off was all she needed to know it was real.

Still, that hadn't really prepared her for what came after that world shaking earthquake a few days ago. She'd barely had time to check on her siblings and the livestock before one of the village kids came running in all a fluster with tall tales about what he'd seen in the woods nearby.

Then a few hours later, the talking turtles walked up and verified his story. That was a new one for her, she had to admit.

It had taken longer than she'd have liked to take stock of everything, but miraculously, the village had been spared much damage despite the cataclysmic way the ground shook. And knowing that everyone was fine, that left what their odd guests had told them about what was going on beyond the boundaries of their homes. A few enterprising youths took off to investigate themselves, and they didn't get far before they came back and confirmed something.

The entire area around the village had changed; roads simply cut off in the middle of grassy plains or rocky slopes that just plain weren't there before. Odd plants and strange creatures roamed the countryside. Some strange woman on her travels in clothing they'd never seen anything like before had stopped to ask them questions about things they had never heard of, too.

As soon as the village's slap-shod militia had gotten itself together and the folks had put together some makeshift fencing, she took it upon herself to venture out and see what was going on, being one of its most skilled fighters. The turtles came with her, and she was grateful for the guides that seemed to at least have some idea of what all the weirdness she came across was- some of the time, at least.

That was how she came to find herself in the company of a sweet gal and her terrifying guardian, a bitter genius and her massive but friendly metal golem, and a kinda shameless but friendly lady who marched to her own beat and could move cloth by will. It wasn't the same as her time spent with the Griel Mercenaries, not by any stretch, but the way the group's dynamic started to settle together reminded her a little of that camaraderie.

And as the group traveled through the dead, blackened land and came across a tremendous city in the center of it all, lights and glass-lined buildings stretching toward the night sky, she didn't feel nearly as in over her head as she should've, but she still felt a mite bit awed.

Swallowing her trepidation and feeling the comforting warmth of the lingering wisps of Yune's blessing on her weapon, Nephenee took the first step forward toward the impossibly large city of 'Midgar', friends and comrades in arms at her side.

(A FrozenRoy/UserShadow joint set)​

 

[Slavic]

JAMCON 25-2​

JamCons are a monthly mini-competition where MYM'ers write up a set under a chosen "theme" within a 4-day period: starting from 12AM PST and ending on Wednesday that same time. Once the submission period is over, MYM'ers have 2 weeks to read and comment all of the entries, after which they can nominate their favorite entry. The entry that receives the most votes wins! The winner then picks the theme for the next JamCon.

• The set needs to be serious, not a joke entry or missing inputs on purpose.
• Commenting and nominating a set is recommended, especially if you participated yourself.
• To encourage commenting, anyone who nominates will receive a 0.5 point voter bonus on their JamCon entries. JamCon nominations count as 1 point. Nominating a set can mean the difference between a tie and a win!
• Major edits are not allowed until the JamCon competition is finished. Minor edits like grammar, number-crunching, presentation or adding pictures or even extras are still allowed.
• Multiple JamCon entries are allowed!
• Joint sets between more than one setmaker are allowed! Team up with someone to finish your entry quicker!
• You can use a pre-existing "skeleton" as the base for a JamCon set: intro, presentation, move images, Final Smash and even extras are allowed to be done before or after the JamCon. Only the stats and usual 23 moves (Specials, Standards, Smashes, Aerials and Grabs + Throws) need to be done during the JamCon.

To celebrate the first Joint JamCon victory, JamCon 25-2's theme will be two related themes:

D O W N F A L L
&
R E D E M P T I O N

A set only needs to fit with one of these prompts, not both, so pick your poison. Or go wild and incorporate both into your set!
​

• Downfall could most directly reference a character's fall from grace, such as how Walter White became Heisenberg during Breaking Bad.​
• A character who's otherwise lost their place or status in the world fits for Downfall, like how Two-Face went from beloved DA to supercriminal.​
• Downfall could also reference a character responsible for someone else's downfall, such as a revolutionary like Tri-Brigade Ferrejit.​
• A character with a mechanic based on a "Downfall" (such as losing control or morally) like Elpizo.
• Downfall could reference someone affected by the downfall of something or someone else, like how Constance von Nuvelle is the last remaining member of House Nuvelle.​
• A character whose Downfall can be prevented would count, such as how Zelos' suicide can be prevented in Tales.​
• A character who prevents a Downfall would equally qualify, such as Okabe's temporal mission to prevent World War 3.​
• Downfall could also be a character who encapsulates the downfall of a series, such as galactic letdown Snoke.​
• Downfall could also just be a character or mechanic who greatly enjoyings, well, falling down!​

• Redemption can be seen as the opposite of a character's downfall, like how Zuko has one of the most beloved redemption arcs in media.
• A character who constantly seeks Redemption, like a devout worshipper.
• A set can be Redemption for an older set, such as the more recent Kyoko set.
• A character who 'delivers' Redemption for others, like Madoka's wish to free other magical girls of their burden.
• A character who is considered beyond Redemption, such as Yoshikage Kira.
• This could even be as simple as a character who can Redeem a resource to some effect, like how Daisy can redeem her Gold to buy Swords.
• Make a set for a character from Red Dead Redemption!

 

[Arctic Tern]

A tremendous power emanates from beyond the door...
Enter the room?
Yes
No

(Jamcon 2 entry)​

 

[wizfoot]

Orange leaves fall onto a garden. The garden surrounded a temple, bright red leaves decorating the ornate roof of a temple. A large decorative bridge decorated the outskirts of the temple with a man meditating under it.

Footsteps roused him out of his concentration. The man opened one of his eyes to see a… mailman? He raised an eyebrow and eyed the letter with a bright red wax seal.

Finally.

He unleashed the chain on his wrist, skewering the letter and shocking the mailman.

"Get over here!"

JAMCON 2:
SCORPION LASHES OUT!

Spoiler: Changelog (UPDATED 4/29/2022)

"Edits will be mine!"

