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A note about my star rankings: The descriptions are just to give you an idea about what it might contain and shouldn't be considered gospel truth that all sets within have all elements of it. Mostly, consider what the numbers mean. 10 is best, 0 is worst, 5 is average, 6 above average etc
Star Rating Explanation
- 10 Stars (2 Ranked): The coveted position at the top of my rankings, given to my favorite sets of the contest, the "top" tier! 10 stars represent the best of the best and tend to combine the best elements of the crispest execution, the freshest concepts, excellent characterization and more. At the same time, often times the difference between a 10 and a 9 star is a certain "excitement" factor: A lot of times when I'm reading a 10 star, it's the kind of set that makes me feel giddy from start to finish. Every contest except for MYM19 has had at least one 10 star, while three contests have had three 10 stars (MYM15/21/23). The current record is four 10 stars, in MYM25. Take the napkin first and reach for the top!
- 9 Stars (8 Ranked): A step below 10 star is 9 star, these sets still represent some of the best that Make Your Move has to offer, and thus hit the "top" tier. The qualities of these sets are pretty close to a 10 star. They have tight knit and strong playstyles, they have TAS-level execution and so on, but they have just a few too many problems to get higher, such as a bit too much balance worry, perhaps lackluster characterization or just simply not quite having as much "exceptional" factor. 9 star sets will almost always find their way into my Super Vote List: If 9 stars end up not making it on, you know we have a truly wonderous contest going on!
- 8 Stars (18 Ranked): The "Great" tier of sets that rests below the highest tiers, these usually have a more acutely placable issue such as a weak concept, iffy execution at some parts (perhaps even an entire input section) or weak characterization but placed along a rest of the set that is strong enough to make up for it and still get it high. Or, alternately, they may be sets which are fairly strong in all areas but have nothing jump out as extraordinary beyond great. Nonetheless, these are sets worthy of praise, the higher end 8s usually make up my RV+ or snag SVs and are at minimum rock solid RVs.
- 7 Stars (11 Ranked): Seven star is where the "good" sets reside. They might not be the best sets ever, but that doesn't make them bad at all, contests and games thrive on having plenty of good sets! These tend to make up the bulk of my RV list, with particularly strong contests causing the bottom of 7 to drop into WV+/WV or so range. Sets can either be a mix of high highs and more average/low lows, most commonly a strong start that tapers off into a forgettable ending, or a consistent Good quality that just doesn't have enough to get higher. Sets with a lot of good and a lot of bad will also tend to end up in 6 and 5.
- 6 Stars (9 Ranked): "Above average" is 6 star, which makes up the bulk of my WV list (and sometimes low RV) for most of my votelists. They don't exactly speak to me much, but they have enough solid and enjoyable traits to feel stronger than your average set, so they're definitely still worth your time: It's not uncommon at all for people to love sets I've got down here in 6 star!
- 5 Stars (4 Ranked): Five stars is "average". It's hard to describe average, but that's what it is, something in the middle that I don't find especially good or bad, such as a moveset with a little good and a little bad, a general moveset that doesn't do anything offensive, or something with such large drops between good and bad that I can't get behind it either way. These sets are the last of sets that get votes from me, snagging WVs but being the first to drop off as more sets get on.
- 4 Stars (2 Ranked): Four stars are the "below average" mark. These sets aren't terribly bad or anything, but they've gotten to the point I dislike more than I like, either due to a noticeable failing in one or more areas without enough good to back up or just a general sense of underperformance across the entire set. It isn't uncommon to find solid concepts in these sets, though!
- 3 Stars (1 Ranked): Three stars is when we get into "bad". These movesets actively detract from me a good deal and begin to lose redeeming elements, and often contain multiple large issues, such as terrible execution, lacking playstyle and bland or bad characterization, but they aren't repungant enough to be truly awful. Don't be too upset, though, if you get a set this low or lower: Everyone, including myself, makes some stinkers after all!
- 2 Stars (5 Ranked): When we get to Two Star, we go to "awful", sets that have numerous issues that either run deep and so are more difficult to fix or are so overwhelming they smother a set even if there's other parts I like. Sets with essentially no details, such as one sentence moves for the entire set, end up either here, 1 or 3 star usually. Sets here aren't quite horrible enough for lower categories (think of it like a nega-8 star) but are getting fairly bad.
- 1 Star (1 Ranked): One star is like the dark, negative version of a 9 star. Where 9 star zigs into an incredible playstyle, a 1 star zags into an incoherent one. When a 9 star puts across a great characterization, a 1 star makes the cute powerless schoolgirl into an evil monster with the morality of Hannibal Lecter. Don't worry, everyone makes mistakes...it is just this set is one of them! Also proud home to sets that do "nothing", like 1 sentence sets without damage percents or any other information.
- 0 Star (1 Ranked): Introduced in MYM22 is the 0 Star Ranking, which I'd considered adding before. It makes 5 star the perfect "average" rather than the 5.5 of a 1-10 ranking. Congrats, if you hit 0 star, you made a "meme"! These are sets that go beyond mere loathing entirely and enter a truly special pantheon of bad. Think sets like MYM13 Medic, MYM12 Etranger or MYM15 PC-98 Reimu, where a set fails on every possible level and beyond merely being bad. And if you're wondering yes, I have made sets I consider to be 0 star worthy, so don't think I'm immune to being this awful. On the plus side, 0 star sets often gain a lot of fame due to the status that makes them 0 star, so they're a successful legend in their own way!
Once again establishing your dominance in the Touhou franchise with an older Froy set, Patchouli is a lightweight zoner quite like Dizzy, but she is conceptually a whole different book. Her Neutral Special might be the single longest move ever written in MYM, with Saul and Ayesha’s 8k or so Neutral Specials being notable there too. I have to wonder whether Kanade was of any inspiration here, but maybe not since his and Patchouli’s cycling mechanics are very different.
Patchouli’s Neutral Special is… actually incredible. It is Sora’s Neutral Special taken to extremes, since you can grab and imbue a projectile to buff or alter it, giving Patchouli an astounding 25 options to work with. These are balanced by only having 1 element out at a time, and the extra “lag” that comes with imbuing an element. These are all unique attacks, and the set is very self-aware of how they work in the grand scheme of things. Each element has built-in mix-ups among its 5 options, where you can hover over one options only to go for another: and various attacks play off of attacks from the previous element, like the water stream being good from the fire devil or the water smoke playing well into all of Patchouli’s more “trap-based” wood moves. The set is also aware of roughly when Patchouli would have access to a certain type of element during her stock, like in metal’s write-up. This is such a brilliant and well-thought out move, it would have been my favourite move of everything in MYM25 if Patchouli had been posted in that contest. Speaking from personal experience, these types of gigantic moves are commendable to get out for the sheer amount of time and effort you need to invest in them - I especially like the original spell cards and real life references.
Semi-notable nitpick: the fire devil feels a bit much as a trap, one that covers 3 grids, lasts for 5 seconds, deals light upwards knockback and doesn’t disappear on hit. Even when factoring in that Patchouli has to cycle back to her fire cycle to use it again, and the fact that the fire devil doesn’t spawn in front of her (which is interesting for a trap-making move). Only suggestion is to shorten the trap’s time to 2 seconds or something, so it can still influence how a foe reacts to your follow-ups but doesn’t overstay its welcome. Not going to ruin the set if it stays as-is, though. The Side Special Summer Red also comes out awfully fast on frame 7, which feels a bit too fast when Mario’s Fireball doesn’t come out until frame 17 and so on.
Though relatively simple by comparison, yet all interesting after the fireball, I actually appreciated the shorter Side Special projectiles after reading Neutral Special, and how they are based on your current element but don’t cycle between them. Wind’s charge-and-store in particular plays off well from the water smokescreen, which gets a ton of mileage from the set from just the Specials alone. Up Special and Down Special are more simple too: though the former is surprisingly unique as a “chargeable power move” by Patchouli’s high jumps, and Down Special being a trap that compromises a defensive option if it’s set out.
In spite of how incredible Neutral Special was, Patchouli’s moveset felt kind of underwhelming by comparison after her Side Special and Specials in general. Not to say the rest of her moves were bad at all - just that I don’t think they played off of her Specials as much as I expected them to, and felt a tad disconnected from them in that sense since a lot of Neutral Special’s cool tricks are self-contained in that one move. The cool D-throw (which reminded me of Kanade’s) was an exception here with its dependence on Patchouli's element, along with her U-throw to some degree as it redirects her projectiles. It is understandable that you took the approach you did though - making the non-Specials more gimmicky than they were would have probably put off more people. It felt like the opposite approach I took to Kanade’s moveset. I don’t think this kind of concept could have been handled better than the way you did.
In any case, some non-Special moves I liked:
Jab 2 was surprising with its non-attack canceling properties.
F-tilt is simple but very respectable in its well-detailed applications for its low-angled knockback at certain percents.
N-air is nice and F-air is a good projectile neutral tool, since Villager’s F-air is fun.
Tech mix-up between F-throw and B-throw is pretty decent for something standalone and not connected to the rest of Patchouli’s tricks.
It is a funny experience to go into a grab game and go straight to the Forward Throw, forgetting that the Grab game was brought up at the start of the set!
Up Taunt channeling that Kanade Down Taunt cycle-dependent magic-showcasing. We really need to arrange a meeting with these two magicians.
Overall, Patchouli’s appeal felt more lopsided than Dizzy with her big awesome Neutral Special, but I found myself surprisingly liking Dizzy more for having a consister stronger moveset and melee. A great and commendable moveset nonetheless - you really smashed it with opening day this contest! We’ll definitely have to watch out for you this contest, if you can make strong sets like this from the get-go.
Bowstring is a much more elaborated upon set than Goobbue, with a notably more defined ranged playstyle. The main gimmick plays off of his cowardice, where he becomes more mobile but weaker if the opponent dealt more damage than he did and more powerful if he dealt more damage. This is quite an interesting mechanic, and could very well work for several other characters. I also quite like the elemental effects on Bowstring’s Smashes, and the option to create traps using one of his aerials. A lack of elaboration on the specifics of his gameplan is primarily what prevents this from being particularly wowing, but it still shows a marked improvement on Majora’s part.
ISAAC CLARKE (Shad)
While I don’t really have much to say, I do like the intended playstyle Isaac has: a character with immense stage control who finds himself outclassed at close range is a fairly decent way to adapt the survival horror genre into Smash. And the set does do a decent job of giving him that, with his Kinesis allowing him to capture projectiles at the expense of great lag and his variety of long range options. Given Isaac’s ability to combo his standards into each other, though, I’m fairly sure he actually does have a fairly good close range game besides his grab, especially since they aren’t really detailed. Overall, however, this is still quite a good effort for a character who most probably wouldn’t think to put in Smash.
MCDONALDS CHICKEN TENDERS (Froy)
This isn’t your average everyday ****posting. This is… advanced ****posting.
McDonalds Chicken Tenders makes the most out of the utterly absurd “character” choice. It’s an incredibly lightweight character who, instead of making up for its low weight with immense power, punishes opponents for attacking it by applying debuffs with the aid of its sauces. While the sauce debuffs aren’t really elaborated upon, they are largely self-explanatory and thus I feel that they aren’t really worth mentioning on most moves. That isn’t all McDonalds Chicken Tenders can use sauce for, though; they can also squirt it on the ground to make traps or, most intriguing, use it as a space to L-cancel their moves Melee style. The sauce also has the interesting mechanic of having two cycles for the same attacks, which could easily provide a basis for an entirely different set.
While the set as a whole is pretty funny, I think the underrated funniest part of the set is that it’s actually unironically good, at least from my perspective. McDonalds Chicken Tenders’ aerials stand out as one of the best parts of the set, with appropriate focus given to its L-cancels, with the interesting hook of them not actually being safe to use in disadvantage for the most part. While the fact that McDonalds Chicken Tenders has to move in one of its cycles to spread sauce it wants can get kind of annoying, it can spread sauce without using it on several moves, and you do get one of its strongest kill moves as a reward for it. I also like the fact that McDonalds Chicken Tenders heals upon landing some of its moves, a neat way to balance the fact that debuffing the foe also heals them since McDonalds Chicken Tenders counts as a food item. The set aside from what is described doesn’t really have a lot of standout moves, outside of the tortilla wrap FThrow, but I wouldn’t call any move here outright bad.
Despite the idea of a set for McDonalds Chicken Tenders seeming like a joke, it officially isn’t a jokeset, and what’s there is actually pretty fine in my book. Regardless of whether or not it places, this will still probably be one of the more memorable sets from the contest if only through sheer absurdity.
Peppino is a solid, brisk read that translates Pizza Tower’s mechanics well into moveset form. Neutral and side specials are particular highlights here; all the movement-based mechanics are really fun. Melee game isn’t the most out there or wacky, but it’s perfectly fine and accomplishes what it sets out to do. I think my biggest criticism is the grab game. It feels like a generally worse option than neutral special, which makes me feel like you could have just put neutral special on the grab input and made a unique grab mechanic part of the set. Despite that though, Peppino is still a good read, even if it’s flawed.
VANILLA ICE JR.
(Rumia)
Another quick read that’s basic but fun. The use of smokescreens here fits her role well and the animations and writing style really sell the character’s personality. I don’t have a lot to say about this set to be quite honest, it was a nice, quick read without any concepts that really jumped out at me. Nothing wrong with that of course, it’s just that I don’t have a lot to say about it either way. OH GOD, IT’S THE BAND KIDS
(Nonon)
Very excited to see her get a set; she was one of my frontrunners for a Kill La Kill set if I ever got around to it. It starts off very strong with its specials all having some degree of silliness and shenanigans to them, especially with the projectile manipulation present. Normals are pretty fun too with them feeding well into the specials’ projectile manipulation. I do find the smashes a little lacking, they definitely do their job but given how the rest of the set is I was expecting something a little crazier. Your consistently entertaining writing style definitely helped with this set, made it an easy read to get through.
ISAAC(no, the other one) (no, not that one either)
(Isaac Clarke)
For a newcomer set this is a very strong showing. You have a clear understanding of what makes Dead Space, and by extension Isaac, so special here with the special grab mechanic and usage of weapons and the statis effect, as well as the ever-infamous boot. I do think you could help to elaborate on how some of these mechanics play together, though, especially the stasis field which feels underutilized. Maybe discuss how certain projectiles play into it? I also think it would be helpful to describe measurements in the set in terms of Smash-based units (Battlefield platforms, training stage units, etc.) as opposed to meters and feet. It helps paint a much clearer picture as to how far these moves reach. Still a good read though! You clearly have a very distinct writing and presentation style that can be something special if you hone it, and I look forward to any future sets you put out.
BOOK
(Patchouli)
Definitely a heavier read than the rest of the sets here. There’s a lot to love here, but my biggest criticism with this set is neutral special’s formatting. 25 different variants on one special is a lot to take in, so it would help to split it up a little more. Maybe put some headers in, more gifs to break up the walls of text. With that being said, on a mechanical level this is a really fun set with a lot to love. I do enjoy characters who let you get really creative and Patchy has that in droves, with a fun take on Sora’s cycling mechanic alongside a generally very solid zoning game that allows plenty of room for mixups and other silliness.
DAMNIT ROY YOU MADE ME ORDER CHICKEN TENDERS AT 9PM
(McDonald’s Chicken Tenders)
Solid contender for the most insane pick this contest. (I am taking this as a challenge, Roy.) First off, the writing style is appropriately entertaining as it should be for a pick as bizarre as this. There’s also a lot to love mechanics-wise here today, the sauces reminding me a bit of how Patchouli can store different projectiles along her cycle. The mechanics involving opponents eating delicious, juicy McDonald’s Chicken Tenderstm are quite fun too. Overall this is a fun set with enough interesting going on to carry past its obvious novelty. However, I must deduct all points for honey mustard slander. Sorry.
It was really fun to read Kasen after a long time, I recalled a bit from her, mainly how strong she was (which is still true) but this was pretty much a new set to me mainly cause I'm prone to forgoring. But yeah Kasen is great, I've mainly compiled a few thoughts I had while reading through her base form
-For a Touhou character she sure has the most American up special I've ever seen
-I read the interaction between her eagle and the rainbow and thought of Testament in Guilty Gear Strive which has a very similar thing, but Kasen came first, so I guess Daisuke copied Han.
-I think it is real cool how she gets access to a really strong projectile (Eagle) if her opponent gives her a projectile first, she literally fights fire with fire.
-Lezgo frame 2
-I like how you talk about what, why, and how moves changed from the Old Kasen, I enjoy that.
-Sad that Kasen’s d-tilt doesn't give her popularity : (
-Is cool how she shows her martial arts expertise in things like N-Air, where she can get a great reward but needs to be precise with it.
-She’s an animal lover, how based
A thing I’ve always loved in your movesets is how you make threatening characters feel scary to play, once Kasen Morbs she is terrifying, being this unstoppable force, I think I can only really describe her as being a playable boss who gets to keep the boss aspect. But yes, Kasen is iconic, you have done an excellent job with her Han, and even tho she beat my set way back when I’m happy to see she has this great of a set.
Your character choices are generally for no-nonsense types, so it comes across as especially wild when you throw out something like this. And by wild, I mean the type of character choice you’d expect from MYM1. You have my undying respect for making a modern McDonalds moveset, even if it isn’t for Ronald McDonald. I assume this moveset was inspired by being in McDonalds, which reminds me of when n88 was inspired to make Torkoal in MYM8 when they saw two kids fighting over a chair.
“This item is still available in Kanade and the United Kingdom. “ I love this typo. Please keep it in - I’m perfectly good with Kanade being an actual country.
Right off the bat, this moveset is already a fun reading experience we don’t normally get in your movesets. Very cool to see you go out of your wheelhouse, it’s definitely the type of thing you’d encourage other setmakers to do. We’ve never seen a character with parts that act as a passive food item either. As one of the vegans in MYM, I want to see a vegetarian character with a passive mechanic that prevents them from eating meat-based items, giving them counterplay against the McDonalds Chicken Tenders.
This is one of those rare movesets that attempts to be both a jokeset and serious at the same time, and probably the first instance of one in modern MYM. I do think the funny descriptions can get in the way of comprehending the moves, much as I hate to criticize the humour here, but it’s still an interesting experiment, and the type of thing where it takes making the moveset to realise such a thing.
I do enjoy the creative liberties you’ve taken with all the sauces, like the creamy ranch sauce straight-up freezing opponents, and how you’ve squeezed some surprising potential out of all the sauces - no pun intended. It’s like a little gallery of puddle effects all in one set, with the creamy sauce’s L-cancelling properties being neat and the mustard’s tether effect being a solid moveset concept - especially with the unique way of applying the tether by coating your nuggets and making your opponent eat them. The sweet and sour effect is actually cool for only applying its puddle when the projectile’s delayed hitbox detonates on the ground, and the puddle in turn becomes a delayed hitbox itself! Also applying a delayed hitbox to opponents who eat the sweet and sour in exchange for healing them big kind of reminds me of Medea.
“McDonalds Chicken Tenders will always lead the foe if, say, the two are dashing in different directions, once and for all proving the Might of Ronald McDonald by having His grace even able to pull Shin Godzilla around!” Another masterpiece of a sentence right here.
“It would hardly be wise to purchase ANY McDonalds meal without getting a supersized beverage with it, especially since you get free refills if you eat inside!” This is actually a thing in America? Little kid me from 15-20 years ago would have been lovin’ this.
“Upon release, delicious sugary water (or diet! We don't judge here) shoots out from the straw, going a slightly lesser distance than FLUDD but having slightly more pushing power because soda is fizzy and thus can lift the foe more capably than plain old boring water.” You stole fizzy lifting drinks!
You know, I was actually expecting the Down Special to remove effects applied by ingesting sauce as some kind of trade-off, since it was foreshadowed in drinking-based moves like Young Link’s milk taunt. Not that it matters. Up Special is actually an interesting take on Olimar’s old recovery, since the foe can directly control how many tenders you have in exchange for side effects if you sauced them. The tipper’s length also depending on your remaining tender count is a neat idea too. Then the combo meal finishes with Neutral Special, a way to make your opponent eat your tenders even if they don’t want to!
It was past the Side Special and seeing that the other Specials were based on existing Smash Specials where I realised that the Mcdonalds Chicken Tenders weren’t -as- serious and focused as your usual movesets, though it does pick up on the Aerials (landing over construct to decrease your ending lag for combos is nice) and Grab (F-throw dealing more knockback = escape later is actually a unique idea). The D-tilt and D-Smash have little neaties in them, too. I still appreciate these types of sets for just sharing interesting ideas, anyway. I also like the idea of having healing moves sprinkled throughout your moveset to help balance out your poor durability.
“9,760 words ago you might mention that the McDonalds Chicken Tender was sold not only as a standalone item and combo meal, but as the filling of the "Snack Wrap" that remains on Kanade's menu to this day.” My headcanon is that Kanade’s third victory pose where he eats what looks like McDonalds was of some inspiration for the creation of this moveset. Also the Final Smash of summoning different incarnations of the Big Mac himself is 10/10.
Overall, a surprisingly solid moveset, and one that I am very glad exists.
A latecomer from the FFC community, I heard you go hard with your movesets’ presentation, and it definitely shows here. The text font choice here rocks. I like the spread of information here too, where bits of Isaac’s powerset are only explained where relevant in the moves that introduce them. People not familiar with Dead Space (like myself) get drip-fed lore as the set goes on.
Standards introduced at the start of the set, as seems to be tradition for some FFC members, there is actually a neat little thing going between Jab, F-tilt and U-tilt, where you can cancel out the end lag of one move and skip to the canceled move’s second hit instead of the first. Neutral and Side Specials are okay: I don’t think they have a lot of oomph or are too convincing in how well they serve Isaac (not to say simple projectiles are bad - there are lots of great sets with these!), and it feels like a missed opportunity for Isaac to not be able to interact with them with Kinesis, which is introduced at the start of the set.
Side Special’s melee dragging hitbox is nice though, that’s the kind of move that’s ripe for pointing out synergy with Isaac’s melee moves. I like Up Special too, not just for the boost it gives to your Aerials but also being conscious about float balance by halving Isacc’s float time if he moves upwards.
Down Special is a simple but unique “big” move that’s nicely-balanced, though I do think you underestimate how good having a really slow projectile is when you can use it to cover your approach. One application I could see for this: you use it to bait out shields by encouraging foes to shield against the projectile to waste it, or just dance around it or stay back at the cost of giving Isaac the space to throw out his own projectiles. It could also be interesting if the Down Special projectile had transcendent priority like Fox’s Neutral Special (doesn’t clash with other hitboxes), which means that Link can’t just throw out a N-air to casually delete your precious projectile. Down Special fusing with D-Smash’s hitbox is the kind of fun hard interactions I like to see - kind of wished there was a bit more of that in the set.
The Rig Display write-up was neat to see, not just for Dead Space gameplay information but also some developer’s notes and visual tidbits for Down Special usage. Slavic’s Claire Redfield moveset from MYM24 actually handled a modern resource-based moveset, so I think she would prove to be an interesting read for you.
Isaac’s melee does feel weaker from what I’ve come to expect from the higher end of FFC, where the moves aren’t as defined in their neutral, mix-up or how they work together as they could be (Kasen Ibaraki, Petra, Rumia, Dizzy and Patchouli are some good examples of sets that succeed in those), and Kinesis doesn’t play off any parts of his set like I hoped it would. But Isaac was still a fun set, with some neat ideas I’ll keep in mind for myself. Looking forward to seeing what you have in store for the future, especially when you’ve expressed interest in Yu-Gi-Oh! and collaborating with Old Man Han.
Isaac Clarke
Its always cool in these FFC sets to be able to see that this clearly isn't anyone's first rodeo. From out the gate you're talking about how moves link into each other(with a pretty unique cancel in Jab, no less), trying out more ambitious mechanics like a projectile that slows other projectiles/causes a Witch Time effect as well as a free flight special that changes how the aerials work due to the Zero Gravity. The set seems to know the right feel it wants to go for as well, Isaac Clarke's melee game feeling clunky but with some shockingly potent combo strings when you do land an attack, giving it that weighty survival horror feel you probably want. And there's plenty of projectiles/ranged tools to pick apart the opponent with, from the mundane plasma cutter(is that blasphemy to Dead Space fans? If so I'm sorry) all the way up to the heavy ordinance of the FSmash and Stasis. I think there's plenty to like here as a solid representative of Dead Space with some pretty unique tools.
Now, with all that said, I think this set falls short in a few key areas, the big one for me being balance. The stasis projectile isn't the biggest offender for me on raw power level: 3 seconds of Witch Time is absurd, especially on a projectile, but its a move you basically have to hit the opponent into with how slow it moves and comes with 30 seconds of cooldown time, where using it past the first 5 seconds of the cooldown will get you a weaker projectile. But on the other hand, I feel like stasis offers up quite a few fun tricks with the precision DSmash interaction, the ability to stop your own projectiles with it to form defenses or stall them out for a later use, and in a weaker state serve as a very potent extender for Isaac Clarke's combos. As it stands, I feel like you put a little too much stock in its max power where it feels like once every ~30 seconds you fire off a slow moving projectile that more or less just kills the opponent when it hits them because of how absurd Witch Time is. And, I don't know, I feel like that's less fun of an approach than letting him use it more often but just not having the Witch Time go that long? I do think the fact that some of the fancier tricks you can pull with it are rare isn't entirely a bad thing, it makes them exciting when they do crop up and not dominate his playstyle, but I feel like the way the move would usually play out is not actually all that fun at the moment due to how extreme you've made the power/cooldown.