4/29/2022:

Shirai Ryu Discipline reworked; set knockback replaced with reduced knockback on all moves

"Changelogs for changelogs. Your debt is paid."

 

[GolisoPower]

Eldlich gazed from his throne upon the large summon sigil that his servants had created on the floor in the center of the room, his crimson eyes gazing down with curiosity. Ever since the rapscallions of the living world dared to not only impede on his quest to attain his right to rule and prove themselves to be more of a match for him than normal, he needed to find someone on his side to counter him. He needed a Champion of the Golden Land. Eldlich turned his gaze towards the hooded figure next to him, to which she gave a soft smile. She was the one who gave Eldlich the idea of this summoning ritual that would grant him one who would serve him faithfully, and through her charisma, she convinced the Golden Lord to let set it up in his chamber.

“And you are sure this will give me my Champion, bruja,” he asked, wariness in his voice.

“But of course, my lord,” she said as she slightly bowed her head. “The Throne of Heroes houses the souls of the many valiant figures found throughout history and has been tapped into by mages for centuries in wars for the Holy Grail. Summon one to your side, and not only will you be finally receiving your champion…”

Eldlich momentarily grew impatient, almost demanding to ask her to continue. But before he could get a word out, his eyes widened in realization. The woman could tell even under the face-obscuring helmet that he had now started grinning underneath.

“...but I will also be turning one of their most famed idols against them,” chuckled Eldlich like a giddy young child. “Yes, this is perfect! Their will to fight shall fail them once they see that one of their brightest stars shines their light upon me!”

Not a moment too soon, a gilded Machamp arrived, carefully carrying a small instrument: it was a flute of purple jade, ornate engravings carved along its body. Many of the golden servants around the Machamp looked on in splendor at it. Even Eldlich, who had seen a good deal of treasures from across the globe, couldn’t help but lean forward in fascination. But he knew better as to what it was.

“Ah, you have brought the catalyst, good,” mused Eldlich as he rose from his throne and strutted towards the sigil. “Place it in the center of the sigil, then I want everyone to stand back! My champion shall be summoned by my own hands!”

The Machamp gently placed the flute in the center before it, along with several other servants who had gathered to inspect it dashed away. Eldlich channeled the power of the Eldlixir into his fingers, rivers of crimson power softly flowing from his tips as he began to recite an incantation.

Let silver and steel be the essence.
Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation.
Let gold be the color I pay tribute to.

The crimson transformed into cobalt as the sigil started to flare up with power. A gust of force started to build up, merely a simple breeze, and yet it would rise into something greater soon.

Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall.
Let the four cardinal gates close.
Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate.

By now, the sigil had started to glow like a star being created in the center of the throne room, the gust now turning into a typhoon. Even parts of the walls started to crack from the sheer pressure.

Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword.
Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail.
Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth.

The typhoon now becomes a hurricane, threatening to sweep several bystanders up in the turbulence. And yet, Eldlich himself stood firmly on the earth and continued.

An oath shall be sworn here.
I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven;
I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell.

The ceiling of the throne room exploded and revealed a large storm of swirling clouds above, threatening to unleash divine wrath upon those that had awakened its fury. Eldlich, however, started to notice a red seashell-shaped mark on his hand begin to form, but he continued, undeterred.

Yet you shall be bound by those who exist beyond our world,
For you are a herald of the unknown,
And I shall make its power our own!

The storm parted to reveal a void of endless darkness, inky-black rivers of mist descending like a god of the apocalypse was coming as they swirled down to the summon sigil. Some of the golden subjects clutched their heads in what felt like madness as they heard overwhelming whispers go through their minds.

The tendrils then touched the flute, causing the summoning sigil to darken into a midnight blue, and yet Eldlich continued still.

From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power,
come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!

The indecipherable voice of the unknown thundered throughout the city of gold as though it were giving a primordial sermon as the summon sigil erupted, a spear of deep blue bursting upwards and into the very void above. Soon afterward, the energy dispersed, and the void gateway closed. The subjects that had suffered from the mysterious whispers from before slowly got back up with confusion.

Eldlich, however, admired the new sigils, a sign that he had finally summoned his champion before he looked to disperse the smoke from the ritual. There, in the middle of the room was a new figure.

It was a young woman with brown hair with two buns and long twintails that almost touched the floor. She was clad in a black dress and wore black bracers with puffy sleeves. Also with her were several flutes, including the jade flute from before, and a large pipa, all of which somehow floated behind her by an unknowable force. She turned around and saw Eldlich, blue eyes locked with his red ones.

“Wooo~w,” drawled the young girl entranced by his golden body. “You look so pretty…”

This elicited a chuckle from Eldlich.

“Do I now,” he asked. “But do keep in mind who you speak to, mi querida.”

“Hmm? Oh, um…a-are you my Master,” she said, snapping from her stupor and now straightened and tense.

“Indeed I am,” he sneered. “I am Eldlich, the Golden Lord! And you are my new champion!”

“Ch-champion,” she asked, in a panicked stupor. “Uhh, I-I suppose I’ll fight for you, but, um…”

“Of course,” boomed Eldlich. “That is what I expect of my Champion, after all! You will lead my golden armies to glory and strike fear into the hearts of those who would defy us! Now tell me your name! I wish to know who shall lead my warriors to victory!”

The woman flinched for a bit before taking a deep breath. Within a second, she gained a dangerous edge in her stare, and Eldlich felt something…different about her. Her aura made him feel like the gold could melt from his body at any moment, his mind felt like it was fighting off several new voices. Even his Eldlixir started to flicker from an odd presence that could not be seen.

“Oh, but of course, my Lord,” she said, her voice carrying a soft, yet crushing tone. “I’d be happy to tell you my name.”

An azure flame began to envelop her as she smirked at him. Now Eldlich felt like he was starting to lose control over her before he even had her in his grasp. Six wisps of the blue fire danced in the air from the blaze on the floor before they floated behind her, ready to obey her next command.