In terms of actual stuff that's pretty broken, Nair is a real mess. Free flight is obscenely powerful to the point Sakurai removed almost all instances of it from Smash Ultimate barring ROB, and you're telling me that it also removes the reload from a super spammable projectile to create basically a stunlock as long as you feel like spending in Zero Gravity? That seems incredibly oppressive amidst him having a couple options to camp from above, and also feels like it could feed into a pretty annoying loop of using Nair and Up Special to very deliberately stall out the clock for more Down Special use while playing a pretty obnoxious camping game that frequently leaves the foe to just not do anything for a few seconds. Not to mention a situation where a foe comes out of their 3 seconds of Witch Time to immediately be stunlocked for several more seconds by Isaac Clarke's ridiculous Nair, possibly into an instant kill right afterwards with Fair or something. It seems like the playstyle this creates would just not be fun to play against, and plays into a couple things that are proven just not to be very fun in Smash. I also think its worth mentioning, DThrow just does 22% straight up, which is kind of ludicrous for a combo starter throw and feels like it easily leads into 50%+ damage strings.
There's a couple other complaints I have. Dash Attack's animation sticks out as pretty rough, a character in heavy body armor who's meant to be a survivalist using an uppercut that starts from like his knees feels incredibly impractical for the types of enemies he'd usually deal with, not to mention it would just look weird in general. I can't help but feel a shoulder barge or bashing the foe out of the way with a gun would be more in-character. The set's presentation is pretty high effort and I respect it, but I'll be honest, the font is not easy on the eyes and I feel like it might've worked better to just use it for move data and whatnot. And a bit more importantly than those two, while I see the way his melee moves work together in a simple but ultimately in-character way, the set doesn't really take much time to talk about the way the projectiles would play off each other. How they cover each other's weaknesses, how the small ones could set up for the big ones, where the melee game and projectiles link into each other are all things I just kinda wish you'd talk about more, coming off a bunch of zoner sets that did talk about that kind of thing. I think it makes it easier to envision how you want him to play and adds a real depth to the set that its currently missing.
I know I've kind of ripped into this set, and its mostly because I know you've got a decent amount of experience with reading and criticizing other people's sets and making your own, so I think its worth talking about why a set that I imagine would be fairly well liked among the FFC community is likely to fall short here. Of course, I'm just one guy, maybe other people will really vibe with Isaac Clarke and it'll outperform my expectations. Its not necessarily that the set needs more gimmicks than it has, some of the tools here are pretty cool and would be cooler if their synergies were elaborated on more both in the set's writing and design. But I think the set falls into the pitfall of having the free flight and stalling potential that comes with overcentralize his playstyle in an unfun direction, and that holds it back a lot for me.
(As an aside, you don't have to put weakspots on the foe if you want to incorporate the "precision" of Isaac Clarke's fighting style in the set. A simpler way to incorporate that you might vibe with more is having some of his proejctiles deal higher damage or better effects at specific ranges, like the Plasma Cutter dealing higher damage about halfway through its movement path? That might not really vibe with you as its a bit of an abstract representation of "precision", just throwing out that in general being precise can be represented by sweetspots and stuff.)
As one of the most memed character requests in the history of Smash, for good or ill, it’s not surprising that I’d have to comment on a Geno set sooner or later. This set is relatively standard, though with a clear long range focus that I personally envision him having. There’s even some ideas I like, such as the Geno Whirl action command (which kind of has to be here) and the Dash Attack allowing Geno an escape option. Other than that, though, there weren’t really that many mechanics that wowed me or particularly interesting applications of melee moves. I still see notably more detail on moves than in Salty’s previous contest, however, so Geno still showcases improvement.
Good to see a nice l'il bite sized set out of you, Nate! As much as sets like Hakumen or Venom Strange were huge projects, you did also put out a lot of much smaller projects like Idar and Fire Bar. Personally, I am always glad to see sets like this that aren't afraid to be what they are out of users, as Bellossom and Paul Bunyan from last contest can attest. Seeing more sets like these would probably make me happy, even if they're less likely to compete at the huge game winning level.
Cu's mechanic here instantly made me think of the Yu-Gi-Oh card Maha Vailo, which gains 500 ATK per Equip Spell Card attached to it. I actually think allowing Potent Hypnosis to self-stack, both positively and negatively, to some degree would be a fun way to add a little depth to the set. Could get silly with the Rage and Stale Move stuff I suppose, but it is worth keeping in mind. War Cry feels like the kind of Special I think other people might not enjoy as much (it's pretty basic for a Special), but I kinda dig it. It has a ridiculously strong neutral use to it, the kind of move you might see on a direct Smash set (or even something like Byleth), and forces him to play with both sides of his mechanic, which also helps keep him from just spamming this in a very annoying fashion. Smartly designed. Also I suspect this is unintentional, but I like describing it as Cu Chulainn "never yields", which seems very fitting for Cu Chulainn / a celtic War Cry. Side Special is an interesting one as well, I kinda think giving it light armor when the move is Fresh might be a neat idea (8% or less? 6% or less?), I do like how it takes advantage of the debuffing by using the debuff to keep a combo going longer, and it has interesting "go deep" or countergimp potential. Did catch me offguard that the image use seems to be a clear stab but the attack is described as a slash. It does give the impression of Cu as a bit of a neutral hound, weaving in and out and striking back with his long spear and movement Forward Special, whiiiich feels like what you wanted so yeah good.
"It’s coded as a slightly absurd disjoint and not a projectile, and so can’t be reflected or pocketed." O. Dio Approved
Up Special's a bit of a wild tether psuedo-projectile, can he snap to ledge with this? It's a bit unclear. Feels like a cool recovery mix-up with Side Special (burst movement spike vs. toss spear and then move), do wonder if some More could have been done here but I like stuff like the jump and the air dash. Still seems god, just not as Crisp as the first two. Down Special definitely feels like the centerpiece here, love that it encourages him to just recklessly swing around and even buffer attacks wildly to maximize the time at the cost of being much more predictable OR he can accept a shorter buff by playing "smarter". This is a very clever way to represent a "Berserker Rage" to me, definitely feel like it fits the design goals mentioned in the notes. It also encourages him to intentionally armor through it for stronger attacks, which will swiftly get him to higher damages for his Rage and also to lead him to be killed fast. "Subject of the prophecy that his life would be short but his deeds great.", eh? Yeah, that's well represented here. Using the Byleth Side Special basis is also a nice choice considering that, as you say, "His father is Lugh, the principal god of the Irish pantheon and wielder of Areadbhar." (Which, completely random aside, is why the founder of Faerghus in Three Houses is named "Loog"!).
The hits don't stop coming in the standards, Jab is a great use of the Meta Knight style "you gotta use this" Jab, I like the way that it both gives Cu a bonus (more attacks) and negative (more punishable, staling the move inherently lowers kill power) for staling. The move has inherent tension between the Rage and Staleness that Cu plays into as well and the weaknesses emphasize his "super close range" weakness. Also can't wait for a Cu to get lucky with the crumple on 4th hit of Jab and do something wild with Charge up. Not that it matters much, but is Dash Attack's crumple with Down Special up still a hitgrab like Ridley? I would assume so (and it isn't something that would NEED to be stated in set, I'm more just curious). Forward Tilt is solid and I do think this set does a great job of being concise but not just completely ignoring the uses, although I do think a big part of this is stuff like the Specials setting up a solid base that makes some of this rather obvious.
This guy is SLOW though and I do wonder if he might be a bit too much. He's tied for the 4th laggiest Dash Attack, 7th laggiest F-Tilt (in line with Sephiroth) and the 6th laggiest Up Tilt (when two of the other ones are Kazuya Mishima alt options), although the wind on Up Tilt helps out. With just how punishable his Jab can be (and using it to push the foe away stales it to make it more punishable), I AM starting to get a bit worried about his get off me options...then again, Neutral Special is REALLY freaking good for that and also those are well within Smash norms (Sephiroth is a bit faster and he has his NAir, and I mean Cu might have a good aerial I ain't gotten there yet so), so it isn't really a "problem" but I do wonder if it might work against some of the "berserker" ideas in the set. Down Tilt fits into this as well and I gotta say the idea of the multiple hit moves that kinda represent "berserker rage" reminds me a lot of me and Kat's Raikou set.
"Cu Chulainn holds his spear in a forehand grip and just thrusts it forward for maybe the most conventional spear attack in the set: works like spear." if you know you know
Forward Smash kinda reminds me of a multihit Byleth F-Smash, although I must say that it doing only 10% damage feels rather odd to me given the kill power. I also think that upping the damage slightly would increase the effect of staling, which may be desired? Then again, I suppose the damage is out here so it doesn't fully break a shield, so keeping it as-is may be the right call. Shouldn't the tipper combo into itself if Charge is on to crumple the opponent? Smashes with the in-depth notes get some real comedy in there that got me laughing more than I should in all likelihood. 8% definitely feels ridiculously low for Down Smash, that's like Zamus Down Smash level that only exists to paralyze foes for follow-ups. Neutral Aerial gives me those big Shou Toramaru vibes along with Whitebeard (who was himself inspired by me remembering my Shou set), I do kinda wish Cu could perform the air dash or something out of Neutral Aerial too, but that WOULD mightily intrude on Up Special so naaah. I like the danger of landing it low for the Dash Attack value hitbox. Forward Aerial DEFINITELY the kinda attack I would make too!
"Sees play on stages set up to offer a lot of potential USpec tricks, since it can push foes upward through platforms quickly." Little stuff like this is concise but gets the brain going on how Back Aerial could work, for sure. Find it interesting how Cu actually has a lot of ways to mix up his aerial movement with Up Aerial, Side Special and some wimdy fun, feels fitting to give him a bit of like a...swift berserker warrior vibe? Back Throw's effect is cool but I feel like given the damage and it being, like, a huge self-damage throw and Cu's style, that the animation should be something different? Maybe a bit more...I dunno, violent? Active? It feels low impact for a berserker warrior dealing 20% self damage on a massive kill throw. Even just something like the wind wildly whipping and then blasting them away with the grim look would sell it more, I think. Up Throw also just feels...weird, in the context of the set, I think. Down Throw is quite cool, but the numbers seem pretty low: 5% or so armor isn't gonna go through a lot. I would consider doubling it or something, so that Cu can realistically go through neutral attacks from zoners, especially since it is only a six second effect and Cu's armor is rather understated overall.
On the whole, though, I dig Cu Chulainn! It feels like it sits right up there with Slavic's Lyn set (which was 7.7k) as one of the exemplars for a very good, short set, and I would say a big reason is that Cu feels like he is mostly compact and getting the info out there in a concise way rather than a lack of ideas or forcefully chopping things out. Cu also is definitely a set that fits into my "appeal zone" so to speak: A straightforward, aggressive zoning weapon user whose unique traits such as Potent Hypnosis and Charge both give him things within the set to play around with that give him some ever changing AND interesting play patterns, core tools that are effective and practical while building into an interwoven playstyle that feel like they use the set's core mechanics fully (Jab, Down Tilt, Neutral Aerial, Forward Tilt, Forward Smash, Back Aerial and Forward Aerial all stuck out well). I also feel like this set largely accomplished the goals set out in the Design Notes AND that what the set was going for felt Good, so in that regard it is certainly a success. Honestly, I was surprised how good this set was.
As for things I believe could be improved...Cu feels a bit underpowered right now, as he is largely laggy and perhaps a bit overly reliant on some of his gimmicks. I think he could stand to either get a bit more reward for his conversions (his combo game could be expanded on slightly IMO, especially off of Down Special's Crumple) OR that he could stand to be a bit faster. I also think that the "berserker warrior" part could be emphasized a little more in spot, such as maybe giving a move or two some armor when fresh or maybe some kind of bonuses when he has Rage (the Smashes would be a logical place for this). I think in particular Side Special is begging for armor, as it powers up when tanking a hit yet can only activate via Down Throw's weak armor or something like poison damage, and Side Special having armor (or having armor when Fresh?) would help solve that. Plus, it would allow more than one move that can stack with Down Throw for some big armor shenanigans. The Up Throw felt rather weak in this set and Back Throw could use an animation tweak to more fit the effect in my opinion, although I enjoyed Forward Throw and Down Throw (outside of Down Throw feeling it needs a buff of some kind).
Oh, and I love that Final Smash. Perfectly fitting. Good stuff, man.
(Also since I realized I kinda forgot to say and I don't have anywhere good to put it: I found Cu's writing snappy, smooth, and also very funny when it wanted to be. You have a playful, yet ever so dry wit to you that really plays well in a set like this I wager. I also personally liked the brief descriptors over each section giving a primer idea of what to expect, felt VERY FFC-esque (inspired by?), and while I don't think I would want it in every set I did particularly enjoy them here. The Design Notes particularly spoke to me as I love hearing the thought process behind people's set creation.)
Long time no see, Majora! Goobbue is right up there, but as you said that was kinda just dipping your toes back in the waters: Bowstring here is obviously your bigger "return to form", being longer than any of your old sets. Definitely fun to see you get back onto the scene with a D&D OC (with commissioned art no less!), especially since through FA your OCs do have Make Your Move history via Knight and Belzeb. Also means you made two sets in the first few days, which given the last time you made more than one set was...a decade ago, is pretty hype!
As for Bowstring himself, he's a pretty solid returning set! The Cowardice/Courage mechanic reminds me kinda of some older mechanics like Dr. House or my own Tenshi set, except rather than frustratingly granular this one is pretty clearcut in how it works and generally avoids some of the awkwardness of those old sets. The tilt towards favoring Cowardice while Courage is harder to get also, from what I know of the character, feels like some appropriate character-gameplay synergy. I feel like the way it affects dodges does sneakily encourage the ability to get situationally aggressive as well given the movement on the attacks. When it comes to the set's core, I think Bowstring has a solid enough one. I also rather liked the Smash Attacks: One thing I wasn't sure to bring up when previewing but now that Khold has brought it up I will is that even if it is just a slight rewrite, I would avoid scenarios like the Smash Attacks where you just copy paste the animation three times, because it can make the reading aspect feel more repetitive. I also didn't say anything because I thought you might be going for a "these have the same animation for mindgames" aspect (though if so, mentioning that on the third Smash and going into a little detail on the mindgame would be good). I think allowing them to mix in with the Jab cancel was good for both the mechanical side, it feels like it gives Bowstring a bit of extra situational depth, but helps with the characterization of Bowstring's higher confidence at bigger levels of Courage.
There's also some solid melee here and there, with Forward Tilt being an attack I particularly enjoyed. I do think I agree with the general consensus that the set loses some steam around aerials and grab game, largely due to underelaboration in the aerials case. An example I thought of when writing this comment is to think of...let us say Lucina. At the very base, Lucina's aerials all have her swing a sword in a direction. But if you just said that, you'd miss a lot of what makes Lucina's aerials interesting! Neutral Aerial's combo starting and being a longer lasting, bit more anti-dodge spacer for her shorthopping. Forward Aerial and Back Aerial seem very similar, but they have their important differences: Back Aerial has less range due to the animation which makes it a lot less of a useful neutral tool than the space-taking Forward Aerial (plus it is slightly slower), but the higher power makes it a good kill move while Forward Aerial is more of an anti-air and neutral tool with tech chase potential. Up Aerial slides into the neutral as being great against overhead approaches, sharking platforms, juggling, but in pure neutral it won't protect you much and on landing it has to be landed low to actually be useful. And then Down Aerial has almost no neutral applications at all, being a risky but potentially very powerful callout with a 1-frame spike attacked to it.
The point I'm making is: Even seemingly doing the same thing in 5 directions can have more meaning attached to it, and I wish I had a better idea of what the different uses of Bowstring's aerial Cowardice bonuses gave. Right now, a lot of them feel like a universal movement buff, but Up Aerial has a different tune to it, none of them seem to do much aside from a bit more run away though. Down Aerial is an obvious exception and feels like a fun move, I think it worked well enough with Down Throw as well for some auxiliary Element Bow use. I think something like Forward Throw would benefit from discussing a bit why each option is good in his prone game, doesn't have to be insane exposition but it would make the move feel alive.
Overall, Bowstring shows a great improvement from your much older works, and the fact it is the kind of set I would throw a vote when it has been a decade since you were seriously movesetting AND who only had two sets place on the Top 50 in your career. Feels like we've had a good string of old veterans returning in wizened ages and getting back into the swing of things or surpassing their old selves (Nate, Kupa, Junahu, even Turtles and now you as well). I definitely hope you'll stay around, since Bowstring was a pleasant read. It is nice to see you around again in general too, I will say since I never commented Goobbue to greet your return.
Welcome, one and all, to the first Make Your Move 26 Jamcon!
Now what, praytell, IS this "Jamcon" you ask? Well especially since we've got a lot of newcomers around, I'll give a nice and full explanation. Jamcons are competitions that Make Your Move holds periodically (currently at a pace of one a month, although this is not a hard rule), where one user posts a "Theme" and afterwards anyone who wants to join in makes a moveset from scratch in the next four days! Afterwards, there are roughly two weeks for anyone who wants to do so to read the sets posted, COMMENT them and then vote for their favorite! Whoever "wins" the Jamcon then gets to pick the next theme, continuing into the infinite. To get into specifics via a convenient bulleted list:
- Theme is chosen by the previous winner, and can be pretty much anything they want that is within Smashboards ToS.
- Sets are made over four days and posted within that four day period. Technically, most Jamcons go slightly over four days (since it is posted mid-day on another day). In this case, the Jamcon is basically going five days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) because I am posting it at midnight which is unusually early. Consider it a courtesey for being the first Jamcon!
- You cannot use pre-existing sets for a Jamcon. For exact qualifications: You can use a pre-existing skeleton, something that you made notes on, something which has only "Extras" such as a Classic Mode or Alternate Costumes or an introduction to the character finished, but the stats section and the actual writing of the move MUST be done within the posting period!
- After that period ends, anyone who wants reads and comments on ALL sets that were posted. They then vote on their favorite set. At the end it is tallied up, and the winner advances! People who vote get 0.5 points or a tiebreak win over people who didn't. Then they choose the next theme! How to handle tied winners is up to each Jamcon runner to decide.
- Any person is allowed to submit as many sets to each Jamcon as they can finish, as long as it follows the rules. Similarly, joint sets between two moveset creators are allowed. Team up with someone else to finish up your entry quicker!
- Sets can be humorous, but should be serious entries for evaluations rather than "pure" jokesets. Something like Giganotosaurus is allowed, while something like Shiny Hoppip is not.
- While sets can be edited during the 4 day submission period, MAJOR edits are NOT allowed during the commenting period. More MINOR edits ARE allowed no matter what. So flatout replacing a move or completely changing a mechanic is not allowed. But number crunching, adding extras / presentation, fixing grammar, those kinda things are fine. And of course all editing is available after the Jamcon commenting period.
- Please note your moveset entry is a Jamcon set somewhere. This can be in the set's intro, in the post you posted itself, or whatever. In an emergency you can just tell the person running the Jamcon personally!
----------------------
With that being said and without further ado, your first Jamcon theme is...
Franchise Filling Fun!
Put simply: We have a Franchise List that chronicles every set from Make Your Move's history, updated at the end of each contest, and broken up into Franchises. You need at least three movesets to get on the Franchise List. In fact, we are but ONE franchise away from hitting TWO HUNDRED FRANCHISES! But when you're on, not all franchises have been so lucky. Multiple franchises don't have a single set that placed on the Top 50!
The goal of this Jamcon is quite simple: Make a set for any franchise that needs ONE MORE set to get onto the Franchise List, or has NEVER had a set on the Top 50! You can look at the above list yourself, if you want, but I have gone to the liberty of chronicling all the options. You can see those in the spoiler tag below! If you see anything I missed, though, that's also totally valid.
Has No Placing Sets:
Ben 10
Bleach
Bionicle
Bomberman
Cardcaptor Sakura
Chibi Robo
Epic Battle Fantasy
Godzilla
Gundam
Halo
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Heroscape
Homestar Runner
Katawa Shoujo
Minecraft
No More Heroes
Puyo Puyo
Sly Cooper
Shovel Knight
Starcraft
Tekken
Viewtiful Joe
Studio Ghibli
Pac-Man
Silent Hill
Rayman
Monster Girl Quest
Hollow Knight
---
1 Set From Franchise List Spot
Monster Hunter
Darkstalkers
Read or Die
Excel Saga
ARMS
Wakfu
Wacky Races
Happy Tree Friends
Samurai Jack
Family Guy
South Park
Powerpuff Girls
Invader Zim
Cucumber Quest
Calvin and Hobbes
Anonymous / 4chan
8-Bit Theater
Animator vs. Animation
Sweeney Todd
Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
Mach Rider
Tetris
Pong
Rokko Chan
Cave Story
Earthworm Jim
Freedom Planet
Shadow of the Colossus
Goemon
Mighty No. 9
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Astro Boy
Commander Keen
Jak and Daxter
Wonderful 101
Dangan Ronpa
Vigilante 8
Wild ARMS
Phantom Brave
Quest 64
Billy Hatcher
NiGHTS
Bomberman
Worms
Portal
Diablo
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Sengoku Basara
A Certain Magical Index
Inuyasha
Elfen Lied
Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
DOOM
Cooking Mama
Vocaloid
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger
Dead by Daylight
Warframe
Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware
Kunoichi Tsubaki no Mune no Uchi
K-ON!
Cookie Clicker
Gravity Falls
The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
Pro Wrestling (NES)
Golden Axe
Sam & Max
Jurassic Park
Arknights
World of Goo
Splinter Cell
Sin and Punishment
American McGee's Alice
300
Indiana Jones
Mystery Men
Heroes
Fighter's History / Karnov
The Legendary Starfy
The Three Stooges
Mii
Methverse (Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul)
Among Us
Futurama
Gradius/Parodius
BOFURI
Skullgirls
Kill la Kill
McDonalds
It is a long list, so make sure to study it to find something you like! Will you ascend a new franchise to the annals of Make Your Move history? Or perhaps lead a franchise to its first Top 50 glory? Make a set and go for it!
For some additional notes...
- Any franchise that currently has 1 set and then had a set posted during the Jamcon would become eligible, so a non-Jamcon set could bump a new franchise up to 2 and make this allowed. If you make TWO sets for a franchise with ONE set, they will BOTH count! I wouldn't recommend this, because two sets in four days is hard and if you don't finish both neither would count, but you could do it. I also don't have a list of all with one set because, like, that's a Lot though.
- For characters who make guest appearances in another franchise, the way it works is that the set has to be for the version of them from THAT franchise. For example, let us say you made a set for Kingdom Hearts (ignoring it doesn't count here because this is just an example) and wanted to make Cloud Strife. You COULD do that, but it would have to specifically be Cloud Strife FROM Kingdom Hearts, and not just a general Cloud Strife set. Put simply: It has to be in a set that would be listed under that franchise on the Franchise List. Feel free to ask me for any more details!
- Franchises that are already eligible will remain eligible even if someone posts a set for them! So if, say, someone posts the mythical third Among Us set, you could still post your own Among Us set and it'd count.
- To be honest, this theme feels pretty self explanatory. So I won't be adding any more notes unless they become necessary.
The Jamcon submission period ends at Midnight PST on Tuesday, Tuesday 28th!
I was able to finish something for the Jamcon in good time. I don't know how long this has been on my to-do list, but now it's been done in full and for real.
Tendies with Honey Mussy (McDonald's Chicken Tenders by FrozenRoy
)
I'll be honest when I say I didn't expect too much going into this set. I didn't think it was going to be a bad set by any means, but I was expecting mostly a joke set.
So color me surprised when not only that Tenders was unironically good, but probably one of my favorite movesets I've had the pleasure of commenting on thus far. There's creativity bursting at the seams with nearly everything here - The sauces' effects are really clever and sound like a blast to use in gameplay, and I love how you incorporated other McDonald's food items like the sodas into the kit. It creates a really consistent theme both tone and gameplay-wise that makes the set as a whole really fun to read.
My only complaint has to do with how the sauce effects are listed; I really would have appreciate a brief summary of what each sauce does at the end of the section given how much each sauce can do.
Otherwise, this was quite the delicious set to sink my teeth into. I'm giving it a... wait a minute. Where's. My. Szechuan Sauce?!?!?
Super Mario RPG, Game Is The Only One Just For Me (Geno by SaltySuicune
)
Ah, Geno, the poster boy for most-wanted Smash characters. I was never a big supporter of him, but I was really interested in seeing your take on him.
First off, big props for excluding Timed Hits - They're not something I have an issue with, but they help the set stand out amongst the sea of Geno concepts. It makes the whole thing feel a lot more confident in itself, y'know?
Moving onto the set itself, it's pretty par-for-the-course. Nothing bad here; In fact, a lot of inventive moves such as Back Air, Forward Throw and Forward Smash caught my eye. I especially want to commend the Up Special, since it's refreshing to have Geno do something other than the Geno Boost for a recovery This is probably one of the more creative Geno movesets I've seen in a while; Nothing that really blew me away, but a nice change of pace from the repetition of a lot of Geno movesets I've read outside of MYM.
And that's all there is to it; A simple, yet enjoyable set. A lot of fun ideas here!
PEPPINO SPAGHETTI:
Right out of the gate, we have a charmingly breezy set for the protagonist of the cheese-tactic game that appears to have enraptured MYM as of late (I've not yet played Pizza Tower, but after watching boss playthroughs, I totally get the hype). Peppino here blends all of the character-capturing goodness and in-Smash/MYM creative blend I've come to expect, and enjoy, from many of bubbyboytoo
's works, in the same vein as Wheelie last contest. Peppino, too, enjoys a mobile playstyle — taking and infusing a Wario Bike-esque concept more thoroughly in with the melee is a great touch, and a fitting analogue for this character in particular — with enjoyable flavor as a grappler. He's got no shortage of ways to platform around the stage, toward and away from foes with Side Special, flowing nicely into Neutral Special, which bundles in all the combo-starting, spacing and KO potential necessary to ensure it sees central use over the course of a match.
My primary critique has to do with the combo mechanic, which, while promising and faithful to source material, doesn't seem to encourage Smash combos all too much. When moves like D-Throw and F-Air add three and five hits to the meter in one fell swoop, my sense is players would end up encouraged to fish specifically for those options, rather than attempt much else. I'll also echo that I would've liked to see grab-game fleshed out a bit more to encourage its use independent from Peppino's Neutral Special, outside of the aforementioned D-Throw use for meter purposes. Beyond that, though, I found myself liking most of the rest of what's here, in particular all of the Smash functions and animations, plus U-Air and D-Air as solidly interpreted heavyweight fixtures. Maybe, once the rest of the Pizza Tower movement comes together, Peppino can remain spotlighted (spotlit?) in some modern match-ups?
KASEN IBARAKI:
The design of Kasen and True Form Kasen as a Down Special swap character is one I'm not entirely sure how to feel about. On one hand, it's a welcome departure from the Smash norm of such fighters effortlessly being able to switch back and forth. The one-time use also is fitting for the nature of the transformation, and frees up a nice Special input slot once she's in True form to boot. Where I'm more hesitant is that the forms don't necessarily have much connectivity to each other (outside of the Vengeful startup frame difference); both have distinct strengths and weaknesses, but are perfectly functional as standalone characters. If anything, I might just switch to True Form Kasen at the first opportunity to have fun with her sheer oppressive nature. I agree easily would be the best heavyweight on Ultimate's base roster, which, unless one really can't stomach paying the heavy combo tax, might leave regular Kasen in the dust.
That would be a shame, because I did like a lot about both of her forms, to where I think both certainly would be well received as standalone sets. The bandage implementation throughout regular Kasen, in Side Special and standards like F-Tilt and B-Air, encourages more ranged play, to where, in the relevant match-ups, foes are encouraged to throw out projectiles she can seek to capitalize on in accessing her Vengeful state. The Hawk Beacon setups are great to imagine, though I would be interested in a bit more information on how Kanda works as a projectile — does he pierce through opponents if he's bouncing between multiple beacons? How fast can he travel, and can he be blocked? Given the work needed on the front end to get these setups in place, you could probably get away with even more reward — perhaps Kanda's damage and knockback could get multiplied, the more beacons he bounds from?
Switching gears, True Form Kasen takes some serious swings on the balance side, and I really admire them for what they are. She pushes the regular form's focus on sweetspots for KOs to far further extremes, what with her ability to erase foes very early on with D-Smash's most challenging sweetspot, and not all that much later with a well-spaced B-Air. There's quality grappler elements in both grab-game (with the F-Throw and D-Throw mix-ups being a highlight). Side Special's close-range hitbox bolsters that focus, whereas Neutral Special extends it to Kasen's own skeletal summons; the idea of exploding them with attacks and piledriving them into the ground such that foes can trip over their skulls are particularly appealing. And, of course, Down Special is a standout with its seven options, all accessible to Kasen and yet needing the player to stay attuned to which will work best at any given moment to see optimal use. A whopping 41.8% on a command grab catches my attention, if nothing else. I'm not as big into her ability to passively ignore most projectiles, it might be character-fitting but doesn't seem to incentivize much creative play around them, especially compared to regular Kasen timing nullification on Neutral Special. Maybe True Form Kasen could keep the armor while stationary and lose it while moving around? In any case, it's great to see you warming up to MYM this quickly, and both Kasen variants have me eager to see how OldManHan
's setwriting progresses from here!
FLANDRE SCARLET:
Cool to see GolisoPower
and Arctic Tern
roll up their sleeves on another joint after Meltryllis last contest. With Flandre, I quite like the infusion of Destruction Orbs across her kit and her options for incorporating it later on in Shield Special; their production from different attacks fittingly has shades of Remilia leaving behind blood drops from her Down Special projectile. The orbs' utility stands out both in terms of how Flandre spaces different attacks, lining them up to tag the target of her choice, as well as their more environmental focus — she's not sending the orbs out to strike foes, it's to commandeer their projectiles or a select portion of the stage (a specific ledge or platform) she deems most advantageous. The blast zone application in particular is cool, a way of weaponizing a Smash staple as a pretty potent KO option so long as Flandre can line up the KO explosion just right.
From there, Neutral Special is a welcome interpretation of how multiple duplicates can be brought into play at a time in a MYM context — it feels like an application of Shroob's time ghosts in a more Pikmin esque fashion, following around behind Flandre and getting called forward at the right time. Her clones are especially welcome in the context of the orbs, as Flandre can log and trigger moves based on what she wants to tag at any given time, including if some more time-sensitive enemy projectile is headed her way. There's also several areas where the clones attacking in sequence is applied neatly, like producing a Down Special cage and Kagome Ball back to back, or situating U-Smash in the middle of a string so other clones can pressure around its hitboxes. A few areas where I would've appreciated more detail — how does clone creation account for changes in Flandre's most recent moves if she produces them over multiple Neutral Special uses? And how do the clones behave when chasing opponents around and/or trying to follow up on them with sequenced attacks (if there are obstacles in their way, or if the foe goes offstage, for examples)?
Similar function questions came up on Down Special which, while a cage in name and appearance, maybe isn't the best descriptor in the context of a Smash match? Flandre can attack foes against it and ricochet Kagome Balls off of its walls, yes, but as characters can't really navigate it other than attacking or getting hit by it, it feels more like a super-sized stage hazard than anything else. Correct me if I'm wrong, but despite the weakness of the cage's hits, they seem to inflict flinch on opponents (what with refreshing their recoveries), something I could see becoming problematic quickly if a foe were stuck in multiple hits, unable to attack their way out for a period of time while Flandre remains free to come in and charge a Smash. Maybe I'm picturing this wrong, these just stood out as questions worth raising to ensure a cool modernization of Ye Old MYM8 Cage concept can live up to its full potential. Otherwise, Flandre is a welcome first of what will hopefully be a handful of quality joints this contest. Someone please pull the trigger on a Waternoose set so we can put F-Tilt's question to the test in this contest's Story Mode?
Geno soared through the stars, searching for an answer.
Ever since the Marro, led by Ne-Gok-Sa, arrived on the planet to wipe out and assimilate all life, there were very few options to look for, and yet there was no answer to these skeletal warriors on planet Earth.
So after commandeering a Marro ship and taking it to the stars, he sought to look from planet to planet for a way to destroy them.
He had been traveling for the past few days and his doll body had already started to feel rather weary for some reason. Maybe it was because of some deep worry he had developed for Rumia, the darkness youkai that seemed rather attached to him when they first met. Maybe it was Jonathan Joestar, whose valiant heroism and chivalry reminded him so much of Mario. But either way, it was starting to weigh him down.
Those thoughts were immediately dispelled as an explosion rippled throughout the ship. Bogies on his 8. They discovered where he was and now they were out for him. Geno did his best to attack the swarm that was attacking him, but the numbers were too much. Geno closed his eyes, waiting for what may seem to be his inevitable demise…
BOOM!
After a few moments, he opened a singular eye and saw massive swarms of Marro ships falling rapidly in numbers, ice forming. He turned to see the cause of this decisive blow to the fleet before him and saw it.
It was a geometric spacecraft, emanating what looked like an ethereal mist like it was more of a ghost than an actual ship. From the sides, it fired barrages of cold energy and salvos of missiles that exploded with ice.
Geno scrambled to make contact…but a voice suddenly pierced the air, as though it had anticipated that the doll would want answers. Low yet calm, powerful yet tranquil, the voice that would’ve been heard from a specter uttered merely 5 words…
Oh yeah, first Joestar moveset for MYM! Great to see that you’re more on-board this MYM, especially when you can participate at the start. You had a lot of hype character choices from your Movetober entries, at least for me. Having Speedwagon as a background character was an unexpected choice - even if he does nothing, he gives the set some extra flavour that makes it more fun to read. Who knows? Speedwagon might even get his own set, since he got one in ASBR.
While I know who Johnathan Joestar is, and JoJo is very popular in MYM, not -everyone- in MYM is familiar with the series - might be a good idea to throw out an intro so you don’t alienate readers. I could see some readers going “What the heck is Hamon?” when they get to the Neutral Special (it is explained later, but still).
Neutral Special shows some melee sense with its ability to force foes into techs and what options JoJo has from it. Good that you’re aware of balance and make it knock foes upwards in midair.
Not too sure about the flavour behind Speedwagon actually assisting JoJo for his recovery. Sort of goes against the whole “JoJo can fight on his own thing.” I think it would be cooler if his main recovery was some kind of leaping attack or uppercut.
Down Special feels like the first proper “hook”, something that the set can play off of. It reminds me of how Hamon charging works in All-Star Battle. The knockback resistance and cancel buffs that charging gives you are very respectable for Johathan’s established strengths and weaknesses as a fighter.
Iirc “Gentleman’s Jab” is referred to a fighter’s Jab finisher. Don’t quote me on that one: I remember it from Smash Daddy’s Ennard moveset.
I like the references to the sports Johnathan played in his youth.
I don’t remember “Hamon Traps” being something Johanathan could do in canon. Even if it’s strategy-based, I think it goes against his gentlemanly nature to create traps, whereas his set so far has been melee-based.
Firing an energy blast of Hamon does feel a little weird for U-air. That’s more Dragon Ball Z territory.
D-air is a dose of unorthodox I wasn’t expecting.
Johnathan is a notable improvement from your MYM25 movesets, from what I remember! The set does have a sense of some moves working together, but I don’t think it’s on the same level as stronger melees from other authors this contest. It might be that the moves don’t cover all the same neutral applications (vs shields, 50/50s with other moves), and while cancelling moves is nice I’m not sure if there’s a strong sense for what move is good to cancel into and when from a cancellable move. Spacing to get Down Special charges feels like a particularly strong part of Johanathan’s gameplay - something like knockback resistance to weak projectiles to make foes approach could spice up the set a little, pressure opponents into approaching you.
Even if your sets are on the shorter side right now, I am quite impressed that you managed to throw out this set within a day! Also glad to see you getting into the Jamcon groove right away. I’m still in the process of reading Bowstring, but from what I saw he was an improvement over Goobbue, and Ne-Gok-Sa is too. The presentation is also a step-up, too.
The way the minions are detailed here are pretty neat, with their HP and attack’s damage being listed in one place. “Response Time” is also a new way to describe minion lag that I haven’t heard before, but I welcome it. I assume that the Marro Stingers’ RNG attack is based on Heroscape being a dice-rolling game, but it’s interesting to have RNG on a minion since it doesn’t affect the summoner’s attacks directly. Rather than choosing which minion you get by charging or manually like Shulk’s Monado Arts, Ne-Gok-Sa prioritizing which minion he has the fewest of is new, meaning - if I’m reading it right - he has to use the move a few times to get the potent, self-replicating Marro Warriors.
With the ability to flood the stage with text, a red background and even a Down Special mind control, this set reminds me of Magnus from MYM24, something that I’m sure Goliso will appreciate when he reads this set. Props to the “mind control” here, which feels pretty well-balanced and not too obtrusive for something made so quickly (helps that it’s not pure mind control, and it breaks when you attack an opponent, but forcing them to use Jab on your minions for up to 3 seconds does feel like a very, very strong form of stun). Directional Specials are very simple, but I’m not going to ask the world from a one day set.
This moveset reminds me of something from MYM11-13, funnily enough. How the set’s Standard attacks are what you use to command your minions, that being the moves’ primary function while their melee implications are more of an afterthought. Kind of funny that some of these orders are what you use to influence opponents affected by Down Special. It would be very interesting to see what this kind of “use non-Specials to order around your minions” approach would be like on a set that outlined the full implications of the attack’s melee and how each minion can play off of that melee and the order it gives them. That might be a very long read, though.
I think Dash Attack should have some form of knockback, even if it’s just a strong early sweetspot for some “oomph” if you feel like editing this set when Jamcon 1 nominations finish. “No knockback melee attacks” on inputs that would normally deal knockback are admittedly a relic from the MYM11-13 era. Smashes and beyond are simple melee, but I kind of like how the Neutral Air acknowledges Ne-Gok-Sa’s super high first jump and gives him a way to cancel its momentum. All the throws having a “a certain type of minion can follow up on it” thing to them is definitely appealing in modern MYM. F-throw is nice here - Ultimate’s one second grab immunity after being grabbed would technically save grabbed foes from being grabbed by a hound quickly, but you could just say that the hounds are hard-coded to ignore grab immunity here. D-throw is also a fun little reward for having a bunch of drones out, getting you a stronger pitfall.
All and all, a nice read for how quickly the set was made - with potential ideas that could make for a genuinely solid set with added detail.
Getting a new Arknights set rocks, and this one has some unique intro presentation for gacha exposition that has not been seen from either of you. Here is a solid set with some attacks that I genuinely thought were cool:
Neutral Special drones are interesting since they can only really attack enemies beneath them: they have a blind spot above them, but going high into the air leaves you exposed anyway.
Side Special does have the issue Sana had where the hitbox has no melee applications and only serves to interact with a construct, but that’s fine here since this is a Jamcon set. Not very sure about the idea of the armed drone punishing your opponent for an attack that would have destroyed it, and it seems very casual to just arm a drone when Side Special has no lag listed. Most, if not all the moves past here feel like Froy’s handiwork.
Up Special is a unique take on tether recovery by being able to pull yourself into your drones! I could see this being expanded on a lot in a future set, especially if it was a tether recovery that gave the user multiple options out of it when they get pulled in.
Down Special is a nice manual control move for your drones, with some big “all-out” attacks that reward you for getting a bunch of them out.
F-tilt’s hard interaction on drones somewhat reminds me of Timekeeper Cookie.
D-tilt projectiles never get old. Emulating Pikachu’s Thunder Jolt is nice and fitting here.
U-Smash is nice, it has some “chain lightning” U-Smash vibes from other Froy sets. Extra shield damage is a nice touch.
B-air giving your drones a slightly delayed version of your strong hit is cool.
I really like U-air - it’s actually my favourite move in the entire set. Not only is the “first weak hit that can pop foes into the stronger second hit along the length of the long hitbox” a cool and unique idea for a melee attack, the range works really well with Goldenglow’s other moves. Catch out foes who go above your drones, and works well with U-Smash’s strong shield damage.
For all this nice stuff, there is one part of this set that I did not like: the Static Shock mechanic. I don’t like passive mechanics that punish attackers - it feels unfun and counterintuitive when landing attacks is supposed to be rewarding, even if the zap isn’t 100% guaranteed. It feels like it could be annoying in some situations, like if the attacker has a high knockback move that can follow up into another part. The charge mechanic is more disruptive since it triggers from any kind of knockback: either the attacker doesn’t get their combo, or in worst-case scenario they get punished for attacking Goldenglow, though grabs can still kind of work. I don’t think the mechanic really adds anything to the set other than with D-throw - if anything, it hurt my enjoyment of the set. It’s not a massive detriment, but removing the mechanic would bring Goldenglow up to a high/top 7 for me. I get that it’s a big part of Goldenglow’s character, and it was part of bubby’s original vision for the set, but I think it would have been better if Static Shock was less obtrusive to the opponent’s gameplay.
(The mechanic does provide me with food for thought though. What if another character had a similar type of mechanic, but the damage or stun they dealt to opponents was delayed? Or the attacker was coated in some type of energy that increased the power of certain attacks you landed with X seconds. Could be a really fun idea for a heavyweight character who gets comboed easily)
Other than that, this was a strong Jamcon set - good to see this character get a moveset!
Lemme just preface everything with this: I haven't had the opportunity to say this, Majora, but...welcome back, man.
Now then: general consensus was that Goobbue was a warm-up and a non-serious set to make, so seeing you get serious with Ne-Gok-Sa is a delight. I'm grateful that so many old veterans are coming back to make sets again recently and I'm all for it!
Ne-Gok-Sa can be considered a Magnus the Red-lite in my eyes. Not that that's a bad thing, Heroscape seems a lot more simple and a lot more affordable than Warhammer 40,000. Just know that there'll be a lot of comparisons between this set and Magnus from MYM24. Neutral Special seems like a simpler, more streamlined version of Magnus's Neutral Special: whereas the Primarch has a Monado Wheel with transformations for several of the Thousand Sons, Ne-Gok-Sa takes a more Sora-like approach in which each use summons a certain minion in a fixed order. Honestly, this should be easier on the brain for several potential Ne-Gok-Sa mains due to how simple it is. I like how Side Special also summons only one kind of minion, but unlike with my set, it's not locked behind killing and generally is a lot more straightforward in its summoning. I...would not have expected Up Special to be this, honestly. Don't get me wrong, this plays into the "genetic assimilator alien" gimmick pretty damn well, but popping a meat balloon to bring you back on-stage is an image and a half, not gonna lie. Still seems pretty well-balanced, though. Even the mind-control gimmick in Down Special is especially simplified compared to Magnus's: instead of "recording" a set of actions to force the foe to use, it instead gives your foe only 3 options for you to capitalize on, whether it be to prevent them from running away, forcing them towards you without attacking for a bit or forcing an attack on the nearest minion of. Again. Magnus the Red lite, but that's a good thing.
Even with Ne-Gok-Sa's normals, it seems to have some good interaction with his minions, with his tilts being able to relay the same Directives onto your own water clones for different benefits or to take advantage of your foe being caught up in the swarm. I dunno much about Heroscape, personally, but you seem to get the characterization of a grotesque hivemind warlord down right. Also, the set is just deliciously digestible. In an age of MYM where you have 40K/100K-word set documents, it's generally refreshing to have something rather simple and easy once in a while.
Again, welcome back Majora. I have yet to read your other sets but this is a pretty decent one. Good work!
I was honestly not expecting a Kill la Kill entry from you, let alone any set from just about any anime. Very interesting idle animations from the get-go, they do a great job at selling Nui’s character of being creepy and unfazed by attacks until her damage rises. That Nui’s two-faced characterization carries over into her moveset, that you took the effort to write all that for a Jamcon set, is just icing on the cake and gives the set an extra layer of enjoyment. D-air makes particularly hilarious use of this for its animation.
There’s some nice variety with the Specials here: clone projectile or the classic “set a clone as a trap with one of your non-Special/grab inputs”, a Side Special that has a nice reward if you successfully pull your opponent in (which isn’t guaranteed since you can both attack) and a Down Special that’s very Daniella and Kasen-esque with its mix-up options. We don’t get many Peach-like recoveries too, given there aren’t many parasol users in MYM.
I like moves that produce items, so D-Smash definitely has some jam with me. I wonder if the move should have similar end lag to using D-Smash, so you can’t mess up foes too easily with your lesser end lag of producing an item compared to just using the attack variant? Items are pretty powerful in Smash too. In any case, it’s a move that gets some unexpected fun out of clones. Jab sharing properties with Meta Knight’s like transcendent priority was also surprisingly good with Side Special. U-tilt’s hitgrab-to-prone state is nice too. F-throw is the kind of neat hard interaction I like to see with MYM’ian concepts like clones, where you can tether opponents to a clone they fly pass. Seems like it would be especially fun with the clone holding a D-Smash bomb.
While her concepts don’t break new ground, Nui is nonetheless a strong Jamcon set like Goldenglow, around above-average for your Jamcon sets in my opinion. Honestly has a good shot of being my nomination, assuming someone doesn’t come and pop out something big at the last hour.
Shield + jump might not the most intuitive control scheme for the Bullet Jump - I could see there being cases where you accidentally air dodge. Maybe you can hold down the control stick to delay one of Sevagoth’s jumps for a moment, then smash the control stick in the direction you want to go?
I’m guessing that Bullet Jump can be performed out of shield like a regular jump?
Bullet Jump seems to come out a bit too fast for what is essentially a movement-based attack - something like frame 12 might be more reasonable. Bullet Jump doesn’t get referenced a lot in notable moves like the Aerials, but this set was made quickly.
I assume that Bullet Jump involves using your gun to propel yourself? Just says that Sevagoth jumps in your chosen direction, animation-wise.
Up Special has a slight contradiction: “inflicted with a refreshable damage-over-time debuff”, but the move then says “Death’s Harvest does not refresh on consecutive hits, nor does it stack, it must run out before he can reapply the debuff.”. I assume the latter applies here, as it feels more balanced and interesting.
Not sure if I’m big on Gloom. Not inherently against slowing enemies down, but it does feel like a case of “there’s no reason to never apply Gloom,” if you have the time for it. These types of moves normally come with a big drawback, like a cooldown or very high starting lag. Side Special also feels a bit shallow.
In spite of these issues, Sevagoth’s Shadow is where the set really gets interesting! Wasn’t expecting what is essentially a 2-in-1 set from a 10k set. A powerful but limited puppet fighter you get from building up a meter is a very cool concept: I could easily see it being the centerpiece for a frontrunner moveset. It gets more unique with the once-per-stock revival mechanics, where you have a shot of reviving Sevagoth if you deal enough damage or score a KO. This reminds me a lot of FA’s Karthus set via revival mechanics, though I’m not sure if you’ve read him. Having gimmicks on the Shadow’s tilts and so to compensate for having no grab or Smashes, like F-tilt being a grab, is an interesting way to approach puppet/alternate characters. Making F-air a grab that deals downwards knockback is risky stuff, but I think it works here since you can’t really bring out the Shadow casually and it has end lag. D-air is another fun one too, a stall-then-fall with the option to ascend back up for a stronger hit!
In spite of this neat mechanic, I think that Sevagoth is largely held back by not having a ton of time to cook. I think the Specials in general are weak minus the Up Specials, but you get some mileage out of the melee. For what it’s worth, Shadow NSpec dealing hitstun if the foe isn’t debuffed actually feels kind of neat: I like the idea of the debuffing move being more effective on hit if your opponent doesn’t have the debuff on them. A neat Jamcon set nonetheless.
Honestly, I don’t think anyone was expecting two movesets for Nui, and for the same Jamcon no less. It is very interesting to see two different people’s take on a distinctive character, with a different approach to extras. I like how this set straight-up throws out Nui’s philosophical quote, which is referenced to but not outright stated in the intro of the Tern set. Also funny how both sets have similar stats where Nui is a slow lightweight, but here she has a high falling speed vs being floaty in Tern’s set. I’m not entirely sure how fitting it is for Nui to have a float and air dash here - they feel more like they’re taken from fighting game appearances rather than actual anime powers.
This moveset has some unique and concise presentation with its regular attacks, which are a lot more on the simple side here. Neutral Special uses clones like Tern’s set, but it takes a different approach here as they play into Nui’s taunts and trolling aspects. Duplicate sets have been done a lot in the past, but not many of them have leaned into taunts like you have. They give commands, and expand upon the flavour of Nui’s taunts - making the clones get angry at Nui’s akanbe taunt, or using up taunt to make the clones behead themselves. I don’t understand the flavour behind why Nui gets a power boost when she touches a beheaded clone (life fibers?), and there doesn’t seem to be any mention of how long the buff lasts for.
Down Special is funny for being similar to Tern’s Nui D-Smash in that they use the same canon attack, where you can make a clone run up to opponents with your bomb - reading Tern’s set and knowing that Nui got a clone to throw the orange death ball at her opponent in the game helped make this interaction more fitting. Side Special is interesting for actually using the whole “Nui took apart your clothes with her hooked fingernails” that the Tern set referenced in its intro, plus temporarily reducing your opponent’s shield health is a fun little concept.
Though a very simple and short set, this Nui had a few nice concepts to hold her up. It was quite the experience to read two Nui sets this afternoon - in some ways, I think the Tern moveset complimented your moveset and made it a bit more enjoyable by rekindling my understanding of the character (did watch KLK when it first came out). Good to see you’re being active in MYM26, anyway!
I was expecting a shorter entry from you, so I was quite impressed that your Jamcon entry ended up being longer than Illias or Adramelech! Jotting down inspirations for your moveset is certainly a new thing - I’m sure your list of inspiring MYM movesets will only grow as you read more. It’s just neat to see what new and returning setmakers can do within the 4 day limit of a Jamcon.
I like using Tengu as a little helper who can retrieve items among other things, where the player can use a Shield Special to access the item instead of Kagetsumugi automatically grabbing it when Tengu meets her. That little bit of self-awareness surrounding items (how Kagetsumugi may want to use her regular attacks) is the kind of thing I like to see. The set goes further with its ambitions with 3 sets of resources that are gained in different ways.
I wasn’t expecting what potion or talisman you craft to be random. I am cool with RNG if it’s executed well, but I think Kagetsumugi should be able to select what potion or talisman she wants. Sure, she can re-reroll, but the process of crafting already sounds committal when setting up the table has notable lag and Kagetsumugi is slow. I believe a Kagetsumugi player would also appreciate the ability to select what talisman they want to utilize with their minions, or use the fun Seal of Exploration to make opponents gather herbs for you. Maybe crafting puts Kagetsumugi into a stance, press and hold A or B for a selection wheel that offers talismans or potions? Not a big deal if you don’t change it, anyway. It’s also fun that the Serum of Awakening limits what types of talismans and potions Kagetsumugi can make due to evil thoughts, as a way to control the RNG.
Seal of Chaos might be a bit too chaotic with that Abra-style teleport on opponents, but I do like the idea of opponents randomly being teleported in front of your strongest minion!
“While this move is clearly quite committal to even pop open for a quick resource check, this limitation is overcome in the air, the wheel and her resource values appearing instantaneously in the air, although each option is grayed out, preventing the puppetmaster from crafting her minions with no lag drawbacks. This may seem like an unnecessary extra step to merely check up on resources and see what is required for each doll, although this additional step has a couple purposes. On the basest level it gives Kagetsumugi a far more “tactile” feel, having to manually check up on her resources as an additional input to add more meat to her gameplay, while adding some visual flair absent in most meter-based characters. And, if you truly dig deep into what this may mean gameplay-wise.. A Kagetsumugi player checking their resources frequently is far less scary than one who memorizes and conceals their supply to their opponent.” I kind of love how deep this set goes with describing the applications of how it’s quicker for Kagetsumugi to check her resources in midair than on the ground.
The minions themselves are quite well-detailed for a Jamcon set, and unique too. The Cursed Doll with their unblockable attack and unique attack against downed opponents, and the Mukuro Doll with one attack that hits frontal opponents and another that hits from behind. The minions get even more unique with the Junk Doll, which requires 4 of your dolls to be destroyed! It’s funny how this doll doesn’t have a giant write-up section, but just acts as an actual damage sponge and big and powerful bomb if you’ve primed her.