“Foreigner class Servant, Yang Guifei. Even in uncertain times, I will help you in your name, my dearest Master...”

 

[Slavic]

Magdalena Reinier stood amongst a desolate wasteland of a city, buildings already in disrepair from the devastation wrought by the alien invaders. Unseen battles raged throughout the city, and even as buildings fell around her in the distance Reinier's gaze remained fixated on a massive cracked screen along a building. The screen displayed one Senator Steven Armstrong. The man went on and on in a looped, televised message, treating this new threat like an opportunity, all while seeking to improve his body with his so called nanomachines.

Reinier looked down at her own body, wrapped in ceremonial robes to conceal the monstrosity that was her body. She had lost everything, including her status as Senator, while this man sought to betray his own planet and people. Reinier grew tired of Armstrong's rambling, turning away from the screen as she lifted her aether rifle towards it. She fired one sonorous blast, smoldering the center of the screen with the energy from the shot. A nearby building collapsed in a cloud of dust, closer than the others had been, and out from the cloud of dust shot a curious fellow, round and red, with two big doe-eyes. A Doll, perhaps, Reinier thought to herself, though she had certainly never seen a model resembling a wheel so closely. Though speechless, Reinier could sense no ill intent from the Wheelie, and Reinier felt a quick kinship with the motorized mook. As explosions sounded from the smoke and rubble, Reinier looked down at her new compatriot and back into the heart of the city.

"Come, little one," Reinier spoke softly to the machine. "We have a duty to fulfill."

 

[UserShadow7989]

Jamcon 2 Entry! I'd put a snazzy intro post here, but I'm tired and rushing a bit, so maybe later. Hope y'all enjoy!

 

[bubbyboytoo]

jamcon 2 set
play vampire survivors it's good game probably

 

[Katapultar]

Jigoro was lying unconscious, battered and bloody after a hunting session gone horribly wrong. It should have been one demonic bear, but instead it was a whole horde of them and they overwhelmed even this supposedly great warrior.

All according to Light's plan. He needed materials to trick Miruca into synthesizing a Death Note, and one of those materials was paper smeared with the blood of a widely-despised man. Blood that he could easily get his hands on now. Light had joined Miruca, Mai and Yui on their rescue mission for this purpose, telling the girls he would take Jigoro to safety while they fought off the wild beasts.

Light looked behind him, towards the wilderness where the girls should be at this moment. He hoped no harm would befall Miruca; not out of compassion, but because she was absolutely necessary for his plans to rid society of criminals and become god of the new world. Alchemists were rare, and Miruca was the only alchemist that Light had any connections to. Not to mention she had no knowledge of the secret and forbidden alchemy recipe to forge a Death Note, information that he happened to obtain in secret from a supposedly crazed criminal the police had brought in.

As a fellow human who knew the evils of humanity, and had been bullied at her time at Central Academy, some part of Light believed that Miruca would endorse a notebook that would rid the world of those selfish and greedy humans. But even if she didn't... Light would only need to secure the Death Note...



Meanwhile, Miruca, Mai and Yui were surrounded by monsters and looking for an opening to break through. Mai and Yui were doing fine on their own, but then Miruca found herself surrounded and Mai and Yui rushed to her rescue. They had done a lot for Miruca over the past few weeks, gathered no shortage of materials from their quests with their newfound outfits and hammers. The former the source of their superhuman strength.

Growing impatient, Yui stepped into the mob of bears and swung her hammer sideways, knocking away several of them at once.

"Sis!"

But more bears closed in on her, and Yui stepped in to clear away the bears that were between her and her sister. But now one group of bears had closed in on the twins and another group on Miruca, separating them. By the time Mai and Yui realised their mistake, it was too late.

"Miss Miruca!"

"Don't worry about me, girls. Focus on breaking through the horde!"

A moment later, Miruca pointed her bunker at the ground and fired an explosive round at point-blank. The blast sent the bears around her flying back, and Miruca was sent flying well away from the horde like a rocket. But it had come at a price, as parts of Miruca's body were left burned and bloodied from close contact with her explosion. She landed on the ground with a thud, unable to move. Only hope that Mai and Yui would escape.



Then a fiery object, like a disc, zipped through the air and sliced through a group of bears on one side of Mai and Yui. They used the opening to create a space for themselves, and with their superhuman strength they had no trouble taking out the bunched bears one by one. The girls didn't have it in them to kill the bears, so they did their best to knock them out. Then they looked to where the projectile had come from, and saw a peculiar girl standing in front of Miruca.

"Deke-deke-den! One! Flounders of humans’ bloody feast! Two! Creepy dudes who wallow in lewds! Three! Demands that paint this waterworld! My blade will cut your butts!”​

 

[dilliam]

There are no words for this jamcon entry.

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: The Nostalgia Critic

It’s great to see a new moveset from you! Beyond being an entertaining read and a good look at Nostalgia Critic’s character, I do think Nostalgia Critic is genuinely fun and arguably on par with Teridax. That might not mean much right now, but it does make me look forward to seeing what you do with a more dedicated set like Bugsnax.

This moveset’s implementation of RNG was genuinely fun and surprisingly well-designed in a few places. You unlock the RNG on your moves with a Special, which has a chance of enhancing or messing up your moves. I especially enjoyed how it was used on the Neutral Special: randomizing the order of your moves and taking longer to cycle between them, but they get stronger to compensate! The Big-Lipped Alligator Moment’s drunken variant feels pretty well-designed too, as the move becomes a wider and safer hitbox.

This Special feels like the kind of concept that would be great on a character like Hakos Baelz, which I will keep in mind for the future. I also like the idea of a move that can make you lose access to moves you use out of it for a few seconds, in drunken Up Special. Down Smash becoming a delayed hitbox when your drunk feels fun too. Mind-Fun also reminds me of Pennywise in how it can obscure sounds, and I appreciate how Dash Attack references it.