And of course, there’s the big, ambitious minion that requires a ton of resources to make and… can only be made once per match? Not complaining there, makes the minion sound more grand in scale. I love these big, crazy minions and that you went this hard for a Jamcon set - Alipheese IX gives me similar vibes to FA’s Don Thousand set from MYM15, a set that you should absolutely look at if you haven’t already (main premise involves making your opponents destroy a construct that releases a ridiculously powerful minion when it’s destroyed). Alipheese IX might not have any absurdly flashy moves like you’d expect, but you’re also careful not to make her attacks too ridiculous since she’s a minion.
Up Special is a simple recovery, but a nice way to make use of minions as you can use them for an infinite recovery. I like Side Special for being a ranged combo-starter at the cost of your limited string resources, but the ability to bypass your resource limit with Living Doll Solution feels a bit much from what I understand - Side Special can combo into itself, and the solution lasts for 10 seconds. Might be good to put a hard limit on how many times you can Side Special in a row if the self-combos are guaranteed.
Standard inputs are pretty simply, but B-air has good synergy with your tools, and D-air is a funky move (in a good way) that I didn’t see coming. I could envision some fun scenarios where you use the lingering hitgrab to catch an opponent who got launched by one of your minions. I could see F-Smash’s counter-backstabbing properties getting stronger mileage with a bigger melee focus, but it’s still fun, and I always welcome crazy non-Special attacks. The grab game is nice for circling back to a focus on Kagetusmugi’s resources - I kind of like how you need 1 string to land your grab, and so you can get messed up if you abuse your Side Special too much and can’t easily exploit shield openings your minions might provide (Cursed Doll’s unblockable attack, for instance). F-throw is definitely good for its expanded talisman effects, and D-throw interacting with your dolls - fun with Mukuro and Alipheese IX.
Kagetsumugi has a fun base that is pretty ambitious for a Jamcon set. Her melee is understandably not as developed as Kasen’s, and I think the Smashes were kind of weak and most of the talismans, harmful potion effects and delayed hitboxes weren’t as milked as much as they could have been, especially with the cool item interactions with Tengu. Set also claims that Tengu can be sent over to dolls to interact/support them, but this didn’t seem to be touched upon in the write-up. All fair given the time restraints you had to work with, though. A solid set, really, one with a base that could potentially be improved upon when Jamcon nominations end.
Do you remember MYM6 OCs like Shadowdeth and Voltarch? This guy kind of reminds me of them, because they all have pictures and Bowstring has some degree of psychic abilities like Voltarch. Plus he’s a pretty short set too.
Goobbue must have been a warm-up, because Bowstring is a good improvement! Stats are refreshingly more detailed, and very well-characterized too. The idea of a crouch that makes you kind of transparent is neat, could see that being played upon further in another set that focused on it more (maybe a crouch that makes you invisible, so you can only use crouch options from said invisibility? Oooh!). Using colours to differentiate damage percents and mechanic-based percents is a nice idea too: I haven’t really seen other movesets do that.
“Fear” can be interpreted in many ways in MYM, with the most obvious modern example being psychological fear via gameplay (opponent has a very powerful option like the Little Mac KO Punch, for instance, and you’re doing everything you can to avoid it). Here it is a mechanic for Bowstring: the red and blue bars remind me of the meters from the Shadow the Hedgehog game, funny enough. If I understand the mechanic correctly, it just accounts for the first 80% you and your opponent deal to each other? So once Cowardice or Courage set in, you can’t swing to the other. The effects are simple and passive enough, but the idea of a late-game mechanic that can give one of two effects depending on how you play is nice.
It feels a bit weird for the sound of a gunshot to deal actual damage and so, just because the sound of a gunshot generally doesn’t do any damage when it’s the bullet that does. Given the attack has a distinctive name, I’m guessing that this is an actual DnD skill? I am also unsure why Side Special’s purple crossbow bolt roots opponents in place flavour-wise - could give a token mention that it’s because of psionic power if that’s the case.
It took me a moment to fully get NSpec, but the fact that it can function as a keep-away tool or a long-ranged trap when charged is unique.
I am mixed about the charged version acting as a trap for 3 seconds: it sounds like it can hit foes multiple times, and since it’s a Special you can kind of place it at the ledge or offstage to deny some optimal positions and get a good gimp out of its high horizontal knockback. This is where I think added details would help: lag, for instance, whether Bowstring has high end lag after a charged Neutral Special (would make sense if he say, has to rub his throat since he takes self-damage when he charges).
I wonder if entering prone > high horizontal knockback would cause the latter to force opponents out of their prone state? I’m not sure whether foes are left prone, which could lead to a tech situation for Bowstring.
I could see Up Special’s Cowardice bonus serving as a nice comeback mechanic for Bowstring if he’s been doing badly, to help give him extra protection while he’s recovering.
Dash Attacks that trip will always remind me of Froy’s Hol Horse moveset in MYM22. You might be interested in looking at that.
Not expecting D-tilt to throw out a smoke bomb. Doesn’t sound like it obscures - I could see it having great synergy with F-Smash, especially if it could be cancelled.
There’s a kind of neat cancel game going on with Dash Attack or F-tilt into Jab, which gets particularly interesting when you can cancel into Smashes when you’re Courageous. My favourite part of the set for sure.
D-air is also cool for affecting terrain with your bolts.
N-air is actually cool! Kicking off of your opponent would offer a lot to Bowstring. Will keep this idea in mind for myself.
While fun, the main thing holding Bowstring - and other entries of yours so far - is a general lack of establishment for how moves work together in Bowstring’s gameplan. For instance, I don’t know how Down Special plays off of Bowstring’s gameplan or what it offers for other moves (stated to be an evasion tool), and I could see Jab/F-tilt cancels with Courage forcing opponents to react quickly to an F-Smash that Bowstring could cancel into. Could bring up the stage control you get with NSpec and D-air with the projectile properties of F-Smash, for instance, or N-air going into D-air. I could also see N-air having a ton of mix-ups to it when you can kick your opponent in any direction, like kicking up to go into D-air or kicking down to go into U-Smash. Details like knockback are also under elaborated upon.
These issues are understandable, since you’re still adjusting to MYM’s modern sensibilities. In any case, some great ideas and a more sensible base make Bowstring your best returning set so far. With a stronger melee game paired with your already strong ideas, I could easily see you surpassing your older works!
Bit of a surprise character choice here, since you have a lot of more hype anime character choices under your belt. Melee is simple enough, not having any Specials to play off of, but with more detail than I remember from your MYM entries where it talks about combos and 2-frame. Will note that F-throw KO’ing at 80% is very high for Smash standards - 130% is usually what constitutes a powerful KO throw like Ness or Incineroar’s B-throws, with nothing much going below that threshold. One second per star gain is a long time to charge Neutral Special (and Down Special) - up to 5 seconds - for a Special that is described as being quick and snappy to throw out at lower charges. Maybe it takes like 10 frames to get the first star, then 20 frames to get the next and so on? Side Special potentially dealing a ton of damage if you time the B button right is funky and food for thought.
Geno is an improvement in some areas, but I think he is held down by being conceptually weaker than most of your MYM25 works, and not playing off of his Specials in the non-Special moves. Probably a good idea to put Specials at the start of your sets, which is generally the norm for MYM - referencing the Specials in the non-Specials like Dash Attack or so would help add spice to the regular attacks.
My name is Walter Hartwell White. I live at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87104. To all law enforcement entities, this is not an admission of guilt. I am speaking to my family now. Skyler, you are the love of my life. I hope you know that. Walter Jr., you're my big man. There are going to be some things that you'll come to learn about me in the next few days. But just know that no matter how it may look, I only had you in my heart. Goodbye.
-Walter White
Hi, I‘m Saul Goodman, did you know that you have rights? The constitution says you do! And so do I. I believe until proven guilty, every man, woman and child in this country is innocent. And that’s why I fight for you Albuquerque!
-Saul Goodman
Oh, Irene..I love kitties. I have two siamese cats, Oscar and Felix. Felix can wash himself. Oscar won’t. He-he just won’t!
The MS-06F Zaku II Dozle Zabi Custom is a Custom Commander-use General-Purpose Mobile Suit created for and piloted by Dozle Zabi, the Space Attack Force Commander for the Principality of Zeon during the One Year War between the Principality and Earth Federation forces. This conflict is the original setting for Mobile Suit Gundam, the first anime and the beginning of the greater Gundam franchise. This war would be the basis for many other stories that would become the Universal Century. This timeline documents the initial Mobile Suit Gundam battles ranging from the initial Earth Federation and Zeon engagement. However, it would only start decades of battles between Earthnoids and Spacenoids.
The Zaku Mobile Suit range is a prolific weapon the Zeon forces utilize. The MS-06F range of mobile suits is arguably the most iconic in all of Gundam, mass-produced and customized many times to suit the purposes of the Principality. The Dozle Zabi Custom was created to be piloted by Dozle Zabi, a Commander for Zeon, but also part of the infamous Zabi family who initially ruled the Principality. Dozle’s custom mobile suit was explicitly modeled for his uniquely giant frame, as he stands 6’11" tall. The golden engravings signify that Dozle is part of the Zabi royal family. However, they also indicate how this model was originally meant to fill more of a ceremonial role within the Principality. However, Dozle would later (characteristically) be overcome with rage and opt to use the Mobile Suit during the Battle of Loum, where the Federation forces would destroy it.
Dozle’s suit was originally only equipped with a large Heat Hawk axe, which would become its most known weapon. However, after its creation and retrieval from a destroyed hangar during the Battle of Solomon, the suit would undergo modifications, suiting it up with a Warhammer and other modifications to its armour. With its appearance in Gundam Evolution, the MS-06F Zaku II Dozle Zabi Custom has become another infamous reminder of the Principality’s oppression and power during the One Year War.
Dozle uses other weapons during the One Year War, notably Big Zam, a Prototype Anti-Fortress Heavy Assault Space Mobile Armor. That giant weapon, standing at nearly 60 meters tall, would be central to the Principality’s might, and its downfall would mark a turning point in the war where Zeon would be put on the back foot. Indeed, Dozle’s arrogance and rage would play a part in these events. Dozle would use his authority to commandeer weapons such as the Big Zam and his custom Zaku II model against the advice of subordinates. The loss of Dozle as a commander and royal family member would be a great blow to the Principality’s morale and hopes. Dozle would often allow his emotions to overcome him in battle. At times, his rageful demeanour would be terrifying for Federation forces. Dozle would go down fighting, desperately firing his machine gun at the original RX-78-2 Gundam piloted by Amuro Ray after ejecting from the wrecked Big Zam and consequently dying with the Big Zam’s explosion.
DOZLE ZABI
Dozle fulfils an important part of the Principality of Zeon as both one of the pivotal figures within the Zabi family but also a hotheaded and cold-blooded son, brother, and family. Despite his rage, Dozle’s a family man and arguably has the most to lose of any of the Zabi family. Nonetheless, Dozle is fast to put his life on the line and aggressive to the point of causing his demise. Throughout Mobile Suit Gundam, Dozle shows how self-assured he is and confident in the Principality of Zeon’s superiority to the federation. It is about their views on honour and homogeny, too. However, it is based on the wrong assumption that the Zabi forces have superior tactics and resources. This stubbornness is integral to Dozle’s character and what defines him from his other family members, as while the Zabis tend to be cunning, Dozle stands out as lacking the political finesse to avoid combat. In fact, he actively wants to be out on the battlefield, but not for the right reasons. Dozle’s pride drives him, although he has every reason to play it safe.
Despite these faults, Dozle is still a competent commander and well-liked by his troops. Nonetheless, these flaws catch up with Dozle and the entire principality. Dozle’s ego and aggressiveness, asserting that he must pilot the Big Zam, and putting himself in harm’s way, directly links to the end of the Zabi family. His death marks the turning point in the war, but it was a long time coming. Dozle’s raging attitude and fixation on big, powerful weapons mirrors many real-world militaristic dictators, who tend to be similarly delusional. In many other ways, his superhuman stature and behavior allude to real-world strongmen. As with those figures, Dozle’s doom seems almost inevitable from the word go because of his character flaws, but also is the closest thing to ‘human’ the Zabi family comes, which is saying quite a bit as Dozle is still an unscrupulous and violent war criminal.
As a member of the Zabi family, Dozle is just as to blame for mass murder and genocide. It is easy to overlook, but even the nicest member of the Principality of Zeon believes in purity and early twentieth-century thinking when it comes to those living on Earth. They are happy to murder millions of innocent people, including in attacks on colonies of civilians. While Dozle is among the most likable of his faction, his anger, and rage are likely a window into his true self under the bravado and more reflective of who he truly is as a person. The Principality of Zeon believes in superiority of spacenoids, or space living humans, over earthnoids, or those living on the Earth, and want to break away to control vast swathes of space, taking away all of their resources from those on Earth by any means necessary. While he may seem calm, collected, and commanding when winning, he cannot accept losing, especially as it challenges his worldview. Dozle has an all-consuming ego that may need a container as large as the Big Zam.
STATISTICS
Size: Giant, and even taller when stood up fully [comparison pic]
Weight: Super Heavy (125 Units)
Walk Speed: Sluggish (0.7 Units) (2nd Slowest between Kazuya and Incineroar)
Dash Speed: Very Slow (1.9 Units) (5th Slowest between Ganondorf and Mii Gunner)
Fall Speed: Fast (1.8666 Units) (8th Fastest between Falcon and Mythra)
Air Speed: Machine Fast (1.275 Units) (8th Fastest between Wario and Lucario/Wolf)
The MS-06F Zaku II mobile suit is, suffice to say, massively downsized for Dozle to utilize for Smash. This much smaller mobile suit still has to fit around Dozle’s gigantic frame, though, which safely positions him in the upper areas of the Ultimate roster. The comparison pic above is deceiving, however, getting Dozle’s width correct, but this situation is similar to Ridley where Dozle will only be stood up partially for most of the match. His fighting stance has him grasping his Heat Hawk axe in hand and hunched over far more, similar to the art at the head of this section, which reduces Dozle’s height to be around that of K. Rool. It’s helpful to note that the Heat Hawk is a giant weapon, almost like a two-handed battle axe, despite being easily held in one hand by the Zaku II. The Gundam mobile suits are still robotic machines but move like regular people, and the Zaku II is no different. Dozle’s Zaku II model has been further modified, and in Smash emotes a little more than one might expect from its heavy frame. Dozle can sometimes be heard as the pilot, but the Zaku II mobile suit will mostly make robotic or mechanical sounds as it moves in an almost eerie fashion.The Zaku’s movements and eye movement can be a little unnerving. Nonetheless, as mobile suits, its animations are still robotic and not quite human, which translates to his statistics.
The Zaku II suit is not known for its fast walk or running speed. Dozle’s suit struggles to outpace almost anyone in Ultimate, and this aspect is where the robotic nature of the Zaku II becomes most evident. Indeed, the mobile suit will stomp along very sluggishly for its walk. It does make it a suitable speed to play a cautious game. What does hurt Dozle far more is the sluggishness of his dashing speed, around that of Ganondorf’s. It means that Dozle will need help getting anywhere fast on the stage. What helps a little is that thrusters aid the Zaku II’s initial dash, if measured it would be 2.255 on par with Bowser and Mewtwo as the joint sixth best in the game, but also with only 8 frames to come out, making the Zaku II have the third fastest initial dash after Sheik and Corrin. This statistic is less important than his pure dashing speed, but does make him surprisingly dangerous from a close-mid range. The Zaku II has excellently high traction.
The other area where the Zaku II excels is in its air speed and jumps. While its fall speed is a big problem, especially with the Zaku’s excessive weight greater than Ganondorf’s, it has an excellent air speed to compensate for that problem. That fall speed can also be a positive when Dozle wants to get back to the ground and has access to a marginally faster fast fall. These mobile suits are designed to fight in space, or at least in midair, and it means that Dozle has some of the best control in the game aided by the thrusters on the back of the suit. Another strength for the Zaku is its jumps, with an excellent first jump that makes whole use of the Full Hop that goes 50 units, second only to Falco. Its second jump is decidedly less impressive, though, as the Zaku exerts its thrusters much less to give only a small boost. This second jump is more significant in some ways, as it limits how much Dozle can aggressively go after foes in the air and how well he can creatively recover.
Overall, Dozle’s custom Zaku II mobile suit is an impressive bit of machinery, but with some glaring issues. Its super heavyweight categorization is no surprise. After all, Dozle is a giant in a mobile suit, albeit considerably downscaled. He survives long and has an excellent first jump, air speed, and fall speed. However, that fall speed and weight makes for a terrible combo on a super heavy. With a less than stellar second jump, Dozle might be victim to aggressive foes when he runs out of the resources to escape successfully from above. Dozle’s awful ground movement means that getting in close range, where he wants to be, can be challenging. KO percents in this moveset take the 1v1 multiplier and other damage multipliers into account. KO moves are assumed to be on an average midweight from the middle of Final Destination.
MECHANIC – ZEON’S RAGE
Dozle’s rage is such a defining part of his character that it becomes its own mechanic in Smash, just as in Gundam Evolution! Dozle’s ever-burning fire of rage will erupt when the meter is maxed out, Dozle screams in anger, and will be surrounded in a red aura, signaling he has entered a battle-heightened state! This transformation happens instantly, though a freeze frame will briefly highlight it for all players. The meter will visually explode in flames, and the Zaku’s singular eye will glint on the HUD as further indication. Zeon’s Rage gives the Zaku II a much faster walk (1.26 units or 18th on par with Young Link, Mewtwo and Mii Brawler) and dash speed (2.09 units or 29th on par with DK), a much better fast fall on par with Dedede, and Tough Guy armour letting him power through any attacks dealing 4% or less damage. Dozle also gains access to new moves replacing some of his regular moveset with devastating alternatives that make him far more terrifying to opponents. When there are potential follow-ups on certain moves that are not outright replaced, the Zaku II’s eye will gleam on the HUD to inform the players of these instances. These attacks will drain the meter by a set amount of units, but Dozle can use any move so long as he has some meter left, but will immediately be forced out of Zeon’s Rage after performing the attack if it went over the limit.
This mode will continue for up to 15 seconds if Dozle were to stand in place, with the meter ticking down slowly all that time. He will add every attack that Dozle’s sustains to the meter, starting at 20 every stock and maxing the meter out at 100 units. Dozle will gain 1.4x the damage he receives as units to his mechanic; for example, he would add 4.2 units to his meter from an attack dealing 3% damage. A significant downside compared to a mechanic like Joker’s Rebellion Guard is that Dozle builds meter passively much slower. While Joker maxes out his meter in 3 minutes from standing still, Dozle would take 5 minutes. There is also no benefit to being behind, like with Arsene, in boosting the meter’s buildup. However, Dozle has the benefit of adding to his meter from his own attacks too. Dozle will add 1.5x to his meter for attacks, so an attacking dealing 3% would add 4.5 to his meter. Dozle can also sustain his rage by landing attacks. Every attack that lands will delay the meter counting, causing it to remain at its current position, and adds a half second grace period after the move’s FAF where the meter will similarly remain still. This little benefit will even stack if Dozle lands move after move during that grace period. However, the meter will begin counting uncontrollably after an additional 20 seconds have been added during one Zeon’s Rage, creating a definitive end to Dozle’s seemingly endless hatred. However, while the timer’s grace period cannot be extended beyond that, Dozle can keep delaying his rage’s end with nonstop attacks!
The way that the mechanic works benefits an aggressive approach by Dozle. He wants to build meter with attacks and aggression, and sustaining hits helps, too. Zeon’s Rage only lasts for a short time, half as long as Arsene without further interaction, but can end up lasting slightly longer if Dozle remains on the offensive. However, that is a challenge for any character, and Dozle has plenty of weaknesses to contend with using this meter. When he is attacked during Zeon’s Rage itself, the damage will be divided by 3 and reduce that much in seconds from the meter. An attack dealing 15% damage will subtract 5 units, quickly adding up when Dozle is an easy victim for combos. However, with the Tough Guy armour, he does have a small safeguard in place. Dozle also hates being grabbed, stunned, or delayed, or whiffing attacks during this transformation as it will cause the meter to tick down, removing his authority over his anger.
SPECIALS
NEUTRAL SPECIAL – HEAT HAWK
Dozle raises the Zaku II’s Heat Hawk axe and slashes away in a broad and long-lasting strike, having a decent 10 frame start up, but massive range with the axe reaching out far beyond the Zaku’s body, at a close range dealing 12% to foes and high knockback at diagonal angle, KOing from 170%. However, Dozle suffers from end lag as he swings the Heat Hawk around, meaning following up on his attack is almost impossible. What might be preferable is hitting the foe’s shield and dealing the pushback, but keeping them at a close range. There is also a sweetspot on the end of the Zaku II’s additional spike atop the head of the Heat Hawk, which was added as a modification to the Dozle Zabi Custom model. This point will instead deal 15% damage and KO from 150%, a pretty important buff to the normal mode that hits at the very apex of its range as a reward for skilled players. The melee hitboxes of the attack are a staple for Dozle as he can turn himself around in midair, and throw out a hitbox with great coverage, sweeping overhead and in midair, sweeping below his feet. Good timing will let Dozle defend against most attacks if foes are trying to rush in, but similarly, its end lag means that Dozle is open to counter-attacks if he fails and is more of a neutral tool and defensive option.
The Heat Hawk generates a weak projectile as it slashes too, sending forward a crescent-shaped energy slash that will cut at foes the same range as Blade Beam and travels quickly, dealing 4% damage and light hitstun. The hitbox size is a little smaller than Blade Beam, though, and fired a bit higher, so it can be dodged by very small characters ducking. This hitbox is significantly less powerful, but a fantastic neutral tool and reset option. Every hit will still build up, or sustain Zeon’s Rage for Dozle, and it does not matter if it’s only a weak attack! This move from a longer range lets Dozle bully foes trying to camp him out or playing defensively, as every attack will add to Zeon’s Rage and can, over time, allow Dozle to bully foes while barely having to think about it. As it is fired higher than Blade Beam, it is harder to jump over, and it will put the foe in a much worse situation if they are hit in midair next to Dozle. It’s a simple projectile really, but one that’s nonetheless a game changer for the stalwart Dozle to control the battlefield.
ZEON’S RAGE – FLAMES OF HATRED
This move completely changes when Dozle is in Zeon’s Rage. Dozle will perform a more elaborate slashing animation and angrily scream as he performs more of a sideway swipe with the Heat Hawk for 17% damage and KOing at a more horizontal angle from 130%. This maneuver means that the range is cut down a bit in coverage, still hitting an impressive range in front, but not below or above Dozle as highly. The move’s considerable power upgrade is brought down by a slightly higher 12 frame start up and higher end lag, though still not leaving Dozle too radically open to counter attacks. What is a big deal is the buff to the projectile, which is upgraded from a barely visible crescent to a light blue, flaming projectile that is seemingly always slashing away at midair, and travels even faster at 1.2x the speed of Fox’s blaster. Foes will be dealt constant hits of 1% as they are dragged up to 1.5x as far as Blade Beam’s duration, and the projectile will culminate in a fiery explosion for 10%, KOing vertically from 165%! While this knockback may not seem strong, it can be activated in midair, where it becomes a suitable terrifying KO option. What’s more, this attack will give Dozle breathing room, as it will push foes away a good distance even in shield, deal substantial shield damage, and very easy shield poke because of the slashing hitbox’s greatly increased size.
However, while this move is a fantastic option, it comes at the cost of calming down Zeon’s Rage, bringing it down by 30 units, and immediately extinguishing Dozle’s flaming fires if used at 30 or less units. It’s an awesome change, but it is so costly that Dozle swaps out a fairly reliable neutral special for one that’s decisively more of a blow up option. Similarly, when the move does whiff, it leaves Dozle more open than the normal version, and 30 units worse for wear, and if he didn’t hit at all, his meter will probably be counting down, meaning he has to double down even harder on offence! Still, when used well, this move in both its forms is an important way for Dozle to raise the stakes and try to bully the foe onto the offensive, and in Zeon’s Rage, go for a huge punish option and potential KO, or end his rampage with a long-lasting attack that will hopefully reset things in his favour.
SIDE SPECIAL – GUARD TACKLE
The Zaku II raises its arms in a defensive position for 8 frames, then rushes forward as fast as Wonderwing in a tackle that deals 16% damage and will KO from 160% from a low horizontal and upward angle. The end lag on the move is considerable, comparable to Ike’s Quick Draw. Importantly, this will always go the same distance of around one Battlefield Platform, but as it will not put the Zaku into free fall, is a useful recovery move. Dozle can hold this initial stance out briefly for up to 15 additional frames by charging the attack, and the Zaku II can withstand hits of up to 25% to his front side, with no extra defence from behind. Guard Tackle will ignore shields and put the foe into a state similar to Kazuya’s Electric Wind God Fist (EWGF), forcing them out of shield into a temporary, electrified stunned state from being hit by a small mobile suit. The foe will be forced out of shield, punished for or trying to autopilot against the Zaku II, giving Dozle 10 frames of advantage. This will leave the Zaku II at a very close range and while 10 frames does not guarantee much, it gives Dozle a massive advantage to at least get some massive shield damage from close range, although it will barely leave him out of grab range.
The move is a perfect way to build up Zeon’s Rage because of how it can guard against incoming attacks, and rush in towards foes. It is optimal if the Zaku does hit a shield to build up meter, as the Zaku can get massive amounts of meter from any attacks it blocks, while also dealing shield damage to the foe before it is put away. If the foe is hit away, though, that’s also a massive win for the Zaku as it will deal a not insignificant 16% and is devastating when hit from off stage. However, it should be noted that the Zaku has a delay and falls fast, so this is a very telegraphed, risky maneuver to try KOing off stage.
The midair version of the move will also differ greatly when Dozle hits a foe, as it will instead initiate kickback, pushing back Dozle his own, large width back after hitting away the foe, or dealing damage to their shield. This version will also not stun the foe out of their shield, but instead deal minimal shield push, while dealing considerable shied stun. This mix-up allows Dozle to instill fear into opponents as he baits out counter-attacks while flying over them, and if he lands on the ground during his approach, he will also switch to the grounded version. Trading kickback for an oppressive anti-shield property is a lucrative spoil of war Dozle is happy to take, but either way, he has plenty of ways to continue his offence.
ZEON’S RAGE – DOWN IN FLAMES
The Zeon’s Rage version of the move resembles the normal move at first, but as he charges forward, Dozle’s Zaku instead reaches out in a command grab, violently grinding the foe against the ground for 1% damage three times a second as the thrusters on the back of the Zaku burst with energy. At the end of the stage or platform, Dozle will slash the foe away with his Heat Hawk for 15% damage and knockback that can KO from 145% at a low horizontal angle, making it a suitable way to begin a ledge guard attempt, or chase a foe off stage. This charge will continue at Dozle’s dash speed until that point, or if the foe mashes out at 0.6x grab difficulty. If the foe does mash out, then Dozle and the for will be left in a frame neutral position, similar to Ridley’s Space Pirate Rush. Dozle can use his side special again during this to ready his Heat Hawk and forcefully initiate the final hit, taking 60 frames or 1 second to do so, but powering up that final hit to be a little more vicious, dealing 18% and KOing from 135%. However, if the foe successfully mashes out, it will surprise Dozle and give him a slight disadvantage. This mix-up is another risky venture for Dozle, and one that might end up being the correct choice, but overall, can be another way to open himself up to an easy punish. This version will cost 40 units from Zeon’s Rage, and extinguish it completely at 40 or lower.
In midair, the move changes again: Dozle will grab the foe, hold them overhead, and use his thrusters to rush downwards at a sickening speed, taking him and the foe to their demise. It is a frenetic sight, too, with the Zaku II flying down at a wicked speed and using its thrusters to their full power. The foe can mash out with the same difficulty as midair Flame Choke, and as in that move, this will KO Dozle first. Dozle does have the advantage of having a much better, though still flawed recovery compared to Ganondorf, so has a far better chance of recovering if the foe does mash out. The recovery is also far improved by having access to moves like Dozle’s up special under Zeon’s Rage. While there are ways to forcibly expand Zeon’s Rage to use these moves without needing to worry about the limits, it should be noted these options are still very laggy and costly, so someone uses them carelessly can easily end up in a very bad position and susceptible to running out of resources and ending up in excruciating lag. Nonetheless, Dozle can land this in the right hands and sometimes make it back, but it is not guaranteed, especially if he does not have his first jump. The midair version also loses the super armour, making it possibly to hit him out of the move as he rushes forward, and forcing Dozle into a horrible spot.
When Dozle hits the ground with the foe, he will instead crush them against it, dealing 10% damage and launch them at a high vertical angle in front of him KOing from 160%. If they are not KO’d, it will create some good distance and give Dozle a good bit of advantage over the foe. Dozle can move left or right a character width after grabbing the foe, and can forcibly land on nearby platforms if they are close enough, greatly bringing down that KO percent. It makes the move another viable KO option early in a stock if Dozle can grab a foe in midair, especially from above the stage. However, once diving fully, Dozle cannot further manipulate his horizontal movement, so he can’t try and take the foe really deep off stage. It can also work to Dozle’s advantage if he wants to land on stage and not lose a stock first.
Guard Tackle is another crucial element for Dozle’s playstyle, letting him rush in and delete shields with the regular version, while Zeon’s Rage turns it into a great command grab. However, the move is laggy, and both versions can be telegraphed. The super armour and power help to further build a foundation for an oppressive stage control presence for the Zaku II, and gives Dozle a needed way in on foes trying to stay safe at mid-range, and threaten their defensiveness. As an armoured command grab, it’s another great way in on foes, but one that can be easily telegraphed and has to be used in moderation.
UP SPECIAL – ROTATING SLASH
The Zaku II grabs its heat hawks and spins around rapidly, dealing up to 5 hits of 2% damage to foes before hitting them away with one final slash that deals 7% damage and will KO from 140% on-stage. The on-stage version is a mostly horizontal slash, and can be used in place or tilted to move the Zaku II forwards at its dash speed. The move comes out decently fast on frame 11, but does have bad end lag, worse than the regular neutral or side specials, making it easily punished. Unlike those specials, this one also has no real way to deal with shields other than damaging foes and hoping they are hit too far just to grab the Zaku or punish him during his end lag. If he was moving forward and didn’t shield poke or shield break, the Zaku is easily grabbed by foes in shield. Foes will be dragged along with the up special on the ground, however, and regardless of where they were hit, will be launched at the end with the final flourish of the Heat Hawk. Foes will be hit from behind in front with the first hit, similar to down smashes, making it another great call out attack for foes trying to roll behind or otherwise attack the Zaku from its vulnerable back.
The midair version differs greatly, as the attack will instead act as a recovery move that brings the Zaku II up vertically roughly 1.5x as far as Link’s comparable spinning attack up special. Dozle’s thrusters give him that needed boost to go that much further and a much stronger recovery. Like Link, this will leave the Zaku II in a free fall if he fails to reach the ledge, making it a definitive, and often forced ending to the Zaku’s recovery attempts. The move’s damage is the same as on stage besides the final hit, which will launch foes away for 6% damage and KO from 180%. This version will not knock foes in front to be launched forward, simply hitting them away from the Zaku. However, as this does not hit below the Zaku, it is not an effective ledge guard, but more just gets Dozle out of danger. Still, it is possible to chase foes off stages and go for some awe-inspiring magnifying glass finishers, but Dozle is not returning from that. Overall, Dozle has great jumps and air speed, yet his recovery is definitely not on the strong side, as he has to use Rotating Slash last, and his side special without Zeon’s Rage does not take him that far.
ZEON’S RAGE – RED METEOR
The Zeon’s Rage version of the attack differs visually as the Zaku II grips the Heat Hawk for slightly longer, then spins much more viciously fast, with its red aura flaring up and Dozle screaming in rage, dealing three hits of 3% damage, and one final hit of 25% damage and KOing from 105%! This attack comes out at frame 14, a considerable climb down from the normal version, but gives the Zaku super armour from the end of start lag until the FAF, letting it power through any attacks at that point, making it a perfect counter-attack. There are several other improvements to the move too – the spinning portion will reflect projectiles. These projectiles will be shot back dealing 1.5x the damage, and at 1.7x the speed, making it among the best reflectors in Ultimate. That would be great, but the Zaku II can still travel at Dozle’s dash speed, which is buffed considerably during Zeon’s Rage, letting the Zaku travel at DK’s dash speed forward, creating a fast, mobile reflector. This version costs 50 units, depleting it fully at 50 or less.
The aerial version gets some great benefits too, giving the same super armour from the end of start lag until the FAF, while losing the reflector quality. The benefit it does get is that the move will no longer send the Zaku into free fall, making it possible to chase foes down off stage. Still, if this move does whiff, it does mean a huge waste of resources and leaves the Zaku vulnerable to counter-attacks. At 50 units, this special is among the most expensive, and does encourage Dozle to use it last if he’s running low. Rotating Slash is a critical part of Dozle’s recovery, but also among his riskiest options for its end lag, free fall properties in midair, and great cost to his Zeon’s Rage meter. However, it also comes with some of the greatest positives, being able to carry foes to the blast zone and having absurd super armour, even if it has limits, making it far scarier for foes who try to get a drop on him from behind.
DOWN SPECIAL - SURVIVE
Dozle’s Zaku steadfastly places its Heat Hawk into the ground blade first, almost taunting the foe as it stands in place, and will tank any incoming hits for up to two seconds if the input is held. Dozle will only take 0.5x the damage of incoming attacks, while they add 2x their damage as units to Zeon’s Rage, massively boosting the meter if it can counter stronger attacks. The Zaku will recoil from stronger hits, but will not be hit out of this stance. The move is comparable to Joker’s Rebel Guard, coming out on frame 5 (Rebel’s Guard is frame 3) as a great defensive option that will snuff out any attacks. Also similarly to Joker’s move, the move has a FAF of 33 (Rebel’s Guard is frame 31), with this extending with the armour when the input is held. This move is one of the Zaku’s best defensive tools as it will let Dozle flinch off the strongest of attacks and grow stronger from them. It also greatly switches up his playstyle from his norm of being all aggressive, as here he can play more stall-y and defensive if he can predict the foe’s aggressions. It also adds to his reactionary options if he can get in the foe’s head and sees they are about to go on the aggressive, as he can punish them massively by building up his Zeon’s Rage.
The move does have a few disadvantages compared to Rebel’s Guard in having slightly worse start up, FAF, and the multipliers are worse (Rebel’s Guard takes 0.4x damage and adds around 2.6x to Rebellion Gauge, too). Where these downgrades are made up for is how the Zaku can counter moves when performing the input just after the foe attacks, functionally similar to how Joker can snap people away. Dozle will quickly pull up the Heat Hawk and perform a powerful uppercut-like slash with the axe, dealing 1.3x the damage and knockback to foes of the incoming attack. This counter is particularly devastating as it can withstand weaker hits, before punishing the final hit of moves, not triggering until the player chooses. It means Dozle can power through the jab’s multi hits, then outright punish the jab finisher. It also acts as a win/win, because all those weaker hits only add to the Zeon’s Rage meter.
ZEON’S RAGE - OVERHEAT
Dozle’s Zaku overloads with energy creating a freeze frame moment overheating and becoming slightly reddened in color as Dozle roars with anger from within the mobile suit. Electricity surrounds the Zaku in a fiery hitbox for 3% damage and light knockback. This move will come out on a ridiculously fast frame 2, and is a way for Dozle to get out of some of the worst combos when in the middle of his Zeon’s Rage. On top of that, the Zeon’s Rage meter will freeze in place temporarily, giving Dozle free access to all of his other Zeon’s Rage moves without depleting his meter any further. Foes will only be hit a small distance away, and the move has low end lag, but this is only the beginning of Overheat. The Zaku is surrounded in electricity, which grows more vicious over a five second period, and the Zeon’s Rage meter on the HUD starts to flash to red over that same period. After the five seconds, the Zaku will explode as the mobile suit’s mechanical systems are fried, dealing Dozle 28% self-damage and stunning the Zaku in place for a further 80 frames. This explosion will not deal knockback to Dozle, but this massive chunk of damage and the stun will make him susceptible to foes, with the 80 frames being more than enough to run up and land a Smash Attack or other powerful punish option. The Zaku II’s eye will temporarily black out, and the HUD’s meter will also visibly explode when this occurs, only repairing at the same time as the Zaku with 0 meter.
There is another upside to this: the explosion will damage foe too, for a slightly lesser 24% damage and KO from 85% vertically at a slight horizontal angle. The range of the explosion will reach a little further than the Zaku’s hurtbox, which is already fairly sizable but still slightly limited. The Zaku must almost touch a foe to hit them with the explosion hitbox. However, this damage is excellent and will cover for Dozle’s end lag in hitting away the foe, even if it doesn’t KO them. At the same time, if Dozle fails to hit the foe with the explosion from his Zaku, especially if he ends up closer to them as he tries to get to them, it will leave him even more vulnerable than before.
An essential aspect of the move not to be overlooked is how it gives brief access to the other Zeon’s Rage specials without a limit on their usage. It does not change them in any way, however. It means that Dozle can use these powerful moves over and over to force his way in on opponents, but it can be a double-edged sword. A Dozle who manages to land a powerful, but punishable Zeon’s Rage special in this way will likely get a KO, if not deal a massive chunk of damage, and can use the explosion at the end as a fantastic combo ender or follow-up that hits the foe if they are in range. These moves are so slow in their end lag, though, that if Dozle fails to hit them, he will suffer the end lag, the explosion, and any move the foe chooses to use to punish him further. It is a very hard gamble on Dozle’s part and one where he will need to go all-in to ensure he does not leave himself in a vulnerable position. For someone as hotheaded as Dozle this gamble might seem worthwhile. Putting everything on the line can result in unbelievable plays, rushing in at the last second with absurdly powerful uses of Zeon’s Rage. If the foe is KO’d they can’t punish your end lag, after all, and that 28% self-damage is more than worth the KO. Nonetheless, this option requires a lot of skill for Dozle’s player to pull off well without backfiring.
It is an excellent combination to use this move and attacks such as Down in Flames or Red Meteor to hit foes as they get too close to the Zaku. It is even possible to cover those move’s issues, such as the foe mashing out at low percents, or shielding the up special’s initial hits and not being hit by the finishing hitbox. The explosion will sometimes manage to shield break, shield poke, or simply rack up much greater damage at the end of a command grab or when the foe is close, but not necessarily in much danger. However, it is also worth noting that these situations highly depend on factors such as percent, positioning, and Dozle’s intentions at that point in the match. With the right mindset and goals, these combos can be very scary for foes working in symphony.
When already in Overheat, the down special will trigger the explosion early. Dozle will take 11 frames to stand in place, crossing his arms, then throwing them out! The explosion will trigger immediately, dealing him the same hitbox and 28% self-damage but with a reduced 55 frames of end lag. This number is still highly punishable by foes, but is still better overall (66 frames versus 80 frames) and gives Dozle some control over the explosion. This option can be a hard punish option if Dozle can predict the foe will rush at him or gets a read on a ledge option.
HELD NEUTRAL SPECIAL – REINFORCEMENTS
Heil Zeon! Dozle knows when he needs support, and who better to support him other than his family, even if it is only in spirit! While not his usual strategy, Dozle can dip into his vast resources when the player holds the neutral special input for longer than its 10 frame startup. This goes up to 12 frames with the Zeon’s Rage, which makes sense considering Dozle has to calm himself a bit more in that state, but is still accessible. It is a quite straightforward metric to learn that makes the move even more deceptive. Rather than launch his Heat Hawk forward, Dozle leans back further and will shout a quick order such as NEW ORDERS! or DO AS I COMMAND! This action only takes another 10 frames, and will immediately allow for Dozle to return to combat. Dozle’s playstyle does not usually mesh well with these more resource-dependent commands, but ironically, it does play into his mechanics somewhat, as Dozle will get a small boost in 5 units to his Zeon’s Rage when he uses the move. It’s not much, and certainly a loss overall compared to fighting normally, but shows that even having to tap into his Principality bag of tricks is a slight irritation to the ego-driven Dozle.
Dozle has four options he can choose from here, and this is denoted by the Principality of Zeon insignia above the Zaku II’s helmet, with stoney expressioned Zabi family members above, below, and to the sides representing the different orders Dozle can give. Fittingly, Degwin Sodo Zabi is the default option, representing the ‘neutral’ and forward options. Gihren can be chosen by pressing back, Garma with up, and Dozle’s beloved sister Kycilia with the down input. Each of these will result in completely different attacks occurring.
Once he has pressed to put the order in through to the Principality, a second meter will appear on Dozle’s HUD. Unlike Zeon’s Rage, however, this meter is far more simplistic in comparison. The only flavor is a Principality of Zeon insignia to its left side. It will fill up from left to right, and is color-coded: green for Degwin, yellow for Gihren, purple for Garma, and red for Kycilia. Each of these attacks will take a different period of time to fully charge and then will independently activate, with vastly disparate results. However, the meter bars are all the same length, expanding across Dozle’s HUD, deceptively hinting, incorrectly, to foes that they are equivalent in any way. Dozle can take advantage of this by activating Reinforcements again and choosing another option from the menu. Dozle will angrily say CHANGE THAT ORDER or NO THAT WON’T WORK! The meter will change color, and immediately carry over the charge to another attack. If the attack took less charge than what was already built up, then it will immediately activate, effectively only taking 20 frames to perform overall. It is an important detail, as many of these attacks are flashy and intimidating to foes, which will allow Dozle to manipulate and use them as a threat against foes, while always having an option to activate something more pragmatic if he needs it. While it is a strategic advantage for him, Dozle will look visibly angry when he does this, adding another 5 units to his Zeon’s Rage mechanic.
Dozle may not get angry at his subordinates, but the foe is another matter! While normally fighting is not outright frustrating for Dozle, being attacked while trying to talk to his underlings will make his blood boil, and add far more to Zeon’s Rage than normally. For attacks that only deal passive damage, they will add 2x their share in unit points to Zeon’s Rage while Dozle demands Reinforcements. However, an attack that hits Dozle out of the animation altogether with hitstun or knockback will make him say something like HOW DARE YOU or YOU DISRESPECT ZEON? This interruption instead adds 10 units to Zeon’s Rage at a minimum, and can be even stronger if Dozle is in the middle of changing an order. Already doubly irritating to Dozle, interrupting a changing, complicated order will add another 5 units for every time that order already changed, but it will interrupt the order too, capping out at adding 30 units to the Zeon’s Rage meter if Dozle was going for a fifth change within the same order. Each time the units go up here, Dozle becomes angrier, eventually saying dialogue like I WILL END YOU or I’LL BURY YOU FOR THIS!
While it may sound like a great positive for the Zaku II, considering how complicated it would be at that point, it also is important for the foe to stop Dozle at that point, because some of his orders are incredibly powerful, as we will get to shortly, and he can slowly swap from the weaker ones to the stronger ones to hide his true intentions if the foe gives him too much space. Nonetheless, it does turn the move into an almighty bait and pressure in of itself if Dozle can keep flipping the switch to move up to a different attack, and this will constantly change the other effects leading up to the attack going off depending on what he chooses.
NEUTRAL/FORWARD COMMAND – DEGWIN’S THRONE
Charge Time: 240 Frames/4 Seconds
This command is the simplest and least aggressive of the bunch, befitting of the Sovereign who is most commonly seen sitting on his throne. After the five seconds have elapsed, a regal-looking platform will spawn below where Dozle first used the move, and will quickly begin motoring forward at a brisk space of Fox’s dash speed. The platform is fairly thin, roughly the size of Samus’ homing missiles, but is wide enough for Dozle’s Zaku II to fit on it, and will carry him forward for up to the length of Battlefield before it dissipates. For 4 seconds of deploy time, that doesn’t seem so bad! The platform can be used by foes, but only if they stand on top of it. The platform, which will now be dubbed the Throne will explode if the front hits a foe for 6% damage and low knockback forward. As it is completely independent of Dozle, it is more than possible for him to set it up as a trap. He can predict the foe being off stage or in a position where summoning the platform can hit them directly, or act as a threat off-stage, although only one Throne can be on-stage at a time, with a new one replacing the old.
The platform can be destroyed when dealt 10%, which Dozle can also do, and when dealt 5% will go haywire, pausing for a moment, before bursting forward at 1.5x its speed. The Throne will go the same distance, but at a much faster pace, and explode on hit for 11% damage and KO at 130% at the same angle. Indeed, Dozle can hit the platform when on it, and speed up his own approach while ‘sitting’ on it. This maneuver can, of course, be much preferred to the normal version, but is not the main event of this Reinforcement.
When Dozle is above or at the position the Throne is summoned, he will be automatically placed on top of it as it is summoned. The most useful aspect of the Throne is as a moving platform. The simplest of applications are incredibly useful when utilized correctly. Dozle can grab a foe while the platform is moving forward, and can then carry them toward the blast zone before tossing them, making it very dangerous. Although grabbing a foe from an even more elevated position is difficult, as it will give Dozle slightly more height, so is easily ducked or avoided. However, many of Dozle’s other attacks are equally potent from this elevated position, and even aided if they hit upwards to further aid his anti-air game. For example, Dozle can get much more height from his up special’s usually somewhat limited range with the little boost the Throne gives, making it much harder to avoid dodge it by staying high in the air. These characteristics are all true for foes and allies alike, which can be used to Dozle’s advantage quite easily. He can pressure foes on the platform much easier than them considering it will not damage him from the front.
The technology behind the Throne is quite advanced, even if it is a flimsy device. The Throne will speed up to match Dozle’s speed while moving on it. It will go up to as fast as Falcon’s dash speed when accounting for Dozle’s own movement. It can make the advances that Dozle makes fairly unpredictable. Dozle does have a method to speed up his movement passively already, and combined with his Throne, allows for him to reach incredible speeds without even trying. At the same time, the Throne will slow down to a crawl to match Dozle going backward against its forward movement, going as slowly as Ganondorf’s walk. This action not only changes the Throne’s speed, but will extend its life, as it will only dissipate once it reaches its designated distance, not working on a timer. As Dozle’s playstyle is quite movement-based and strategic with his movement, the Throne gives an advanced way for him to further manipulate foes by creating passive feints, or simply going further on the aggressive.
The Throne will cause a blinking yellow box with a red exclamation mark to appear where it will eventually be summoned, similar to the ones seen in singleplayer modes such as Subspace Emissary or World of Light when powerful attacks are about to be landed in a certain area. For the Throne, as it is not that dangerous, it will be a smaller yellow box that is quite innocuous compared to others. The length of time the platform takes to summon is on the low side for Reinforcements, and can be seen as a bit of a placeholder. It’s a very useful addition to Dozle’s set, but the least flashy, reflecting Degwin’s stubbornness and pragmatic nature in comparison to the rest of his family.
Now is a good time to talk about what happens when Dozle ‘change’ the Reinforcement command to the same Reinforcement. While it will not change the attack or restart the charge, it is how Dozle can change the positioning for the resulting attack. In this case, it will mean that the platform will be summoned where Dozle last used the command. This will still make Dozle just as angry if foes attack him when he is changing his Throne’s position, however. Who wouldn’t be peeved at that? This little mechanic is another way for Dozle to use subterfuge as it may seem like he wants to use the Throne as an attack or trapping hitbox, but then issue a new command to summon it underneath his feet at the last moment.
BACK COMMAND – GIHREN’S LASER
Charge Time: 390 Frames/6.5 Seconds
Gihren’s addition to Reinforcements is among the flashiest, based on his infamous self-defeating Colony Laser attack on the Earth Federation and his own forces. As the laser charges, the iconic Gundam sound effects can be heard from the classic series, positively retro destruction on a mass scale! You may even think you can hear Gihren’s laughter as it fires, and will rarely happen 5% of the time the laser fires purely to gaslight players. The laser’s very long charge time reflects the absurd power of the move. As the move charges, several huge flashy yellow boxes will appear at the blast zone relative to where Dozle used the command, in a far more alarming pattern than for the Degwin Throne. Once the charge is all the way, a gigantic laser will fire from the original position.
The laser does not disappoint in its power, and will be fired for up to three Battlefields in distance before it dissipates, is as wide as a Battlefield platform, and 1.5x the length of Robin’s Thoron laser, dealing 10 hits of 2.3% damage to foes, and a final hit of 11.5%, adding up to an incredible 34.5% damage to foes hit by the entire thing, and KOing at a high angle from 55%! Foes will have to be double vigilant in avoiding this laser, because it is completely independent of Dozle once commanded. The one respite is that the laser’s power also means it is fired very fast, meaning the foe can jump over it, and if under no pressure from Dozle, can turn the move into a dud easily. However, Dozle simply holding the foe in place with his grab or pressure them down from the air at the right moment can spell doom for the foe.
An important distinction for the laser is that it causes damage to Dozle, too. Gihren overlooked that part of the planning phase. This characteristic will be one that causes Dozle to sweat a little bit as he awaits its firing, but can be offset through various mechanics. For one, Dozle is more than equipped to withstand the laser’s power at lower percents, so long as the foe is hit too. It can be a suitable sacrifice for Dozle to tank the laser if the foe can be put in range, and sometimes that is not just about physically restraining the foe, but rather pressuring them as to make dodging the laser unavoidable. At the same time, the laser’s position can be retroactively changed to a higher or lower position. If Dozle’s air game is not working out, he can position it instead to hit at a lower position, completely changing the stage control’s nature. The foe will naturally be threatened by the laser’s looming threat for the entire time it’s in play, and is among Dozle’s strongest attacks in his entire arsenal. At the same time, however, the foe is more than able to use it themselves to massively punish Dozle for his arrogance if they can hit him into it, and dodge it themselves. It immediately changes the match when in command, and as one of the longest Reinforcements to charge, can be seen as a bit of a long shot.
The long charge time of the laser is a relevant point to mention in of itself. The extra several seconds it takes over the Throne can make it an apt way to launch one in just 10 frames from a new position, belaying the laser order to instead go for a pragmatic approach. These small decisions are integral to Dozle’s overall game plan, and unlike Gihren, Dozle might choose to take the more logical and measured approach. Still, going for the Hail Mary is not always wrong either, but can also blow up in Dozle’s face big time. Dozle does have plenty of super armour and other tricks to withstand the laser better than a lot of opponents, however.
An important aspect of the laser is how that self-damage can play into Zeon’s Rage. While it is not advisable for the huge damage Dozle has to take when hit by the laser, if it happens, it does play into Dozle’s hand. It will drive up his Zeon’s Rage meter as much as anything he can withstand from foes, and can make it less advisable for foes to try and hit him into the attack. The foe might want to be extra apprehensive when Dozle is about to fire the laser to ensure he does not have a window to put it in a new, far more dangerous position, sticking to him even closer when the laser is about to fire. Simultaneously, the foe cannot allow for Dozle to stand in place and tank the laser’s damage while using Survive and practically be gifted a full meter from nothing. It creates another looming threat for the foe with the laser’s defensive capabilities. That Dozle can simply stand in place and tank the damage is equally problematic for foes as he can fire the laser is uncompromising positions while standing to lose little himself, creating a many win/win situation where the foe might not have the same defensive capabilities to withstand such a devastating attack.
UP COMMAND – GARMA’S GAW
Charge Time: 300 Frames/5 Seconds
For Garma’s Reinforcement, a couple of yellow boxes will appear directly above where Dozle used the command. Once fully charged, a large, purple space craft highly resembling the Gaw will begin to fall down, seemingly unmanned, and will explode on contact for a single, powerful hit of 23% damage and massive downward knockback, able to stage spike from 80%, which is untechable at KO percents. Like Gihren’s laser, this attack will damage Dozle too, but is far easier to dodge. While the Gaw-like craft is large, it is not the Gaw, and lacks its wings. All in all, the spacecraft is only roughly around the size of Bowser (compared to the massive Gaw piloted by Garma). It also will careen downwards at a relatively slow pace, falling at ‘only’ the speed of Falco’s laser. It means that Dozle and foes have plenty of time to get out of the way when they see the craft falling, making it into more of a threat, but one that is none the less potentially massively dangerous. The power of that single hit is already potent on stage, but off-stage is deadly, able to spike foes recovering or off-stage generally. Once again, just as with the laser, Dozle can casually tank the falling spacecraft’s explosion with Survive and add it to his Zeon’s Rage meter easily. While it is not technically the Gaw, for ease of reading, it will be referred to as the ‘Gaw.’