The melee feels a bit more focused than Teridax (though it’s been quite a while since I read that set), where Standard attacks reference the Specials and talk a bit about their functions. The moves also feel nicely balanced. I wouldn’t say that Nostalgia Critic’s full potential is realised, as moves like Up Special’s teleport options and the implications of drunk attacks could be talked about more to make them more compelling, as well as mix-ups for moves like those that are unsafe on block like Forward Smash and Dash Attack. Throws are a bit simple, but fair enough. But obviously your intent was to just make Nostalgia Critic and have him be funny!

I don’t really watch NC stuff so I might not get the jokes as much as other people. Highlights include Nostalgia Critic growing apathetic when he reaches the end of his Neutral Special charge, and only gets pumped up when the Care Bear appears (also love the imagery of Care Bears being disintegrated by their own beam), and Up Tilt’s “Fail” sign being a pseudo-taunt. Oh, and using taunts out of Up Special’s teleport; making taunts feel more relevant reminds me of Jodie. Also love Nostalgia Critic’s animation for whiffing his grab, it’s so over-the-top compared to other grab whiff animations.

Overall, Nostalgia Critic was an enjoyable set, one that I’m very glad exists for both the ideas and the character!

 

[FrozenRoy]

And with that, the second Jamcon of Make Your Move 25 is over!

Congratulations to everyone who participated this time around, with a sterling eight entries this time around! Let us ascend from the pits and see what movesets await our comments and votes next time around!

Hailing from the Megami Tensei series, though not featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry series, Seth by Arctic Tern marks Tern's first solo foray into Jamcons! Hopefully his reputation isn't as much of a downfall nowadays as in Greek times!

GET OVER HERE! Wizfoot is entering his first Jamcon ever with Scorpion! Will this entry perform a fatal finish or feel the sting of defeat? No matter what happens, it's good to see him around!

An entry fitting both sides of this Jamcon theme and continuing his perfect entrance streak, Yang Guifei by GolisoPower hopes to continue his streak of solid Fate series entries. Poor Eldlich, though, has had his dynasty end before it could begin with this kingdom wrecker...

The first Original Character set ever by Slavic, (former) Senator Magdalena Reinier seeks to win the votes of another election: Jamcons. Hopefully she doesn't get her buns burned, because she's already had some nasty ailments in her life!

Look alive, people! Or at least Live A Live. UserShadow's Ode Iou set is bringing a villain from one of his favorite games to life, and he's gonna be hopping mad if you don't give him some good consideration!

What a horrible night to have a Jamcon...or at least until Bubbyboytoo's Exdash set came out! This lucky duck doesn't stand to give you a ghost of a chance, so it's gonna be real hard to survive against him!

Is there anything more classic than Katapultar and ninjas? I don't think so and given his Ninon Joubert set, he agrees! She's brought some Jamcon Jutsu to juice up the party, so make sure not to finish your Sudoku before you finish reading her!

"The Nostalgia Critic."

Voting will end two weeks from today, so at the end of May 11th. Get those votes in for YOUR chance to make a theme terrible great enough for The Nostalgia Critic to make an appearance in!

 

[Arctic Tern]

Every Jamcon set has been commented on!

My vote? Ode Iou, by UserShadow. Hop on over to first place, why doncha?

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Yang Guifei

Yang is not a Servant I am familiar with character or gameplay-wise, so seeing her get a set was a pleasant surprise. She’s another welcome take on the critical star mechanic, too: another creative take where you have the option to apply it to your attacks, and both boost your damage output and apply a burn effect that works with her defensive nature. She also has plenty of ways to easily gather crit stars.

It took me a bit to fully understand Side Special, but it’s a pretty cool move and reminds me just how much potential these over-the-top projectile attacks can give to some F/GO characters, similar to what Morgan demonstrated. I do wonder if Down Special is a bit powerful damage-wise, but I do like the idea behind it: a state where Yang punishes weaker hits that would combo her!

Yang’s moveset feels decent enough as-is, but I wouldn’t say that any move or concept really grabbed me, and I feel like she could have a bit more to her. Her gimmick basically comes down to building up stars and spending them on a strong attack, which is still good, but I liked Dash Attack benefitting against foes who have Chthuga’s Essence and think it would be cool if more moves did that. Maybe it works from Chthuga’s Wrath as well? Gives an extra incentive to using the burn effect, which might not be relevant if Yang uses the buff to KO her opponent (though it would be relevant if they survived being KO’ed). Side Special lasers could converge faster on burned opponents, Neutral Special could home in on them slightly, and Aerial Up Special could have a bit more reach, for example.

Even if you didn’t want to do that, as I know this is a Jamcon entry and you have higher set priorities, there is a more simple addition I think Yang could benefit from: super armour or heavy armour on her slower moves, like her Smashes or Forward Air. Specifically, giving Yang super armour in places would make her feel more like a defensive fighter, and it would synergize well with her Down Special as she has a way to punish opponents who go for slower attacks against her. Maybe Yang even gets heavy armour or increased armour against opponents suffering from burn damage?

Finally, it might be worth listing a move’s max KO percent from Chthuga’s Essence, as it would help to sell how potent they can be when their base KO percents are underwhelming.

This comment might come off as overly-critical, but I do think Yang is a step-up from your Jamcon entries from last contest! (Creature is an exception, but I get the impression that set had more time for planning) She does a fine enough job with a quick concept, further showing your improvement from MYM24 and how you fare throwing out an improvised set with little to no help - which is to say good! Always love to see new Fate sets from you - in fact, I believe it’s the franchise you’ve done the most sets for.

Spoiler: Exdash Exiviq

This is a simple enough set that borrows heavily from the Belmonts and a little from Hero’s critical hit for a functional projectile-based set. I’m actually quite happy with the latter mechanic, as it doesn’t affect the knockback of your moves! One of my favourite moves was the original idea behind Neutral Special’s rotating reticule that determines where your hitbox comes out - fun concepts not unlike Nostalgia Critic that I think could be realised further as a base for a great set.

Believe it or not, I found Up Smash being a vertical mirror of Forward Smash refreshing too, as mirroring inputs on movesets has a reputation of being considered taboo in setmaking, moreso than RNG. Also, I see that you love referencing Kirby’s moveset with Neutral Air, lol, similar to how Goliso has a reputation for referencing Kazuya. Actually a fan of that Neutral Air, I like its bouncing aspect that can be used to pop dragged foes up to you and Aerials with hitboxes that don’t move with you in general. Down Air and Forward Throw were surprisingly fun too. Combined with Jab’s mechanic to perform two bird attacks at the same time, this is a moveset with some fun pieces that could have been played on in great ways with more time. But that’s a common thing in Jamcons! On a different note, I didn’t get much of a sense for Exiviq’s character, even from the extras, but I assume that he doesn’t have much personality to begin with, similar to someone like Tainted Forgotten.

Overall, a set that I enjoyed more than I expected!

Spoiler: Scorpion

Scorpion felt surprisingly clean and functional and is my favourite set from you so far. While simple enough, his moves all feel like they have a function in his set, so I’d say your feeling in that area was spot-on, and his frame data doesn’t feel too problematic in any area. Even Down Special feels distinctive enough from Neutral Special, with its lower start-up but higher end lag, being able to hit from the ground and I assume condition foes into the air where Scorpion has some tricks to deal with aerial approaches. His gimmick does seem like a case of “get a free hit off of a foe you hit during hitstun”, but it’s kind of a nice balancing factor to prevent Neutral and Down Specials from being super easy Smash attack set-ups, let alone from his combos, and I assume you can’t just spam Smash attacks if you trap them with Scorpion’s gimmick - you have to land his slower attacks raw. Others might be more critical with this set, but I’m happy enough with him if you are. Nice work here!

Spoiler: Seth

Seth is a nicely straightforward and fundamentalist-based set. This being your 4th set, I’m starting to see a trend where you have a decent focus in talking about what a move counters and how it is countered, or mix-ups as you would. It feels pretty prominent on the Neutral Special, which largely serves as a counter against shields, and this felt notable way back in Blastoise.

Don’t have too much to say here; Seth is just a perfectly clean and solid set with a neat enough base in Madness Nails. To say more, I actually enjoyed the grab game overall, in how Seth can’t use it from Madness Nails, and pretty much every throw being genuinely interesting like Forward Throw sending you offstage. I like throws that can fire out projectiles that can miss, classic MYM stuff, and I like how Back Throw’s debuffing projectile stops being guaranteed at higher percents where the debuff will kill! The set naturally has a strong end on the Aerials, with Forward Air being my absolute favourite move in the set and a fun take on Ridley’s own Forward Air: with 3 different attacks each with their own purpose, moreso if you land from the first hit. And I like how Back Air works with Madness Nails.

Another solid set from you and in Jamcon no less, I think I preferred Seth a bit more than Blastoise. Good job!

 

[ForwardArrow]

Scorpion
This set makes a pretty big mistake right off the bat with its mechanic, the Shinrai Ryu Discipline. Causing every attack to just send the opponent on the exact same combo for 3 hits both makes Scorpion's two stun moves very powerful and very, very linear, as you'll basically just want to go for the same combos out of them every time. After all, if the opponent is going on the same knockback angle and distance every single hit for 3 hits, why not just pick the exact 3 that deal the most damage while linking into each other guarunteed? Its a lot of assured damage and with how fast Nair comes out, you can almost certainly just use it to spike foes back to the ground and threaten to loop back into the same string over and over again, which honestly just does not seem enjoyable to play against, and makes Scorpion very shallow compared to most other Smash characters in terms of how he plays with knockback. Its not completely awful as its not just locking the opponent into stun, so there's room to potentially go for riskier less guarunteed mixups and stuff, and what you get off Down Special will at least depend on the range you use it at to some degree, but you're probably still usually going for the same string and getting 40%-50% at any percent with little risk and your choice of how the foe is knocked away at the end of it, which feels pretty oppressive on a pair of projectiles that aren't terribly slow and have no other setup.

Ignoring Shinrai Ryu Discipline, the set's functional. There's an improvement in the balance since V1(the last set of yours I read) as the frame data on attacks mostly feels pretty reasonable, somewhat weak feeling throws aside. I honestly think it wouldn't hurt to go into a bit more detail on the way attacks link together, if you're already saying what attacks X move synergizes well with you may as well at least express the ways they work together. I know you've said "I don't know how to imagine how 20 moves link together in my set" and that's fine, I'd prioritize just thinking about the synergies between 2 or 3 moves at a time that most logically build off each other. You can still get a pretty functional and interesting set out of that without going too hard on interactions or even combo links, I think a set like Bubby's Asbestos is a good example of that as its good at still giving nuance to the set's individual moves and some simple but interesting synergies between them. As is, Scorpion really does pretty little to hook a reader or player aside from just being a set for Scorpion, and a mechanic that's pretty poorly balanced and designed, so I'd say your approach probably needs an adjustment. I'm sorry if this comes across as harsh, ultimately you can choose to stick to your current style if its what works for you, consider this more of a suggestion as to what you could look to and try to change if you want to make more competitive sets.

Ode Iou
Ode's honestly one of your simpler JamCons at face value, compared to a set like Hopper or Honchkrow that offers a lot more customization, the set is pretty content to build off a simple but actually highly unorthodox poison mechanic. That's fine by me though, because I honestly love how the poison in this set works. Operating off the Smash timer for the extra flinch, rather than a timer based on when the poison was applied, opens up a lot of combo opportunities that are a bit more intuitive and easier to point off than your typical delayed flinch character has access to, giving Ode some pretty varied and potentially devastating tech chases. It sort of puts Ode and the foe into a rhythm, forcing the foe to play it a little safer around that 3 second interval, which Ode can read with his anti-defensive options like Dair and Down Smash. In a way, a lot of MYM sets come down to a rhythm of sorts with their meters and construct durations and whatnot, but it feels particularly pronounced and Ode and the set plays around it very well.