An important characteristic here is where the Gaw is summoned. It can be summoned at a new position at any time directly above Dozle. While the yellow boxes warning of its arrival will appear below the blast zone for all to see, the Gaw will first appear slightly above the camera’s view, and on particularly tall stages, this can be a blessing and a curse. The Gaw can be devastating for foes already hit up there by Dozle previously, but can actually stop them being KO’d if they were launched there with powerful knockback already. It also means the foe has a long window in which to dodge the Gaw, when adding the moment before it appears on the stage proper. However, the fact that it will appear slightly above the camera view means that foes can be hit in the 'magnifying glass' area, and then hit down to a Dozle potentially in waiting. While the Gaw will also generally hit downwards, it will hit foes radically if they land on it from the outside. So for example, a foe will cause the Gaw to explode, and be hit up when landing on top of it, and are launched left and right when hitting it from the right and left, respectively. It makes the Gaw far more dynamic for Dozle who can even use it to rebound the foe back into him for combos if utilized expertly well.
Garma’s addition to Dozle’s repertoire is a bit more offensive than Degwin’s, but a bit of a wild card in terms of Reinforcements, nestled between the incredibly long Gihren laser and his father’s fast, practical Throne. Defined by his untimely death at the hands of an ally, the Gaw can be a death knell for foes, but also for Dozle if he underestimates foes because of its damaging properties. Summoned at the wrong place and time, Dozle’s recovery is one of the most easily abused by a falling Gaw. However, the Gaw can be destroyed when dealt 25% damage. The Gaw will still explode upon being destroyed in this way, but unlike the laser, will now no longer cause damage to the person who struck it the final time. It can create a hot potato situation for players in a match, and this is one game where Dozle excels due to his high damage output, particularly with his Zeon’s Rage-boosted moves.
Dozle has many melee moves that benefit greatly from launching into a powerful explosion at the end, particularly where he has forward momentum (ignoring the Throne, which certainly might be active at the same time as the Gaw, but most likely not). For example, Guard Tackle with its super armour might not withstand knockback from the Gaw, but Dozle can avoid taking that powerful damage at the same time when landing the last hit. The explosion’s hitbox is sizable too, extending a decent bit beyond the Gaw, bringing into play many of Dozle’s moves to bully foes trapped between him and a falling Gaw at a close range. These attacks become appealing when they can potentially detonate a falling bomb situated behind the opponent.
BACK COMMAND – KYCILIA’S CANNON
Charge Time: 510 Frames/8.5 Seconds
Dozle’s beloved Kycilia has the honour of having the longest-charging Reinforcement, and definitely lives up to the hype. Upon being commanded, three large yellow boxes will appear below Dozle, and appearing below the ground if used on stage. After the absurdly long charge time, a reticule will appear targeting that area and immediately a massive orb of electricity will be fired, landing on stage quickly thereafter. Any foe hit by the initial electricity orb, roughly the size of a max Charge Shot, will be dealt 40% damage and will be KO'd at an upward angle from 33%! An exceptionally powerful attack, and for a change, not one that can damage Dozle, but it is not as good as it seems from the numbers. The orb will be fired ‘onto the stage’ and so will only linger as an active hitbox for a few frames before the attack moves onto the next phase, giving a very short window for Dozle to try and hit foes into it. While the size is impressive, the attack essentially has no range outside of its exact launching location, so is highly specific, though no less impressive.
What happens next depends on if the orb hit the stage or the air. On stage, the electricity will immediately collide with the ground where it landed, causing an area 1.5x the width of Bowser to become electrified regardless of its material due to the advanced technology of the Principality! This ground will now cause foes to take constant 1.5% damage every 20 frames, and will make them flinch once every 3 hits, essentially a short flinch every second if they stand on stage. The flinch can be avoided if the foe does not take 3 consecutive hits, however, meaning they can dodge, shield, or jump over the third hit to avoid that. This behavior is highly predictable, however, and punishable. This phase of the attack lasts for 7 seconds, and essentially makes that part of the stage a nightmare for foes to traverse. While the foe takes flinching, Dozle’s Zaku II will visibly take “hits” from the electricity, but no damage. For every third hit that would cause a flinch for opponents, it will instead create an electric charge on the Zaku II that lasts for another 20 frames. In that window, the Zaku II will be cancelled out of any attack it is currently performing if shield is pressed. The HUD will briefly flash to tell Dozle and enemies this is possible, and allows him to bully foes massively when fighting them on top of this electric hell zone cancelling out of his melee attacks into themselves and performing going full aggressive without needing to worry about end lag for a short time.
At the middle of the electric charge the orb will sit, however, and if attacked with 30% damage, will immediately cause an eruption of electricity to rush out on either side, causing a massive quake of yellow, electric waves to rush out on both sides like a tidal wave, almost resembling the flow of lava. These waves are roughly half as tall, but just as wide as Cloud’s Blade Beam and will pull foes along like the Limit version of that move for 0.9x as long at 1.3x its speed, dealing 5 hits of 1.5% damage and one final hit of 7% damage to KO from 105%. The foe can try to shield this for a brief moment after attacking the orb and setting it off, or try jumping over, but again is hugely predictable. Dozle can attack the orb, too, and use this to his advantage. Like the Gaw, the self-destructive nature of Kycilia’s attack is a useful characteristic, and in this case, doesn’t even damage him! The electric wave will not damage Dozle, but instead pushes him in that direction at its speed. All that time, Dozle will be granted the same electric charge as he gets when standing on top of an electric field, giving 3 charges as he’s pushed forward. Any foe who managed to get in his way during this deserves all that is coming their way. The charges will run out 40 frames after the wave dissipates after pushing Dozle all that way.
In the air, the orb will explode and cause a circular area about half as big as a fully-exploded Magic Burst to be electrified. This area will cause passive 2% damage 3 times a second, but no flinch or electric charge. While that is a huge loss, it is still a lot of damage, lasting the same 7 seconds, so overall could deal as much as 42% damage to foes if they stand in the middle of it all that time. The foe may find that to be preferable, as this orb has a similar, but far more dangerous utility to the grounded version with its middle. The orb levitates in place and can be attacked, and destroyed with 30% in damage, too. However, the orb will then explode in magnificent form, and scales to be 0.1-0.75x as powerful as Magic Burst depending on how much time of that 7 seconds was left. If destroyed in the first second, the attack will be at its most powerful, dealing 15 hits of 2% damage, and a final 5% hit, for 35% damage to KO from 60% at a radial angle. The explosion will expand similarly to Magic Burst, but at a slightly higher speed so that it doesn’t delay the match as long, only taking a second to expand out. By the time it’s in its sixth second, though, the explosion will deal only 5 hits of 2% damage and a final 5%, KOing instead from 125%. However, its range is barely decreased unlike Magic Burst, and actually expands out slowly, taking up to two seconds, giving some advantages to the weaker charge. While the aerial version loses some of the defensive capabilities, it is one of Dozle’s best traps for what else it can accomplish, particularly if he starts hammering away at it immediately.
Suffice to say, wherever placed, the orb is a devastating attack. However, once landed, which is quite fast, the orb is no longer an active hitbox exactly, and dealing it 30% is not an easy task even for Dozle in the middle of a match. It is not the most practical Reinforcement, though still can be devastating. The long, long charge time makes Kycilia’s electricity the ‘longest surviving’ Reinforcement that will always ‘outlast’ the others. As such, Kycilia’s Reinforcement is the best one to ‘invest’ in as Dozle and let it build up, even as both Dozle and the foe know that it’s really not going to be used as Dozle initially commanded. While it is possible Dozle is going to throw the foe at a random stretch of ground 8.5 seconds later, it is just as likely if not moreso that he is simply building up Kycilia’s Reinforcement as a smokescreen for his true intentions, switching it to the Throne, Laser or Gaw when the long charge time has overlapped with the maximum for those. The longer it goes, the more options open up for Dozle to switch to the others, making it also unpredictable what one he might choose.
All in all, Reinforcements brings in all of Dozle’s family into the match, at least as far as their personalities and input. It can even be frustrating for Dozle to take on board the ‘help’ from his family in terms of different strategies to what he’s used to, but it is undeniable that working together, the Zabi family is a terrifying force. Nonetheless, all of them have a propensity to self-destruct, less so Degwin, and when put together there is a good chance that Dozle will get in over his head using their super powerful attakcs. Simultaneously, against an unknowing foe, or in the right hands, all of these Reinforcements can make the Zaku II even more formidable.
SMASHES
FORWARD SMASH – HEAT HAWK SHOCKWAVE
Dozle holds the Heat Hawk overhead in both hands and charges it in place, with 30 frames of start up for the move, and then slams it down forward in a motion with comparable range to Ganondorf’s DORIYAH forward smash, dealing 24-33% damage and KOing from 60-40% at a low horizontal angle. Dozle will also send out a shockwave at the end of the blade, travelling forward at the speed of Falco’s laser and as far, roughly the size of Blade Beam and dealing 5-15% damage and light-medium knockback. The shockwave will only KO from 200% or higher at the edge, but can still help to pile on more damage and pressure, and make the move less easily dodged. The move has punishing end lag comparable to Ganondorf’s Mountain Cleaver (38 frames), but comes out marginally slower (by 1 frame) and has an equally marginal reduction in knockback (Ganondorf’s attack KOs from 56%). The melee move on its own has several benefits within the context of Dozle’s set, though. For one, Zeon’s Rage allows Dozle get in range of a foe to deliver the Heat Wave attack in many better ways than what Ganondorf has available, such as the Zaku forcing its way in with Guard Tackle. Simultaneously, the Zaku II has many powerful ways to encourage the foe to play unsafe and, for example, roll in against attacks like the Zaku’s Heat Wave Slash and Flames of Hatred. This move is also far easier to land and execute during Zeon’s Rage, where Dozle has a much higher ground speed than Ganondorf and can rush in and perform the move without needing to telegraph it as hard. Finally, Overheat gives a way to potentially deliver a fatal 1-2 punch with shield damage to foes, and covers for the move’s painful end lag. While this 1-2 punch can be just as fatal to Dozle on whiff, it still is another ace up his sleeve during combat to hard read, and dominate foes in the right circumstances.
Dozle can angle the move as with most forward smash. The up-angled forward smash will not sweep along the ground, and instead be aimed in an uppercut-like motion. This attack will deal 2% higher damage overall, and KO a few percents lower, but can be particularly potent on platforms or higher stages. This will also fire the shockwave at a 90 degree angle upward, being one of Dozle’s best checks against jump-ins, especially at close range where foes find it hard to air dodge and avoid the shockwave and massive cleaving attack.
The down-angled forward smash is a different model of mobile suit altogether, with the attack cutting even deeper into the ground, enhancing the power by 3% more than the regular attack and KOing earlier still with knockback hitting the foe straight up, but cutting down drastically on its horizontal range. This change is another, more extreme version of the up angled forward smash, committing to worse reach for a stronger payoff. The attack has the same fantastic coverage, but will only reach roughly 2/3rds as far. On top of that, the Zaku II will suffer slightly worse end lag at 40 frames with the Heat Hawk being stuck in the ground for a couple of frames due to the impact. The shockwave will fire out along the ground, with roughly a third as much height as usual, but travels two-thirds as fast, turning it into more of a trapping projectile to follow up with for attacks. If the foe does roll away, it can catch them out, acting as a solid mix-up. Dozle can also use it to pressure the foe with other projectiles such as his Slash and Flames of Hatred to entrap the foe and make it harder for them to escape his attacks.
DOWN SMASH – THE FURY OF ZEON
Dozle holds the Heat Hawk in front of him for the start-up and charge, as it seems to glow red with a build-up of energy, before yanking it backward, piercing through anyone behind the Zaku II, and then is pierced into the ground! Dozle makes emphatic and angry growls as he wields the Heat Hawk. The back hit will launch foes away at a low horizontal angle for 12-16% damage and KO from 200-180%, while the front hit deals a far stronger 20-28% damage and will KO from 100-80%, coming out on frame 25. The move has a good deal of end lag at 25 frames, but a significant improvement from forward smash. This attack is an excellent shield poke, with the range on the back hit almost rivalling Marth’s Shield Breaker due to the Heat Hawk’s size. The front piercing attack hits very low, enough to hit a crouching Jigglypuff, and will linger in place for a few frames, making it great to catch out dodges. When there is no ground to hit, this move can be a powerful 2-frame option as it pierces through the stage. Either hitbox can hit, which allows Dozle to potentially go for the 2-frame with the back hit, and then try to hit the foe if they quickly roll past him. That strategy is predictable, but the threat of it means Dozle can also bait out a get up attack by simply facing away from the ledge, and do something like use Guard Tackle instead to immediately punish that, or a move like Rotating Slash to catch out a get up or jump, or wait and punish a foe for staying on ledge.
The move will have a follow-up effect when charged for at least 30 frames, the effect growing stronger with longer charge. The Heat Hawk will cause the ground right in front of the Zaku it pierces to glow yellow, and after 40-200 frames (2/3 to 3.2 seconds), an explosion will erupt out of the ground! This bright and fiery explosion, a buried shockwave, is roughly the same size as Dozle, lasting about 30 frames as a long-lasting hitbox, and dealing 7% and decent upward knockback, though will only KO from 215% or higher. These qualities mean it will be unlikely to ever KO a foe in midair, though its size and frames out make it essentially a quickly made trap. The delayed hitbox coming out of the ground marks a useful tool for Dozle to utilize, and can be advantageous with other aspects of his playstyle. Zeon’s Rage, particularly Overheat, can have their weaknesses covered with the delayed element within The Fury of Zeon. For example, Dozle may be about to suffer the end lag from Overheat, but in the middle of this flaming pillar, will have an easy way to force foes away and give him the time to recover when timed correctly. However, the timing is tight as that 30 frames of an active explosion will only cover some of the 80 frames of lag in Overheat. The 2/3-3.2 seconds is where Dozle has to get creative in forcing the foe into a position they will either get hit or retreat.
Besides covering for Overheat, this delayed hitbox can also be useful for manipulating foes through stage control. A foe avoiding that patch of the stage limits their options and forces them into certain approaches that are easier to read and punish for Dozle. For example, Down in Flames can be much stronger if Dozle grabs the foe and goes for the early finish, which would normally result in him being at a small frame disadvantage, but is not the case if the foe ends up over this patch of ground as it explodes! Similarly, while the patch might be shieldable, is not strong, and is easy to dodge or roll through, it forces the foe to use an option. The sheer existence of this hitbox can also be used to condition or drill the foe and test what option they will use defensively. However, Dozle cannot rely on this as a legitimate trap much because of the charge time it takes to create, and cannot afford to waste much time as it means he is not building or sustaining Zeon’s Rage. This option works best when supplementing an aggressive approach where Dozle creates the buried shockwave as a mix-up to foes being too defensive, punishing their cautiousness, or when Dozle has a good bit of space is punishing the foe in the same way.
UP SMASH – ASTEROID KICK
Dozle grabs a piece of debris, assumably ripping it from the stage or just taking out war spoils, and leans his leg backward preparing for a kick, charging up the move. After 23 frames, the Zaku II performs a powerful kick upward booting the debris, reaching almost as far as Ganondorf’s old up smash, but not quite reaching straight up as in that move, dealing 18-25% damage and high upward knockback at a steep, mostly vertical angle, KOing from 120-100%. The kick has very good range because of how long the Zaku II’s legs are, especially when stretched out. The end lag of the move is better than the other two smashes at 30 frames, though still fairly long. The Zabi will also lift itself off the ground slightly during the kick and crouch slightly during the animation, lessening its usually large hurtbox to act as a good counter to low or high hitting attacks.
Dozle will lose the debris if the move is whiffed, and can be grabbed or attacked out of the move as normal. However, the debris will block against attacks once it is kicked and act as a small defensive wall to incoming attacks. The debris is transcendent after its initial 12 frames of being kicked, but for all that time, will clank against any attack that deals 18-25% or less, depending on the strength of the initial kick, though will destroy the debris. Even in case where the debris does not clank, and the foe’s attacks destroy it, this still activates hit lag for the foe, giving time for Dozle to react aggressively. Naturally, this clank gives Dozle a huge advantage to punish foes by rushing forward. He can even use his Guard Tackle to power through attacks as they hit the debris, punishing the foe as they are trapped. Slash and Rotating Slash are equally viable depending on if Dozle wants to stay further away, or try and approach the foe aggressively earlier with a harder read on how they react to the debris.
The debris will also act as its hitbox and is kicked straight upward by the Zaku II. The trajectory it takes, its strength, and its power is determined by charge. The debris is roughly the size of a Smash Ball. The two hitboxes of the debris and kick won’t hit the foe in the same attack, but one can set up for another. For example, the foe can be kicked upward and then be vulnerable to the debris, it just is never a guaranteed combo unless at very specific percents. At no charge, the debris will be kicked in a lobbing arc forward, travelling at a 75 degree angle forward and up, dealing a solid 13% damage and radial knockback that will KO from 160%. The debris is transcendent, so it cannot be reflected.
After travelling for 100 frames, the debris will explode and scatter in midair, another hitbox that deals a light 6% damage and flinching to anyone within a Bowser-sized range explosion. This weak hitbox is among Dozle’s weakest, but the small bit of flinching it does to foes makes it another way to pressure them, this time in the air, which is a huge positive for Dozle. Similarly to the down smash, this bonus hitbox is not exactly a great trap and requires too much investment, even uncharged to be integral to Dozle’s aggressive playstyle, but works exceptionally well as a guard against foes trying to approach from in front and above, which is a bit of a blind spot for Dozle. This move also fulfills a useful role in that dichotomy, as Dozle likes to keep his first jump for as long as possible, and is a way for him to avoid having to meet foes in midair every time and use one of his best movement-based resources.
As the move charges, the kick will instead send the debris up higher and at a straighter angle. The debris usually travels at a speed comparable to the Mii Brawler’s Shotput. At higher speeds, the debris will go up to twice as fast as that, lasting less long and dealing more damage. At half charge, the debris will go at a 80 degree angle up and forward instead, dealing 15% damage and KOing from 140%, while at full charge it will go up straight and deal 16.5% damage and KO from 120%. These options also scale well in dealing with foes during charge time. Dozle can react to foes in the air who try to rush in, and assume he will launch the debris uncharged, so rush forward instead. Dozle’s reaction can be to continue charging and shoot the debris straight up instead! Foes that get caught by the debris will be in for a mean surprise for sure, and the speed of the move turns it into more of an aggressive attack than a lingering hitbox. However, in each case, the debris will still explode at a similar distance, and in the same explosion. The only difference is where it occurs, which means that even if the foe dodges the debris, they may still be in the range of the explosion and end up in a very uncompromising position where Dozle can jump and punish them with a follow up.
After kicking the debris, Dozle will immediately take out his machine gun and fire at the debris if the input is pressed again. These shots significantly extend the end lag of the up smash, but only by around 10 frames, though shooting the gun takes considerably longer. Three bullets will be fired in fast succession, the size of Bayonetta’s Bullet Artes bullets and also transcendent, and travelling very quickly to their target, where they will blow up the debris with a fancier, explosive animation, dealing 15% to foes and vertically KOing from 105%. The debris will have a much less long-lasting hitbox, however, when it explodes like this, and so acts as less of a lingering hitbox, but instead a harder read for foes who Dozle sees rushing in to try and catch him out when he uses the up smash. The bullets will also go through foes and deal 3 hits of 5% damage and high knockback in the direction of the debris, KOing from 140%. Foes can be combo’d into the exploding debris, but it is not guaranteed, especially if they are at a very low, or moderately high percent. The move does combo well if the foe tries to get close to the debris between the Zaku and it, allowing Dozle to shoot them as he shoots the debris simultaneously. However, this read is about as hard as it gets and exists mostly to give Dozle more control in this scenario where the foe might jump down and punish his end lag from above.
AERIALS
NEUTRAL AERIAL - HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT
Dozle spins the massive mobile suit around in a horizontal motion, first hitting outward with his free fist for 6% damage in its initial hit at a great frame 6, before cleaving around with his Heat Hawk for an additional 12% damage at frame 18. The second hit will start to KO from 130%. The move has decent end and landing lag, with two very different hitboxes. The initial punch will extend out at a good range, and at frame 6, is one of the Zaku’s fastest moves. The second hit will combo out of the first, but comes out slower than Ganondorf’s comparable second hit in his neutral aerial which has a comparable function, making it less versatile. The Heat Hawk reaches out so far that it should make it difficult to not immediately combo it after the first hit, and both moves have different hitboxes. The first hit will stale to deal 4% damage after the initial hit, while the second hit deals 10% in its later frames. It mostly shows how long the move lingers around to be able to still act as a danger to foes. The power of the second hit makes it one of the Zaku’s most reliable KO options and a huge element in Dozle’s playstyle.
The two hits will transition behind the Zaku as well as it spins. The Heat Hawk is an active hitbox at the start of the move as it swoops around, but has a very poor, low-range hitbox, comparable visually to how Dedede’s back aerial looks with it being swiped around the Zaku’s body, dealing 13% and high upwards knockback to KO from 140%. It also stales to deal 11% and marginally less knockback in its later frames, but is very short-lived in frames 7-18 of the attack. This hitbox is mostly a defensive shield against foes trying to hit Dozle from behind. During the second hit, the fist will not move behind Dozle as he puts all his power into his Heat Hawk. The initial hit is useful with Dozle’s potential movement options and ability to cross up opponents in the air. While the Zaku is commonly a clunky combatant on the ground due to its speed, it is not true in the air. The weaker hitboxes are not going to make Dozle resemble Lucario and his neutral aerial, but will give him a keen ability to begin and end aerial combos with ease at lower percents if he does hit with the weaker moves. Simultaneously, landing the neutral aerial for a solid 18% damage and stage control is also an excellent outcome.
The move generally has good landing lag, and can be autocancelled at frame 12, only 2 frames slower than Ganondorf. However, this feature differs depending on how exactly Dozle lands. If he lands during the initial hit or before the second hit comes out at frame 18, the move can be cancelled even quicker than Ganondorf at frame 9, only 4 frames after throwing out his fist, coincidentally a frame longer than what it takes for Ganondorf’s neutral aerial to autocancel. This ability frees up the first hit to be used oppressively at the ledge or just to bully foes and generally gives a reliable option to wall foes. While it is usually limited, it is freed up by Dozle’s air and fall speed, particularly in Zeon’s Rage, to become far more impressive than expected. At a higher speed, Dozle can rush in and easily overwhelm foes who try to play aggressively and rush in haphazardly into his fist. It is riskier because of its close range, but the potential to follow up with the second hit can also mix up foes that opt to stay just out of range.
When he lands during the second hit, Dozle will instead suffer the worse landing lag, but his entire mobile suit will suffer a brief power surge from all of the power generated into the Heat Hawk. It creates a landing hitbox around the Zaku II, dealing up to 5 hits of 1% damage and pushing foes away with light knockback. This light knockback will keep the foe pre-occupied until Dozle’s landing lag finishes and end in a frame neutral position. It’s a big improvement over being punished, though more requires the foe to wait out the initial landing to punish the Zaku, or outrange the hitbox with superior reach. If the Dozle does land this, the little bit of damage helps add to the Zeon’s Rage meter, but also gives another way to keep the foe in place for Overheat’s explosion, or try and ensnare them for the Zaku to attack them further. A foe hit at a forward angle like this is much better for Dozle than one free to jump and try to land on Dozle from close range, one of his least favourable situations. The mix up potential of these two landing scenarios, between the autocancel and the powerful landing hitbox, means that the sheer act of landing during his neutral aerial should give foes pause.
FORWARD AERIAL – M-120A1 120MM MACHINE GUN
The Zaku takes out and swings down its gun in a powerful dunking hitbox, dealing 18% damage and KOing at a high upwards angle from 125%. The less weighty fun seems easier to move around in a fast and frenetic fashion, though it has slightly worse range than the Heat Hawk. The hitbox comes out fast at frame 13 for its power, and while its landing lag is poor, it does have decent end lag making it not the worst move to whiff in the air. The move can be cancelled before it comes out on frame 1-12. The Zaku will simply land in place and not attack at all, which can be a wise decision if it seems Dozle will get baited or whiff the attack, but this window is the only time the move is safe to land with when considering its normal landing lag. The straightforward dunk is one of the most oppressive tools the Zaku has available. It can quickly rush up and destroy a foe, especially when Zeon’s Rage is available. It might be highly telegraphed, but is still viable in situations where Dozle is confident about how his foe will react. Overheat can also help to cover the bad landing lag of the move, and against landing foes can be another way for Dozle to checkmate opponents with weak shields or who are at a high percent where either hit will net a KO.
The forward aerial allows Dozle to tap into one of his iconic scenes with the exploding Big Zam, as after using it, he can hold the input to fire relentlessly with the gun! This function works similarly to Bayonetta’s Bullet Artes with the Zaku continuously firing, though with a good bit more impact to the shots from the power of the M-120A1. The bullets are small, the same small size they were in the forward tilt, and fire at the same speed, though go much shorter, only reaching only a Battlefield platform in range forward before dissipating. The bullets will come out in a nonstop stream unlike the forward tilt, dealing at first 4% damage at melee range and pushing foes with weak knockback forward, and after the Zaku’s width forward, weaken to deal 3% damage and light flinching knockback. However, after hitting a few times, the bullets will degrade in strength to deal no knockback and only 2-3% each, or 1% if the move fills the stale move queue entirely. Filling the Zeon’s Rage meter is still a good trade. This strategy will also free up the rest of Dozle’s stale move queue, which can be helpful for moves such as neutral special Slash, even if this will likely never be central to his playstyle.
The gun’s firing is complemented by Dozle leaning into the continuous firing, giving him a little kickback as long as he’s firing the gun. The first 5 shots of the gun will add up to push Dozle back as far as his initial dash, though it only works once per air trip. This little boost is significant in melee fights with the foe as it can potentially work to push Dozle just far away after a whiff with the forward aerial to avoid being punished. Simultaneously, the gun can help to target foes that panic with a dodge in midair or predictably try to rush right after Dozle when he still has this option available. The end lag of using the gun in midair is just as good as the regular fair, making it very possible to shoot the gun to dodge an attack after using forward aerial, then positioning to hit the foe with a more powerful attack like Guard Tackle, or even Rotating Slash when the foe falls far enough, or Dozle does where the positioning is right. After firing through a full clip, Dozle will expertly reload the weapon as the top pops off, not losing any time.
BACK AERIAL – HEAT HAWK SCYTHE
Dozle turns and with a powerful slash cuts away at the air behind him, in a slow but powerful strike that deals 10% and high knockback at a low angle, KOing from 135%. The animation resembles Sephiroth’s back aerial in being a cut that faces the screen so that it appears the Heat Hawk is flat, and so it is a very thin hitbox, but one that rivals Sephiroth’s Masamune in its range. The attack comes out on frame 15, which is not too slow by Dozle’s standards, and has a 47 FAF. The move can also be autocancelled during the first 5 frames, which is important because it does have a hefty 17 frames of landing lag. These statistics are similar to Sephiroth’s attack, with the main difference being that this attack is not quite as long-ranged, and the Zaku II is a bit more vulnerable during it because of its size. The spike on the end of the axe is a sweetspot that deals 15% damage and will KO much earlier at 110%, and nearer the base and handle of the axe is a sourspot that deals 8% and lower knockback, KOing from 150%, though is not without its uses.
The different hitboxes are another example for Dozle where careful and well-spaced attacks can be highly rewarding. It’s a trade-off whether he wants to stay in his regular form or use Zeon’s Rage, as it will technically make it more viable to get in range to land his strongest sweetspots as in this move. However, moving slower on the ground to carefully space his movements makes it more reliable. Once fully confident, however, the Zeon’s Rage mode can become devastating because of the extra speed. The most important aspect of this combination is that Dozle can use RAR to turn around, reverse his movement and perform a back aerial out of his dash, which can be much more surprising with his boosted speed. The move’s great range allows him to cover a huge distance. For example, he can mix up how he reacts to foes at the ledge, baiting them in with a longer-range attack, then rushing in at the higher speed to RAR and hitting them with Heat Hawk Scythe as they try to jump over his attacks.
There is some interesting utility with Overheat and the attack’s landing lag in the context of these ledge guards. Dozle can go to check a jump with a RAR as described, and with the explosion effectively check regular get up or rolling simultaneously depending on his positioning. It’s also worth noting that Dozle’s exceptional first jump will allow him to match most of the cast’s ledge jumps, and in general if he can read them, he can full hop and punish them with his back aerial. It is also noteworthy for its importance in neutral if Dozle can get a read on the opponent’s jumps, as this move’s usefulness is not just limited to the ledge. Overall, this move is another basic, but significant part of the Zaku’s arsenal.
UP AERIAL – SPIKE
The Zaku II readies the Heat Hawk axe in hand in a pose a bit like his Survive only turned almost 90 degrees around, then pierces it upwards, dealing a strong 12% damage at the spike, and KOing from 115%, while dealing 10% and KOing from 130% for most of the axe, and deals 8% to KO from 140% from the base. The range of the attack is naturally amazing, making use of the huge Heat Hawk, reaching at a comparable reach to Dedede’s up aerial, though as it is not a multihit, will not be as strong in catching opponents. The move makes up for that in its incredible power and reach. This attack comes out on frame 12, which is decent, and has a long landing lag at 45 frames where Dozle has to grab onto the Heat Hawk and keep his momentum in midair.
This move can be auto-cancelled in the first 4 frames like other aerials, which makes it safer. However, the move has decent landing lag past those frames at 12 frames. It is unique as an aerial for Dozle where he might like to land on a platform or use it from the ground because of how much faster and safer it is when landing. This element encourages Dozle to use it to shark opponents on platforms or make hard reads on foes trying to recover. Dozle is not built for juggling foes very well without particularly quick aerials in the air, but has many powerful options to outright KO them instead. The Zaku can deal damage in huge chunks at a time, and then all it takes is an up aerial from high in the air to end a stock very early. Still, Dozle can potentially juggle, but more with single powerful strikes at low percents, and it will not take many to put the foe in KO range.
DOWN AERIAL – DIVING HAWK
Dozle raises the Heat Hawk above his head, then crashes the Heat Hawk down toward the stage, plummeting in a stall then fall that will hit foes for 18% damage and KOing from 120% as a stage spike, or from basically any percent when far off-stage. Dozle suffers long and punishing end and landing lag after attempting the move. The foe might recover at lower percents, but it is a devastating attack when landed at the ledge. Dozle falls at the same speed as Bowser’s down aerial, and will be released into midair simultaneously. Unlike Bowser, Dozle does have a great recovery and jump, which means he can often make it back more safely. The coverage of the move is arguably better and worse, though, as the axe is comparable in size to Bowser’s shell, but does not offer as much defensive advantages as Bowser’s does when he recedes into his shell. At the start, the Zaku can be moved slightly left or right, and will take a slightly more downward trajectory.
If hitting a foe on the ground, the move has two hitboxes that will both land, with the landing hitbox being a weak shockwave that deals 2% at a close range and light flinching knockback, but the axe landing another hitbox that damages for 12%, adding up to a powerful 30% on shields against foes. The landing hitbox is, like Bowser’s dair, more of a hard read option because of how slow it is to hit grounded foes, and will not break shields from full like a Bowser Bomb, so will leave Dozle vulnerable if he does hit a shielding foe. Considering Dozle’s other shield pressure moves such as his Guard Tackle or Slash neutral special, among others, it is not unrealistic to expect some shield breaks from combining this and some other moves.
Dozle’s pose resembles the one in his down special Survive, though differs in terms of how he poses in a hunched over and more dynamic stance, and lacks any of the visual effects of Survive, but still does reference that move for a reason. Dozle’s arms and lower legs have brief intangibility during the stall part of the stall then fall, lasting from the first frame until frame 14, similarly to Bowser’s down aerial. This defensive benefit allows Dozle to do some fun dodging and avoid trades or being outranged from close up, as the foe will flub any attacks and might be hit immediately by the falling axe.
The start of the move can be delayed by up to 12 frames by holding the input, coming out initially on frame 14. This delay helps catch out foes, and will also give more time for Dozle to adjust the horizontal movement as he falls. When in Zeon’s Rage, Dozle will erupt in anger, using this time to power up his Heat Hawk, as it appears visibly redder hot than normal after briefly conducting energy. The fall will travel 1.5x faster, with 5% more damage on all hitboxes. However, this will cost 10 units from the meter and deplete it completely if at 10 units or less. This change shows how Dozle refuses not to go all in when enraged, as the move becomes far more powerful, but also ends up depleting meter, and being harder to recover from off-stage. The fall still goes on for the same length of time, and means that Dozle is forced to go much further than he may like. However, this change can be a good thing for chasing down foes in midair if they’re much lower on the stage.
When he hits the ground after the delay in Zeon’s Rage, Dozle will also create an outright projectile from both sides, a bright yellow energy blast roughly 2/3rds as big as Blade Beam that fires out at Fox’s laser’s speed, and will deal 4% and light knockback to foes. The end lag of the move is still quite long, and this extension helps to cover that better than the existing one. Unlike the normal shockwave, this one will allow conditioning, or even punishing the foe for rolling or dodging predictably if they act too late.
STANDARDS
JAB – HEAT HAWK EXECUTION
The Zaku quickly delivers an upwards strike, somewhat resembling an uppercut that would be delivered in close quarters, coming out on frame 4 for 5% damage, with low end lag. The move has some of Dozle’s worst range, damage, and only enough knockback to combo the foe into the next hit. Nonetheless, such a move is integral to Dozle, especially with the slowness of most of his set. The coverage of the move is also important in that it will cover the ground and up, so it will hit all but the most fringe cases of crouching foes that might try to avoid his attacks. As the move has low end lag, too, while it is not a juggernaut or stun or anything like that, it will open up the foe to be followed up on with his other attacks that might find it harder to land. The foe will be lifted off the air very lightly by it, at around 30% or higher too, enabling Dozle to ensure he can go for his higher-hitting attacks. On a huge big body character like Dozle, such a simple move matters significantly in ensuring he is not simply avoided by some characters and dodging maneuvers.
The second hit of the jab is Dozle delivering a powerful forwards kick similar to K. Rool’s jab finisher, dealing 6% damage to foes. This hit does decent knockback away from the Zaku II at the Sakurai angle, but will rarely KO due to its weak power. The coverage of the move, hitting foes right in front of Dozle, is an equally useful attack for Dozle’s playstyle. If a foe is being too successful at a close range, he can lift them up and kick them away to reset neutral and recompose. The end lag is higher, but will still combo into the final, finishing hit until foes are above 100%.This hit is not the final one in the jab string, but the first two hits can be skipped entirely by holding the jab.
Dozle performs a sweeping horizontal slash, wielding the Heat Hawk like a meat cleaver, and striking foes with a good range similar, and a little bigger than Ike’s forward tilt, dealing 12% damage and KOing from 145% at a low angle. The great range of the move is largely how it will combo out of the second hit, though only at lower percents. The move has a little less end lag than Ike’s, and also comes out faster on frame 11, but deals slightly less damage and knockback. This difference might be due to the more haphazard way that the Zaku slashes away with less finesse when equipped with the Heat Hawk compared to Ike’s Ragnell. This attack can function similarly to a melee forward tilt for Dozle with its input, which is important to note for later, as he has an unorthodox forward tilt. These details are very significant for Dozle’s playstyle, as at his size and with his inbuilt disadvantages, he must maintain these important types of offensive and defensive moves that are common among the Ultimate cast.
At the Heat Hawk’s tip there is a sweetspot that deals a stronger 15% damage and will KO from 115% at a slightly more horizontal angle, where the foe is struck by the modified spike added to the top of Dozle’s axe. This hitbox greatly boosts the move’s power if Dozle can get close, but still maintain a middling distance from foes, rewarding him for good spacing. The sweetspot can make the move even better than Ike’s, and is a great way to punish predictable approaches or foes trying to be cute from a mid-range distance. The sweetspot is very difficult to combo out of the first two hits of jab, and will only happen if at specific percents, but is a great option for Dozle to bring out if he judges the foe to be at the optimum percent.
DASH ATTACK – BATTLE AXE
Dozle will hold his Heat Hawk overhead and leaps forward similarly to Link, driving his axe into the ground in front of him, rending the foes and ground! This attack hits for a massive 17% damage and KOs from 110% at a low horizontal angle. However, this attack will come out on frame 22, making it very slow, and has awful end lag worse than Link’s attack, with a FAF after 60 frames, a full second. The move will go on for 75 frames naturally if not interrupted. The Zaku II’s eye fidgeting for that long purely as an animation to show it exerted tremendous energy with that attack. Simultaneously, the axe range is excellent and has a sweetspot on the spike. The Zaku II’s spike will deal an even stronger 19% damage and KO from 100%. Like the regular move, this attack is highly telegraphed, even more when Dozle tries to hit from a certain distance, so is a power move well earned.
The move will naturally jump over small projectiles or traps similarly to Link, making it a great counter to foes trying to attack Dozle with moves like dtilts or other low-hitting attacks. Similarly to jab, this move fills an important slot in Dozle’s moveset as a way to deal with those strategies, as he is a character who is a massive target and can potentially be victimized by low hitting combo starters like Terry or Incineroar’s down tilts. Dozle can see this coming and casually jump over them. As with some of Dozle’s other options, the threat of using it is as important as landing it, which will desist foes from trying to go for those tactics as often. This move becomes potent during Zeon’s Rage as the Zaku II’s dash speed gets a significant boost so that Dozle can cover a greater distance and power through those hits. It transforms this move from more of a read into a fantastic offensive attack that only needs to catch out some weaker attacks to go for a hard punish.
This attack is another one that greatly benefits from being used with other Dozle moves. Overheat is the most obvious example, especially when Zeon’s Rage will always be active when it is utilized. The Zaku II will not only give a massive boost to Zaku’s speed, then, but will open up other moves like Down in Flames or Rotating Slash to be much stronger and defensively viable, while giving a way to power through the foe despite this move’s downfalls. Considering this move already has 60 frames of end lag, trading that for 80 frames is not much worse purely by end lag. The combination of this attack and the explosion might break shields, creating a barrage of powerful hitboxes in the foe’s face out of a dash or in tandem with Dozle’s other movement options.
FORWARD TILT – GUNNING DOWN
The Zaku takes out its machine gun, the M-120A1, and opens fires with three shots forward, which clump together as one larger, but still small hitbox that deals 7% and low knockback at melee range, though never enough power to KO normally. The move comes out fairly fast at frame 9, and has low end lag, making it a good option to use immediately after itself to rain bullets on the foe properly. The bullets will decay to deal 3% after travelling half a Battlefield platform distance forward with only light flinching knockback, and then damage for 2% with no knockback to foes from that point until its end range, at 2/3rds the distance of Battlefield. The bullets travel at the speed of MegaMan’s forward tilt projectiles. This range is among Dozle’s best for a projectile, but its lack of power means it is more of a damage option and similarly to neutral special Slash, is best used to pressure from a distance. This move is distinct because it has the most safety at a close range due to its higher knockback, but it is also relatively safe at a distance.
While it will not flinch or deal significant damage beyond its middle hitbox range, it will still deter foes from rushing in from there, and force them to jump over, which is a much better position for the Zaku, especially when Zeon’s Rage is not activated. The move is a great way to build meter and passively damage the foe simultaneously, and a great way to play around reflectors. The knockback of the move will drop to not even flinch beyond a certain distance, which is also where foes would naturally want to try and camp Dozle from a safe, but not insurmountable distance. Dozle will sustain damage from this range, but this is pretty negligible at his weight, and he will build his meter. As the move decays, it will also start to deal less damage and be weaker even earlier, quickly making the second hitbox that deals 3% deal 2% and stop flinching, becoming even safer to use in these positions. Dozle will only sometimes want to tank damage, but taking onboard a few percent here or there for his meter can be more important than a player might expect to activate meter conveniently.
The move without any further mechanical nuance is one of Dozle’s best for conditioning, forcing a reaction, and generating natural pressure. Foes will opt to shield, reflect, dodge, roll, or jump over these projectiles, all information that Dozle can process and study to decide how he will read them next. As a character who can massively punish foes with a hard read, it is data Dozle values more than most. While it is less useful than neutral special Slash because of its weak power and unreliability, it has great range and safety, making it a fairly low committal option and best used in matches where Dozle wants to avoid throwing out his laggier options as much. It is another significant attack that helps Dozle not be overwhelmed in these situations as a super heavyweight.
The bullets can be angled down or up, changing their trajectory, and dealing 2% more in both instances, so without staling dealing 9%, 5% and 4% damage for the three hitboxes over time, while still never reliably KOing with any of these bullets. The trajectory is a low horizontal angle, around thirty degrees up or down to shoot at a diagonal, and will instead hit foes in that direction with the initial hit. The upper hit can be especially useful for those foes trying to approach quickly from a low verticality, which can be best against Dozle with moves like his Asteroid Kick and Guard Tackle doing a good job at covering in front and directly overhead. This move is still not the best defence against those attacks, least of all because the bullet is still a smaller hitbox and weaker than most of Dozle’s moves, but still acts as a great callout. On the ground, the down angled bullets will hit any crouching foes, though retains a blindspot at melee range against small characters. The bullet will bounce off the ground once it would hit the point where its 5% hitbox becomes active, and will fire up at the same angle at the up-version. Using the regular and down-angled versions of the move can act as a solid mix-up because of their slightly different speeds and the way this bounce works to catch out foes, punishing them for trying to roll or dodge through the bullet stream mindlessly. For example, firing out a feint regular shot, then a down angled one, then a regular shot again can make jumping over the first slightly difficult, but it is still far from a proper bullet hell. This version is also much harder to reflect period because of its angle.
The Zaku II can move during its firing, and with its thrusters and hardware, can do so without even needing to walk. The Zaku will hunch over slightly and boost forward if Dozle tries to move forward or back, going at his walk speed over this period. While the animation differs slightly, this motion will retain the Zaku’s walk speed. However, that speed can differ depending on if Zeon’s Rage is active. If it is, Dozle’s walk speed is higher, and thus will move shockingly fast in this boosted mode of travel. The animation, while distinctive, may catch foes by surprise. As it is moving, the exact trajectory of the bullets will naturally change, making it much harder for the foe to estimate where they can jump, dodge, or otherwise avoid the bullets. While it is safer to shield them and ignore this, that helps Dozle build his meter and degrades the foe’s shield for a shield break or poke. It might even pressure the foe enough they use a riskier option to avoid that, or end up getting the Zaku in range for a much stronger attack.
There are other important features to this mode. First, the Zaku II’s movement here is also distinctive mechanically from its normal movement. The Zaku will keep facing forward if these movements occur as it continues to fire its machine gun, allowing for unique movements that do not force a turnaround. This feature can be critical for moves like jab or dash attack, or even Overheat where the Zaku’s position is hugely important, and Dozle wants to maintain his positioning and current facing with the foe. Another feature of this sliding mode is that it will not utilize the Zaku’s normally great traction. After sliding forward or back, the Zaku will uncharacteristically slide a little backwards, comparable to a character with 0.082 traction units, which is a tie for the 6th and 7th worst in the game with Samus and Dark Samus. This quality is a great option for the Zaku as it can cunningly edge forward, potentially bringing into play its sweetspots. These little slides can work either, pulling Zaku back out of danger barely to land a counter-attack, or let Dozle charge forward from a standing position. This poor traction will stop a short while after stopping firing of the machine gun, as the Zaku begins to walk normally again, but will be retained if the Zaku opts to go immediately into a move. This can be particularly useful for moves with some start up, such as Guard Tackle, Down in Flames, or even attacks like neutral special Slash. It is another great option to catch foes unaware and further highlight how much Dozle can utilize his mobile suit in nuanced ways to create opportunities out of nothing. The one downside is that it does need to be used during the forward tilt stance, and that move is not slow, but not as fast as a move like MegaMan’s forward tilt, so is somewhat limited by comparison despite being such a versatile movement tool. As in forward aerial, Dozle will reload the gun expertly every time it goes through a magazine.
UP TILT – SHOULDER BARGE
The Zaku II uses its shoulder spikes, turning and rending the air in front and diagonally away for a quick 4% damage, coming out at frame 3 in an uncharacteristically quick animation for Dozle, with very low end lag. Foes will be hit with very low knockback and kept in place for a few easy hits of the up tilt at low percents. However, the move will never KO and has short range compared to many of Dozle’s other attacks. While the range is smaller than those other attacks, it is still quite viable because of the Zaku’s general size. As one of Dozle’s fastest options, it is very important to his anti-air game and general defence if a foe is right in his face. The move is comparable to Ryu or Ken’s up tilts as almost an elbow strike because of the Zaku’s sheer size. Dozle does crouch and hunch over considerably during the attack so that it will hit many characters in front of him, but can be dodged by small or ducking characters on the ground. All of that being true, it is still a great anti-air. The spike is intangible during the move’s short start up, and roughly the size of a small character’s arm because of Dozle’s size. It can reliably stop opponents in their tracks if they are going for a close-range approach and trying to get too close to the Zaku II.
Another important element with the move is how Dozle can use his movement and mechanics to work with the move. The Zaku’s movement options, such as his potentially fast ground speed or rush moves like Guard Tackle, or Forward Tilt can help put him in place to pull the foe along as they take up tilts and are dragged forward. While Dozle is not that well-equipped to punish, and has no direct combos out of this, it can potentially set a foe up for an up smash, or make it more difficult to dodge moves Dozle buffers as he ends the low end lag of the up tilt. This move is one of the very best for Overheat. Dozle will pull the foe along, and if used just as he is about to explode, makes it almost impossible for the foe to dodge. At higher percents, the foe will fall out of the combos quicker, but when rushing forward, such as with Zeon’s Rage’s boosted dash speed or forward tilt’s slipperiness, it is much easier to keep the hits comboing. It won’t keep them in the up tilt for that long, maybe five hits at most, but can be extended enough to make it devastating when Overheat is about to activate.
DOWN TILT – SWEEPING KICK
Dozle extends out a powerful metal boot from his crouched position, smacking foes forwards for 13% damage and strong knockback to KO from 125%, and lingers enough to have a sourspot that deals 5% and KOs from 150%. This move is quite slow, coming out at frame 10, but has excellent range using Dozle’s huge legs to reach further than most comparable moves. Compared to Ganondorf’s down tilt, it comes out the same frame, but has a decent bit longer range, with 22 frames of end lag. It functions as an important mid-range move compared to Dozle’s close range options like his jab and up tilt, and his long-range moves like neutral special Slash, Heat Hawk Shockwave and his Machine Gun forward tilt. Foes who rush in at that range can be checked as another hard read option.
The final hit and sourspout will launch foes lightly into the air. This position is far more potent for Dozle, though has a more precise hitbox, and functions similarly to Ganondorf. Dozle can then attempt to use some of his anti-airs, including his up tilt, or try and go for an unconventional choice like his Asteroid Kick depending on what he wants out of the exchange. The move does not come out fast, but it can be advantageous. Foes that try and roll in, for example, might be hit just before they do so, or get hit for the much bigger punish if they roll towards Dozle on the ground. Any other similar option to close in on Dozle can end in the same result with the kick covering essentially mid-close options due to its incredible range. Similarly, the move can’t 2-frame, but it can hit opponents trying to recover over the ledge and bully foes from a relatively safe distance if they try to camp around the ledge. It is another important option for Dozle to deal with foes trying to antagonize him from a distance and use his size and slowness against him.
This move will deal considerable shield stun and is a great poke, as is true with Ganondorf. The great range and how it lingers make it a great way to get a final hit and explode with Overheat on foes at the last second if they are not backing off. It is also true for his regular playstyle, as he can sneak in and deliver a kick to foes as they feel safe from a closer range than usual versus Dozle. While the Zeon’s Rage speed speaks for itself in usefulness to rush in with all moves, it is worth noting how Dozle can always drop in with his air and fall speed too, and pick apart the foe’s strategies with moves like this that have great range. Another integral part of this approach is how it will greatly lessen the Zaku’s hurtbox. Dozle will crouch down in a squat like Ganondorf’s crouch, significantly reducing his size to dodge some higher hitboxes. For a character as large as Dozle, this can be relevant for avoiding attacks the foe might become overly reliant on in the match up. The down tilt is even better in that respect as it will lower Dozle’s hurtbox lower still.
GRAB GAME
GRAB & PUMMEL – TITAN’S GRIP
Dozle’s grab does not disappoint as a superheavy, as the Zaku II’s extraordinary range delivers one of the best reaches out of the cast, and comes out at frame 8, the same as Bowser. The Zaku II will grab foes roughly, bringing them close to be thrown. This animation is also significant because it ensures they might get hit by attacks like Overheat or Buried Shockwaves that Dozle might have planted earlier. The grab release still works normally, in any case. Dozle’s dash grab ranges from poor to very good depending on whether he is in Zeon’s Rage, as it will greatly benefit from the buff to his dash speed. His pivot grab is, by contrast, consistently excellent because of his great traction. It means that Dozle can dodge around foes, even if that is sometimes difficult with his size and speed, and counter them with a quick grab. At frame 8, while not extraordinary for grabs, it is still one of Dozle’s fastest options. For his pummel, Dozle will squeeze the foe for a quick 1.4% damage. It is another fairly normal move, but is important as it will also keep the Zeon’s Rage meter from going down, buying time. In Zeon’s Rage there will also be times Dozle will rely on his pummel to pile on some damage as he will slide a bit forward from his extra dashing speed as he gets closer to the ledge. This segue from pummel to throw can be important in maintaining Zeon’s Rage, though as with many other Dozle mechanics and in this case not being unique to him as a character, it is another way for things to backfire if the foe does mash out too early.
FORWARD THROW – BACK BREAKER
The Zaku II is far more of a victim to being thrown than throwing in Gundam, but that only taught him well! The Zaku grabs the foe, holds them over his head and then brings them down on his knee for a backbreaker, dealing 14% damage and launching foes away at a 30 degree angle forward to KO from 220%. This knockback is on the lower side, but more comparable to a character like Incineroar’s Giant Swing forward throw, and KOs about the same time at the ledge. Similarly to that move, this animation is also fairly long. It can be another good link in from a grab at the ledge to ensure foes are at there to have the best chance of KOing them when grabbing out of a dash, or even during a slide from forward tilt’s movement. The long-ish animation will also make it easier to land the final Overheat explosion hit if the foe is still in the animation when that happens, ending it earlier and hitting them with that instead. It makes for a spectacular Red Scar effect if the match ends with the foe overhead and that explosion going off. As a basic throw, the angle makes it a great way to set up an anti-air approach by Dozle. A foe in the air, but not at a high angle away from Dozle is a surprisingly good start for Dozle’s offence with his many anti-airs and ways to deal with foes, as long as they do not get to a close range. The other obvious follow up is simply jumping and following foes into the air with Dozle’s great jumps and aerials.
At a very low percent, this throw is the best choice in most cases. The foe will land on the stage and can opt to tech or be put in a tech chase situation. While nothing is guaranteed, it can lead to a difficult series of follow ups by Dozle such as his neutral special Slash or forward tilt depending on if he wants to focus on damage or pressuring the foe with those options. The move can also be easily followed up with Guard Tackle if the foe does land on the stage and catch out their get up options. Down tilt can also be a way to punish opponents who try to roll towards Dozle, or even a dash attack if he does a hard read on their get up attack, but is pretty risky and does not lead to much except higher damage. The best option in this position is to stay close, go for a neutral special Slash, and wait to see what the foe does. Especially at the start of a stock, the decisions the foe makes can be critical to let Dozle see their strategy and react accordingly.