The poison is the highlight for me, but I'd say I like the set's approach to melee in general as well. Ode's not as powerful as your typical heavyweight and runs into some other problems, such as long ranged but jointed hitboxes that are easier to punish than your usual gigantic disjoint and a weakness to shields, but he makes up for it by being pretty tricky. His powerful jump armor and air speed boost allows him to make some sudden and surprisingly safe movements to get plenty of mileage out of his aerials and even some of his ground game like Up Smash, and his poison bubbles let him control the stage and mess up the opponent with briefly increased lag, which feels just tame enough to be fair but still gives Ode a pretty big leg up extending advantage. I do think the set's poison healing mechanic, while a cool way to mitigate his weaknesses, was utilized a bit strangely with Up Special and Dash Attack feeling like they cause him self-damage kind of arbitrarily. I like the set trying to play off the poison heal's ability to interrupt hitstun, but it feels a bit random to me that Ode's body slams in particular are subject to this flaw. I don't know if I'd suggest you remove it or anything, but perhaps there's a better solution? Either way, on the other end of the spectrum I do appreciate the set's unorthodox feeling melee, I found myself saying "huh, that's cool" at a lot of smaller applications of his moves around the poison/jump armor.

Also, if this is the US set that finally wins a JamCon, I think its a pretty fitting one, in part because Live-A-Live is one of the games I associate most strongly with you, and in part because this feels like the strongest grab game you've made for a JamCon set. It didn't really feel like Ode Iou petered out at the end, so its just a very solid entry overall.

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Nephenee

A very solid and strong set with nothing to pick at. Nephnee reminds me a bit of Raikou, with a sweetspot-based mechanic on a female with access to a lance-like weapon. The Specials are all genuinely neat; I like Neutral Special being a workaround to Wrath if you want to keep comboing, and using Side Special’s forward option to smash a foe into the side of the stage for an early kill is really cool. Up Special having a second attack you can land by fastfalling when close to the ground is interesting, and Down Special is an interesting mix between Marth and Sephiroth that combines their Neutral and Down Specials in a satisfying way. Also enjoyed the Jab kill confirming into Forward Tilt. The Specials come across as more Froy-ian, whereas starting from the Smashes the moves feel more US-like, with a short paragraph dedicated for a more detailed animation and a traditional movement-based Forward Smash, though it feels like there’s a consistent mix.

I don’t have too much to say here: Nephenee is really just a melee-based set who relies on fundamentals and mix-ups, nothing super stand-out or crazy for me to point out beyond the Specials, but what she does she does very well with tight execution. So good job here, you two!

Spoiler: Ode Iou

A set that’s proven popular this Jamcon, Ode Iou is a very fun choice and indeed the type of character Smady would make. Of immediate appeal is the way his poison damage works, where its periodic flinching is based on the match’s timer rather than starting from when you poisoned the target. Simple, but it opens up more opportunities than you’d think, and is surprisingly a great way to implement the turn-based nature of JRPGs. I’d love to see this concept be explored more, like on a time bomb-based hitbox. Mighty Leap is a good use of Ode Iou’s frog-based nature too, and gives him a committal heavyweight presence with his armour.

Some moves I liked were Jab’s part 2 being able to start tech situations if it hits standalone, Up Air for its downwards knockback and how that works with Ode Iou’s high falling speed, and Back Throw’s good use of flinching Poison. Funny how both this set and Seth has a Back Throw that spits out a projectile and a projectile on their Side Special! You’ll see. Having read Nephenee right before this set, I feel like that set must have been fresh in your mind when you read made Ode Iou, because both movesets have a Forward Tilt that serves as a staple in their neutral, a Sephiroth-style Down Special, and both of their Back Throws refer to “cracking the whip”, a term I have never heard before outside of the context of cracking a whip.

Ode Iou is arguably one of your stronger Jamcon sets (second to Enya imo). Like Yang, he’s a set that revolves around applying a status effect, and one that I feel has further potential if you were willing to invest the time despite there being other sets you want to do. I could see Neutral Special and Down Special doing more in an ideal world, and as I mentioned in the chat the possibility of expanding upon Forward Smash (deal more damage if you hit with the poison damage while swallowing your opponent). I also wonder if flinching Poison could benefit the grab game if it activates in the middle of a pummel or a throw? Grab section doesn’t seem to mention whether the flinch Poison’s timer still works while you’re holding a foe, but I assume it’s still in effect and you just miss out on the benefits of the flinch while you’re holding and throwing an opponent.

Even if you didn’t make any edits, I’d say Ode Iou is still quite a fine set! I like him and Seth just about the same, but I’d say Ode wins out for his more original concepts and has a chance of being my nomination this time.

 

[GolisoPower]

"Fatalis, Fatalis, Heaven And Earth Are Yours"
Seth by Arctic Tern

A cross between Fatalis and a Heartless, this is a black dragon set that I personally enjoyed, despite not knowing much about SMT. The set starts it off with arguably the crux of one of the most aggressive air games since HungryBox's Jigglypuff hit the scene. It's effectively Sora's Sonic Blade if Sora could follow up with any of his own moves, but with Seth, it's justifying using literally anything in his arsenal by being a flying monster that can allow him to hit with either his aerials or his normals. Neutral Special is a really strong shield pressure tool that gives him a good adaptation of the described "Almighty" damage into what is effectively stronger shield damage that gets stronger thanks to Madness Nails. Side Special's a really fun projectile that gets stronger the higher charge you have, with the weaker version being a good way to salvo with Zandyne projectiles thanks to Madness Nails, whereas Mazandyne is the stronger equivalent that's made for cutting off safe areas for the foe. And lastly, Down Special is the major comeback tool that allows Seth to turn the tables on the foe when things get rough and becomes nearly impossible to punish when using Madness Nails. All this ties right back to his Madness Nails, which is a really fun way to attack foes from all sides.

The moves themselves really seem fun to me, channeling from all appearances in the franchise. One of the highlights for me is Up Smash, which looks to put foes in a version of Kaclang that's influenced by their own movement and runs out the moment they hit the ground. Though I am a bit concerned about the balance, as it doesn't really specify whether or not a foe can retaliate while petrified. I hope they can, otherwise, the game would break real bad. F-air is another highlight for me: I love how you're given three separate hits that each have their own applications, just like what I did for Eldlich's Jab. The grabs score points from me, giving him a level of brutality that would rival the likes of Ridley. Overall, a healthy start to the JamCon and a valiant effort on your part. I won't be singing "Seth, Seth, Contest and JamCon Are Yours", mainly because Magdalena and Ode Iou really threaten that possibility, but it's a fun little read no less. Good work!

What A Stinger!
Scorpion by wizfoot

Let me get this out of the way: as far as feedback goes, I think it's been said by everybody else already so I won't turn this into an echo chamber. What I can give you credit for is that the set seems to have a great understanding of Scorpion's playstyle from the original Mortal Kombat games, being a viciously aggressive character with great ways to close the distance. There isn't much for me to say that hasn't already been said, but I feel like, despite the lack of FGC mechanics found in who we have in Smash already (though I can understand why you didn't want to include those), it seems to no less fun to play, with some of the moves showing you've been digging deep to figure out which input uses what, including having D-tilt be the fabled Uppercut found in many MK games. A valiant effort for making this set.

 

[Katapultar]

Spoiler: Magdalena Reinier

Reinier is a peculiar Jamcon set; it’s clear that you’ve thought about this character for a long time, between the trivia sections and the preview you posted a small while back, so it was a little surprising to see her be posted as a Jamcon set rather than a bigger project like Madoka or Kaiba. I agree with Khold that the trivia sections are a great idea for conveying extra information without dumping it all in the intro section, enough that I’d love to steal the idea for myself if I start another OC set. Being a character you have high ambitions for, I’d be interested in seeing a Final Smash, extras and even quotes for her if you were ever up to making those edits.

Sporting a fair few mechanics with rushing moves + a wall, scanning to make her attacks home in and elemental projectile variants not unlike Aurelia, Reinier has a fair few parts she needs to keep an eye on. Forward Throw was a nice way of wrapping these all together in a way, in particular. While the ideas could serve as the base for a top-tier set, and Reinier has some fun parts to her in what each of her mechanics bring, I did feel like the set wasn’t as focused or as convincing in its applications as it could have been. That it didn’t quite come together for me execution-wise, and lacked a particularly strong hook or melee compared to other entries. Neutral Air is a notably simple move; and while I didn’t find the Pummel too comical compared to Tern, I did Back Air strange in how a cape can function as a hitbox without being swung physically, even if it’s being billowed violently by the vents.

I understand this was a Jamcon entry though, and I did enjoy Reinier nonetheless, and not just for her lore stuff! The ambition on the lore and concepts is commendable, enough to make me wonder whether you’ll revisit her after this Jamcon. Or have her be to open the gates for a new character from her universe.

Jamcon nomination this time around is Ode Iou!

 

[UserShadow7989]

Seth by Arctic Tern ***

Seth is a set defined by consistent quality and careful thought in each of its moves that seems way beyond what you would expect from a set that was posted in three days, each individual input coming with enough extrapolation of its simple concept to feel like a perfect fit in the rest of his kit and giving even his oddest tricks (either Down Tilt or Up Smash for me) a grounded feel. While I am a little concerned about the assorted stuns he has access to, I feel the set does well enough to make them distinct in use case and effect while keeping them balanced to not be an issue.

That's not to say the Specials aren't a delight, either. Up Special allowing Seth to chain together attacks, throwing them out with shorter start up out of some burst movement, serves as his primary trick that defines everything that follows to some extent, and the set nicely goes over how each tool in his game plan works in relation to it. Down Special gives him a single-shot nuke or a repeatable safety net depending on how he wants to play it, forcing foes to keep pressure on him while also keeping it in the back of their mind how deadly he can be if not properly finished off before it reaches its full strength. Neutral and Side Special aren't as outright central, but they both serve to give him ways to further control the pace of the match and up the ante of how foes need to use their defenses carefully.

Overall, Seth captures the feeling of fighting an Atlus-designed boss nicely, both in his animations conveying overwhelming strength and in his mechanics letting him punish opponents for slip-ups with greater ferocity as the match drags on, complete with a final nasty trick that can instantly end the run (er, stock) if opponents don't plan around it or try and cajole you into breaking from the AI pattern (uh, force you to use it prematurely to escape a chain).

I had a little trouble putting my like for Seth into words at first, but like I said in the first paragraph, Seth is a set defined by consistent quality. Its strongest point is that it's just that solid, more than having an utterly insane concept or a bunch of really crazy inputs.


Scorpion by wizfoot ***

Putting a pin in the mechanic's issue, Scorpion feels like a decently solid representation of the character as you described them, which probably made me more interested in the Mortal Kombat plot than anything I've seen of the series before, so that point was an undeniable success. Each input has its own useful niche and draws on the source material to make a fleshed out tool kit that ties nicely into the mechanic and intended playstyle, while remaining a brisk read. Aside from Throws being a bit simple for my notorious complexity addiction, there's a perfectly good set here, put together in a short period of time and keeping a decent quality.

My usual complaints of 'but what if more?' aside, the mechanic has been brought up already as causing some issues in practice when you think about it. FA has mentioned the issue already, so I'll try to come up with a fix, since the mechanic is a neat concept on the face of it.

My first idea for a possible tweak is that rather than setting the knockback, the first two moves have their knockback and end lag slightly reduced (so you can't just spam the strong moves into themselves unless you're coming in at a certain angle/putting a little elbow grease in). Foes can't be grabbed for the third hit by Neutral or Down Special, having a brief grab armor period after to prevent them from just letting you infinite the foe, and the base knockback of the third hit gets a small buff- making it rewarding to time that final hit to be your KO option and giving foes more opportunity to escape in case you find a way to loop the mechanic. You'll still have the normal knockback angle of the hit, so your low-knockback moves can be good finishers to keep foes nearby and try to get another chain of hits, too.


Yang Guifei by GolisoPower ***

I had a bit of difficulty coming up with something to say for Yang that wasn't already covered. A straightforward set with a neat game plan, slowly building up resources while fighting and playing defensively, then unleashing hell on the foe with those resources to deal incredible damage and greatly enhanced knockback. Down Special adds a twist to the formula by punishing the foe for going in on her without committing to the beatdown, giving her more breathing room to go on the offensive while it's active. Combined with Neutral and Side Special being very interesting projectiles, and the set has a decent bit going on.

The moves stay individually interesting all throughout, Up Smash being just genuinely neat, all while having a solid combo game and the crit stars mechanic for a throughline. I do admit I wish there was some other twist to the formula, some sort of secret ingredient, but what you have here all works well enough and has some wonderful animations to hold my attention in the progress. I do like Kat's suggestion of giving her a little armor in places- maybe as she builds crit stars, she can tank through slightly more stuff?

That's... all I can say, actually. Yang's a good set, she has a neat concept she uses well, she ticks all the needed boxes for a good set, and she looks good doing it. There wasn't an amazing 'wow' factor to the set, but the individual moves have some cool stuff going on in their own right

Noting some typos I saw here: "But where Jab is more about building up damage, this hit is about knocking her foes away, knocking foes away at 217%." in Jab, and "There are two hitboxes: the immediate burst of flames at the start deals 7.1% and knockback to kill at 242% from the center of the stage if you." the second sentence of Up Aerial just kinda ends.

 

[GolisoPower]

BBBBBBBBBAKAMONO GAAAAA!!! STRAUDE NO KAGAKU WA SEKAI ICHI!!!
Magdalena Reinier by Slavic

Well, holy crap. Slavic made an OC, who'da thunkit? The way she fits the JamCon theme is surprisingly meta, but just enough for her to say she's a perfect fit! I'll start with her gimmicks:

Firstly is the Auto-Pilot: I find it very interesting that it bolsters her dodges at over 100%, allowing her to be extra evasive and a give her a better opportunity to not be caught. The dodge distance as well seems really far, but the fact that Maggie (Oh, uh, can I call her Maggie?) needs to take a big beating to reach that level gives me some relief in how balanced it all is. Then we got the heat mechanic, which gives her a surprising degree of "glass cannon" to her where in exchange for taking damage over time, she effectively upgrades her attacks, and the fact that she can weaponize her cooldown with Shield Special, in general, gives Maggie a solid idea of a cycle to go through.

Speaking of upgrading her attacks, Neutral Special's a fun little projectile where she can use her Smash attacks to roleplay as Rango and potentially kill all 7 of them Smash Brothers with one bullet but otherwise turns Maggie into what is effectively a genderbent cyborg Captain America. And I am pretty sure that exists in some obscure corner of the big heroic rubber band ball that is the Marvel Comics continuity. Anyways, the fact that you combined a Metal Blade with the Crownerang and anointed it with the fresh juices of a Super Mushroom gives it a surprising level of versatility where you can drop this 1/300,000-scale model of Midgar down on top of foes off-stage for a consistent kill or predict where your foe is gonna move thanks to it being aimed like Metal Blade among other things. Side Special seems like a pretty fun lock-on mechanic that ties to some of your projectiles and allows Maggie to give some aggressive zoning potential, and not only that gives her non-projectile moves some surprising utility as well. I do kinda wonder if it should allow her to autoturn towards foes in 1-on-1 matches, but it seems to do plenty as-is. I'll get to Down Special when I talk about her Smash attacks, but in the meantime Up Special: I find it interesting that it makes you rise faster when using this while overheating, mainly because the Aether gimmick and Heat gimmick are so closely tied together. Though I dunno if it's just me, the Special does say it deals AoE damage while recovering in a burning state, but it doesn't really say how much damage you do and whether or not it kills. Is it like K. Rool's Up Special, or Ridley's? I can't tell, in all honesty.

Alright, I've gone on long enough about her Specials. So let's move on to her Down Special! The main reason why I like characters that change the properties of their attacks is that it makes the character a lot more conforming to the player, I bet it's one of the reasons why Shulk is considered one of the more viable characters. With Maggie, it's not really as deep as Monado Arts, but changing her ammo type to give her Smash Attacks different properties is still enough to provide more options to anyone playing as her. Forward Smash seems like a really powerful projectile that has not just unique properties based on what you've loaded your gun with, but also with what you shoot with. You got your Fire Bullets which are incendiary rounds all about dealing damage, Thunder Bullets which are basically tasers fired from your gun that give you a pretty decent short-term set-up, and your Ice Bullets which are a long-distance anti-air/utterly terrifying edgeguard tool that blocks off most chances of getting back on-stage. And that's not even going into how they interact with your steel pizza, either.

The rest of the entire kit brings everything together in a pretty aggressive playstyle that allows Maggie to not just be terrifying at a distance, but also to keep foes off you to ensure they stay in that distance, boxing opponents into where you want them to be. Highlights include her Grab, which make for some amazing burst mobility if you've locked onto a foe, and F-tilt, which is deeply tied to her gimmicks but is still significant enough to be worth mentioning, being a great approach tool with your shield and a much stronger close-range attack without it. I cannot say enough just how beautifully integrated everything in the set is, and I applaud you for putting this much into a JamCon. Though, I'm not one to talk, what with me teaming up with Tern to bring out a 30K set last JamCon and all. But regardless, this senator is one you should not **** with, more so than Armstrong. So far, she's getting my vote this JamCon.