BACK THROW – FIRE STORM
Dozle takes out the Zaku’s machine gun and beats the foe over the head, dealing 3% damage, before dismissively tripping and tossing them backwards in a judo-like motion, making them hit the ground and bounce off for another 4% damage. The foe cannot tech this first ground bounce, and will always hit the ground even next to the ledge as it’s right next to the Zaku II’s feet. He then aims his gun at them, firing 3 shots for 3% in their direction with the first, and slightly higher for each successive shot. Each shot is reliable to hit from a low percent, making the move a great early option for pure damage, adding up to 16% damage overall. It is marginally lower than the down throw, listed last, but is more reliable. This move is similar to Mewtwo’s forward throw in that it can be useful for keeping the foe in check and trying to keep them grounded, as if they do DI downwards to try and avoid the shots, it helps with Dozle’s playstyle if he can then approach them from above.
During Zeon’s Rage, Dozle will also be unable to focus during the firing portion of the move, firing haphazardly in resemblance to his famous final scene in Mobile Suit Gundam. The Zaku will fire out 6 bullets instead, but these will have an almost random trajectory, ranging from slightly higher than the highest bullet, to hitting the ground just where the foe would land from their ground bounce. These bullets mean the move lasts a good but longer, however, leaving Dozle at a frame disadvantage.
This factor can be a nuisance, as it makes the move more inconsistent and opens up the move considerably for those foes that might otherwise dodge the straight line of bullets. This change also leads to the end of the gun becoming overheated because of the crazed way it’s being used without proper discipline. If the gun is not allowed to cool down for another 100 frames and the move is used again, it will cause the gun to become red hot and deal 8% at the start with the first hit, making the attack deal an even greater 20% damage! However, as a trade-off, Dozle will also take 4% as he handles his red hot gun. The Zaku does not react to this, and would not be the first time Dozle literally hurts himself from his aggression.
UP THROW – PILE DRIVER
The Zaku II grabs the foe and hoists them up, before immediately firing up its thrusters and exploding into the air above, flying straight up and off-screen. Dozle will re-appear a moment later with the foe held in a piledriver position, upside down and holding their head between his legs, or just spiking their heads into the ground for some characters, dealing 15.5% damage and high upward knockback to KO from 175%. This knockback and KO power can grow massively with the use of platforms, as like other characters such as Incineroar or K. Rool, the Zaku can fly through drop-through platforms to radically bring down the percent needed to KO. The Zaku also can slightly move left and right during the piledriver’s descent at the Zaku’s dash speed, which can be faster in Zeon’s Rage mode. Dozle cannot take the foe off-stage.
Another boost that is unique to Dozle, and more similar to characters like Kirby and his up throw, is that he prefers fighting from the higher point on the stage, too. Generally, Dozle will also enjoy sending the foe up into the air to chase them down there potentially. However, he prefers being at a higher place to start his aggression not to waste his jumps and recovery moves as a resource. Also of note is that Dozle’s up throw will be interrupted if he manages to make it go off just as his Overheat activates, which will almost definitely KO the foe. Dozle does risk being KO’d himself, though, when he takes damage above the blast zone, and this can instead mean he KOs both characters. A skilled Dozle has to be incredibly precise if they want to barely be out of range of the blastzone to KO just the foe in these situations with amazing timing, similarly to some of the plays MegaMan can pull off with his Crash Bomber.
DOWN THROW – MIP-B6 CRACKER GRENADE
Dozle takes out an MIP-B6 Cracker Grenade attached to his side and holds it back, plucking out its pin, before wrenching it well into the foe’s gut with a punch dealing 5% damage and knocking them away at the Sakurai angle. This angle will result in the foe being pushed away and staying on foot at low percents, or going into the air at higher percents, but will leave Dozle with only a slight advantage, so it is hard to start any combos. After being knocked away, the cluster grenade will remain on the foe’s hurtbox visibly like Snake’s C4 being set, stuck to their front side. The cluster grenade will glow redder over 240 frames (4 second), before exploding in a fireworks-like explosion as six pieces of shrapnel fan out in all directions, dealing the foe 12% and high upward knockback to KO from 180%. This knockback is nothing too powerful, but the looming threat of the grenade’s detonation can be a powerful aspect of Dozle’s playstyle.
An important aspect of the explosion is that like many of Snake’s explosives, this hitbox will damage any other character within its range, having twice the reach of Snake’s C4 due to being a Cracker Grenade, and has the same power. It means that a foe can rush up to Dozle and at worst, if they are in range, use it to damage the Zaku II. Dozle lacks any way to detonate the Cracker Grenade remotely, so he has to brute force the foe and carefully hit them away without getting stuck. What helps in this instance is that Dozle has many projectiles. At this point, moves like his neutral special Slash, forward smash, forward tilt, and low-hitting moves like down tilt are best equipped to keep the foe away without melee. If Dozle gets stuck, he is forced to go on the offensive. Even though Dozle benefits from damage and will add to his meter, it still is considerable damage to tank, and the foe can also predict roughly where he will be launched to punish him further there. As it hits upwards, the Zaku is in greater danger in the air, making it more dangerous if it means Dozle is encouraged to stay grounded.
The foe has several ways to deal with the cluster grenade other than sticking it to the Zaku, and they work in slightly different ways than one might expect due to the nature of the Cracker Grenade. Firstly, dodging the explosion does work, but will not stop the Cracker from detonating. The explosion will still occur, but the foe simply dodges it, somewhat to moves like Shadow Flare going off but missing foes if they dodge. It means it can still hit Dozle, and be quite punishing if he does end up in that area when this occurs. However, this is one time when Dozle’s armoured approaches, such as his Guard Tackle and Down in Flames, rush past the explosion and massively punish the foe for their predictable reaction to the Cracker Grenade. While it is a good deal for Dozle to sustain, it might be worthwhile to hit the foe with a powerful attack.
The other option is for the foe to shield the Cracker Grenade. This result will let them immediately act after sustaining the damage to their shield, and not fire out the Cracker Grenade’s explosion. However, this option will weaken their shield and leave them open to Dozle’s attacks while having faster options out of shield to try and react to him. This option might be optimal for the Zaku II because Dozle is primed to deal with shields better than most characters. Dozle can encourage the foe to shield more just by being aggressive when the Cracker Grenade is stuck to them by successfully staying at a close range where he can realistically punish an air dodge. When he does stay at this range, even with moves stated earlier such as neutral special Slash, forward smash or forward tilt, it will pressure the foe out of using their spot dodge or air dodge, and encourage them to stay grounded and shield instead. This outcome is still one Dozle prefers most.
Overall, the Cracker Grenade creates another dichotomy where Dozle benefits. The Zaku can, but wants to avoid getting stuck with the grenade. The best option for Dozle is to stay close to the foe over the four seconds and wait for the right moment to force them to get hit by the Cracker Grenade explosion, which high in the air will lead to the explosion, or punish their reaction. Dozle can also activate Zeon’s Rage to rush in on the foe and make shielding even more dangerous, as they will have to sustain that explosion and the Cracker Grenade, likely breaking their shield. As that would mean Dozle would not be punished during his 80 frames of lag, it is one of the worst outcomes for the foe, and one they will frantically want to avoid. What it all means is that the foe has to play aggressively, or at least win the exchanges or they will be quickly overwhelmed through the psychological element the grenade brings into play.
FINAL SMASH
MA-08 BIG ZAM
The screen zooms in on the Zaku as a cutout of Dozle is seen in portrait yelling angrily, with the Zaku’s charging up its Heat Hawk and rushing forward the length of Battlefield in a spinning maelstrom of axe strikes. Any foes hit will be launched into a cutscene set in space, landing on a stray Earth Federation Space Station. Around the space station are dozens of mobile suits and other Earth Federation forces. There are several RGM-79 GMs and RB-79 Balls, and even some G-Fighters are within reach. Dozle is seen ejecting from the Zaku II and landing comfortably inside the massive Big Zam! The weapon is gigantic, as it stands at almost 60 meters tall, and weighs almost 2000 metric tons. It is also surrounded by other regular MS-06F Zaku II and various different variants of the Zaku II, though the Dozle Zabi Custom is conspicuously missing in action. The Prototype Anti-Fortress Heavy Assault Space Mobile Armor was designed to destroy entire battleships and is second only to superweapons, and does not take long to attack foes. Dozle can be seen from the control room and, with a snarl of anger, points forward in his bridge, commanding his crew to attack! The Big Zam fires a powerful series of lasers at the space station. The screen cuts to a silhouette, showing how the laser decimates the space station and eviscerates them all as they are reduced to dust! All the foes are dealt 40% damage with extremely high upwards knockback and outright KO’d – deleted from existence if they were above 30%. Dozle will reappear on the stage shortly after, grimacing at the battlefield before returning to the cockpit of his Zaku mobile suit. Victory to Zeon!
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
As my first solo moveset in some time, I felt it might be worthwhile to write some thoughts about my thinking on this set, why it was created, and what I aimed to accomplish here. I originally had ideas for Dozle Zabi years ago when I first watched Mobile Suit Gundam, which may have been over five years ago. I was planning to make Dozle into an on-foot character at the time. While that approach is workable, it somehow did not feel right, and it never got past the statistics section. One of my big problems was the logic of having a sized-down mobile suit, let alone that the Big Zam was seemingly unworkable as a regular fighter. After thinking about the topic years later and talking to Roy, I ironed out how to size down the chosen mobile suit to be a regular playable character. It isn’t a perfect solution, but logically scaling down a mobile suit is not exactly a stretch with what already happens in Smash. The on-foot set would’ve been more of a basic heavyweight character with Gundam technology, and while it might have ended up a fun moveset, I am very happy I waited and did it this way instead.
A big factor in creating the set was the release of and me playing Gundam Evolution. That game does a great job at establishing the specific Zaku II that Dozle uses as his definitive mobile suit, even over the Big Zam, which, even sized down, did not ever feel viable to be playable in Smash. That game does a great deal with very little compared to Smash in making a fully realized character within that competitive shooter genre. Many of its ideas, which can be seen ported to this set as images, helped craft the fundamentals. It was crucial to get across Dozle’s personality of being angry, impulsive, pretty tactical, and sometimes even smart within his moveset while also getting across the Zaku’s personality. That was another big part of why I ended up making the set. As the JamCon encourages, this set is definitely made to represent Gundam well as a franchise. That goes double for representing its universe and concepts, including mobile suits, characters and stories. Looking back on past sets, I can’t exactly discredit them for their time, but I think they did not get across the idea of Gundam too clearly. One of my big hopes with this set was to get across to even a reader who has little or no knowledge of Gundam and its main concepts and what it represents to fans. One addendum I want to add here is that the naming scheme is purposefully based on those past sets and focuses on the proper naming convention for the mobile suit. It is a bit clunky, but I sensed a lot of charm in how the old sets went about that and wanted to continue that trend.
Finally, I hoped that with this set, I could further push the envelope in making a viable super heavy with a new spin on that playstyle. I am pleased with how I made Dozle's meter and Overheat mechanic work, and I felt that much of his playstyle is self-explanatory. It was always a goal of mine to write the set so that he would be simple but also have the potential for plenty of depth through player skill, especially reads. This set does not have many interactions or anything complex like that. However, it still has much to discuss practically how a uniquely big and vulnerable character can be viable. This character is one I would love to play with his power, range, and focus on big plays. It also tied into how I wanted to represent Gundam. As a series primarily about warfare and tactics, it felt fitting for its first set in a long time to focus on the strategies employed by the mobile suit pilot and focus on his personality and approach to fighting. This was my first time writing a conclusion like this in a set in a very long time, so I hope it was interesting to you, and thanks for reading this and any or all of Dozle!
CHANGE LOG
-31/3/2023: Tweaked damage on neutral aerial and dash attack to properly reflect hitboxes, fixed Side Special Zeon's Rage formatting, general grammar corrections. -4/5/2023: Fixed formatting issue with headers for moves. Big Last Day Additions/Edits -31/7/2-23: Fixed all the images post-Imgur.
Forward Aerial nerfed from frame 8 to come out on frame 13.
Cancellable window for Forward Aerial extended from frame 1-8 to frame 1-12.
Added a Dozle Zabi section to the intro to better explain Dozle's character. New Move! Held Neutral Special: Reinforcements added!
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Honestly there's not much point posting this, since it's hardly more than a proof of concept, a couple of finished yet very ramble-y moves, and a whole lot of meatless bones. I gotta get back into practice, /v/-tan was my most recent moveset and I only wrote him back in late July/early August last year... it's been a hot minute, and cranking out a more modern moveset in a short timespan was a far less forgiving
But excuses aside, there's also not much point in NOT posting this, is there? Maybe someone will get a kick out of these - and at worst, I can always come back and do this blog justice for MYM proper.
Also GIGANTIC respect to the others for being used to this and cranking out top-tier movesets like it was nothing, especially Froy ****ting out two of them, joints or not - amazing work, everyone.
Seriously how do you do that and what sorcery can I learn to do that as well
Wowee, and here I was worried this Jamcon wouldn't have enough of a hook! This actually ended up being our biggest Jamcon ever at 12 entries, juuust beating out our Make Your Move 25 starting Jamcon, with our new friends from the Fan Fighter Clash server providing us with four of them! A big thanks to everyone for doing their best in this one and bringing us one of the most active Make Your Move opening acts in a long time.
12 sets is pretty perfect, huh? Same amount of fighters as in SSB64. So with that thought in mind, how about we get to our "Jamcon 1 CSS" as it were? (IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THERE ARE MORE THAN 12 JAMCONS OOPS)
- Striking first and with shocking speed was majora_787 was a long-awaited set from him, with Ne-Gok-Sa looking to give Heroscape fans their first Top 50! There are DOZENS of them! Also was one of our first notable antagonists this contest.
- Are you ready for the Nui World Order? Arctic Tern sure is, posting his set for Nui Harime to give Kill la Kill its long awaited Franchise Spot! She even swung in and stole the 200th Franchise Spot, the cheeky devil! But can she stitch together a Jamcon victory? We'll have to see...
- Enough of all those scary antagonists, though, here's a cute protagonist. Brought to you by the minds of bubbyboytoo and FrozenRoy, Goldenglow may be from the dark Arknights franchise (with a freshly minted franchise spot!), but she's more likely to cut your hair than cut you down! Press her anger, though, and you'll get more than just a static shock...
- Appearing from the great beyond, Sevagoth is here to rescue the poor souls of Make Your Move from the frightening HMAs of the world. Finishing off GolisoPower's one-man effort to turn Warframe into a franchise, he hopes to top the Jamcon and enter the halls of the Top 50.
- uwu whats this, am i seeing doubwe? Oh man, am I seeing double? Or is it just the second Nui Harime set of the Jamcon! The first entry this contest by TortoiseNotTurtles, but the second Kill la Kill set this Jamcon, it seems like the Nui World Order just keeps marching on...
- OldManHan's one man quest to Touch Fluffy Tail may never end, it doesn't mean he is going to stop! Especially after Monster Girl Quest just barely failed to Top 50 last contest, there's hope the next entry Kagetsumugi will break that barrier.
- Into the Methverse! The most important old lady you'll ever help across the street, Irene Landry isn't just here to win at bingo! She's here to cash out here ticket to WeirdChillFever's Jamcon success and to the Methverse's franchise spot. Sounds like a good deal. Don't trust me? Then just call Saul and ask him!
- This guy is sure to make your heart feel Chicken Tender, but don't piss him off or all you're gonna have is an UNHAPPY Meal! Grimace has arrived straight from the ball pits of McDonalds to get a 7th Big Mac and a Jamcon victory. Hopefully dilliam has worked him out, because you don't want to menace the Grimace...
- The first Gundam set to have been posted in just over 13 years, Smash Daddy's return to solo movesetting after a hiatus in the joint military fleet has seen him get rough, get tough, and get raging with the powerful Dozle Zabi! Critical to his country's military infrastructure, he hopes th bring home a medal never before seen in the Gundam annals: A Top 50 spot. For the glory of Zeon!
- Hey Lois, remember the time I was in a Jamcon? Well, no, Peter: You weren't the one around. He might be named BrazilianGuy, but he's here to bring us an American sitcom character: Joe Swanson, bringing the Family Guy franchose to the Franchise List. Is this Jamcon about to get put under arrest if we don't comply with his votes?! We'll just have to find out!
- We better hope reading his set doesn't have the same effect as his story's final broadcasts, because Ikkyu is one nasty customer! Completing the Read or Die franchise spot that Slavic started long ago, this aesthetic monk has a lot of (cloned) help to try and push up the Jamcon rankings.
- No job too big, no job too small, Koitsu must have gotten a lot of 0s on that paycheck of his to appear in this Jamcon! Who knows how big UserShadow7989's coffers are if he's willing to go this far to get Gradius/Parodius onto the Franchise List? Given how much he saw Hikaru make last contest, he's probably not leaving any time soon either!
- What's this, a second Gundam set? After so long without any? Well, it looks like Mikazuki Augus is here to keep Dozle company in battle, at until one of them goes down fighting! A joint venture between n88 and FrozenRoy (with his second joint?!), it's looking like an Orga/Mika-like partnership might be on the horizon for these two! But will they be able to Raise Their Flags in victory, or will Mikazuki suffer bitter defeat?
- Coming to our last set of the Jamcon, a Rayman set at the 11th hour hopes to bring the franchise the greatness it never has before! Daehypeel's first Jamcon entry ever for Barbara might not have the full meat that Dae wanted, but that doesn't mean you should underestimate it: It is still plenty hefty! And no barbarian princess is going to back down just because of tough competition, so expect to see a big fight down!
(NOTE: It's come to my attention Barbara is missing two throws, in a bit of an honest mistake here. Because of that, Barbara will be optional reading to vote in the Jamcon, but still an "entry")
That was a lot of entries. I'm almost exhausted just listing them off! Just like last time in Jamcon 1, when we got a TON of entries of substantial meat, this contest's first Jamcon has a pretty hefty calvalcade of meaty sets. Because of this, I'll be giving everybody some extra time to vote compared to a normal Jamcon. Expect your votes in by 11:59 PM, April 21st, please! And remember: no Major Edits, like adding a wholesale new moves or new chunks, are allowed until the end of Jamcon voting if you want to remain eligible, but "minor" edits like extras, number tweaks, typos, and the like are allowed. We hope to see everyone at the finish line!
Okay, this character is just… weird. Like, might actually be more bizarre than the McDonalds Chicken Tenders. It is such a tonal whiplash after all your Ducktales and Fire Emblem sets - and I love it. The Smashboards intro post is amazing too: you immediately know that this character comes from the Breaking Bad universe, and their quote makes them look like an idiot compared to Walt and Saul. This set feels like a parody of Walter White and Saul Goodman, with a money mechanic that Irene uses to spend on… mundane objects. With money she gets from her retirement place. It literally had me laughing out loud, and is honestly a great way to approach comedic movesetting in MYM.
While the writing is fun, it is admittedly hard to understand the mechanics and the Neutral Special. I think it’s because a lot of flavour text is mixed in with the attack descriptions, and moves like Neutral Special introduce the friends before the move that summons them. From what I understand, you have to pick when into your stock you get the settlement for a big cash payout to power up your moves - you get a bigger settlement with higher damage, but you lose it all when you lose a stock. You only get it once per match, so you have to pick when into a specific stock you want to put in the settlement. For the Neutral Special, I’m guessing that the main use is so you don’t lose your investments on death (hilarious flavour, leaving the will with her pets), but if you use the move when you have a settlement of 10k you get a penalty where your friends leave you. Neutral Special has no lag listed, which combined with its descriptions makes it difficult for me to get a sense of how it would work in game.
I assume that Side Special’s damage comes from opponents being trampled, rather than being forced to walk with the Mall Walkers? The de-syncing tricks you can do with your group are kind of fun for comboing out of their trample - but it feels a bit weird for a regular old lady to have full super armour while she’s walking forward, even if she’s happy. No lag is listed though, from what I see.
Irene randomly being propelled on a chair because she did a yoga exercise is hilarious.
Down Special’s flavour of a giant bingo card in the background being stamped to damage opponents is also hilarious. I personally have no problem with these silly, ridiculous and unrealistic attack animations. I assume that getting a “Bingo” buff coincides with the funny hitbox? So you can just spam the move until you get a Bingo with that 25% chance. I assume that the care package you get is random, so you kind of just have to work with what you’re given for the moves that are affected by said package. The descriptions of the care packages’ contents are kind of funny.
U-Smash getting a better hitbox the longer the case file has been going on for is neat.
D-Smash has a hilarious flavour animation and description, like something Saul is describing in a court case. Love it.
Mundane actions always make for funny attack animations on movesets for regular people, like Jab.
Set does get more melee self-aware on the tilts.
D-air having Villager RNG that you can remove with money is kind of cool.
Pummel sounds weird: implying that all and any fighters would open a soda can. Also feels detrimental to your settlement mechanic, even if it’s a low loss, because the pummel damage doesn’t sound rewarding.
U-throw is bizarre flavour-wise: it feels like it would be difficult for players to tell why the foe is being punched by a random man who comes out of nowhere without explicit knowledge of the series’ events. The throws feel weird in that Irene has no involvement in them, with the flavour behind the attacks being more malicious and behind-the-scenes than the weird but innocent attacks before them.
Overall, I think Irene feels a bit messy and unfocused. Like Elimine, she goes for a quantity-over-quality approach where you have several variations of certain moves, like whether Irene is without her friends, has spent money on a move, has Jimmy to help or has settlement cash. It is harder to keep track of all the pieces here and how they’d work together with other moves in each of those states, more so than you’d expect for a 10k entry, which makes the set more difficult to vibe with than I’d like. Irene would probably be a ridiculously set-up heavy character with moves like her Neutral and Down Special.
On the other hand, the entire set could be thought of as a clever parody of the more complex and sometimes absurd nature of Walt and Saul’s movesets. Nonetheless, this set was a really fun experience with its writing - brimming with personality and references - and absolutely ridiculous character choice for MYM - very glad you made it!
Finally, an actual moveset for a McDonalds character. Thank you.
I was expecting something of a joke set on the lines of Nostalgia Critic, so the presentation here came as a pleasant surprise. The Grimace icon for his mechanic is particularly pleasing on the eyes. It’s funny that both this set and the Chicken Tenders use a Sora-style cycling mechanic (which arguably makes more sense here given the “they sell breakfast past 10:30” write-up), which Patchouli used first in MYM26. I wonder if the cycling time should be brought down to 30 seconds or one minute? Two minutes sounds like an eternity, but that’s just my “I always imagine these movesets in quick 1v1 scenario” mindset going.
Neutral Special is a surprisingly meaty move from you, with some greater visual immersion than the Chicken Tenders. Not only are the projectiles decently detailed, they have some status effects and the dual purpose of also buffing Grimace when he eats them. Gaining weight is a passive and harmless enough concept (very, very fitting for a McDonalds character), but it does feel Grimace gets almost no time to utilize his much-deserved weight given how slow he is.
Sausage McGriddle’s speed debuff feels fitting for a slow character like Grimace himself.
Egg McMuffin healing 10% is relatively fine given Grimace cycles between food. I wonder if Grimace should be limited to something like, only 2 heals per two-minute menu cycle? Just so he can’t hypothetically get an absurd amount of healing if he spaces and spams his Neutral Special, even if the healing wouldn’t realistically be a huge amount in a 1v1 match or so. He also gets healing from eating Hash Browns, too.
While it was probably a coincidence, the Egg McMuffin projectile actually has pretty good synergy with the Hotcakes that come after it: the former pops foes up, while the latter has boomerang properties that let it pull foes in if it hits on the way back!
I like how the set is self-aware of other food buffs and debuffs and how they can work in conjunction.
“Grimace lobs this item towards the ground not unlike the Belmonts’ Holy Water, almost as if McDonald’s sprite is superior to water blessed by the Lord.” Heh.
Hard to tell if Sprite’s delayed hitbox is applied to opponents themselves or the patch of area the Sprite hit. It sounds like it’s the former, a typical delayed hitbox.
Down and Side Special are respectable enough Specials for a quickie Jamcon.
The idea of a character with an Up Special that’s terrible for recovery but a very powerful casual attack is fun. Actually helps to balance out all that healing Grimace can get from his food when he has a pathetic recovery, so the set is surprisingly clever in that regard. It feels like the type of move that would make being above Grimace legitimately threatening - I think it’s worth a mention on his quick U-tilt and U-airs.
D-Smash dealing more damage the heavier you are is what I was hoping you’d implement - a move that gets mileage out of your weight gain. I still think Grimace could stand to have a few seconds of weight gain before his weight depletes back to normal, though.
F-Smash’s “very strong at close range, great vertical area” kind of slow cone-shaped hitbbox is neat.
F-tilt has a nice take on K. Rool’s belly armour, again using the weight gain mechanic.
I was kind of impressed by Grimace in some areas, and would say he’s definitely your best set so far. That might not mean too much when he and the Nostalgia Critic are one contest apart, but with some spiced-up presentation and moves and concepts that feel a little more fleshed-out, it once again makes me wonder what you could do with a fully serious entry. For now I associate you with “troll” character picks, which is certainly fine when you embrace the jokey-ness with your writing style. Anyway, nice work!
Well… this is an unexpected character and franchise choice from you after starting out with JoJo. I’m sure you made Dilliam happy by making this sitcom into a franchise. Seems to be a trend where some of these long-running American-animated sitcom shows become shells of their former selves later into their lives. I like hearing about your opinion of the show - if someone makes a moveset, people will normally assume that that person likes or loves the character or franchise the set is for. Making a moveset for this character’s stronger, earlier incarnation was absolutely the right call.
Very glad to see you explained how Joe jumps! There aren’t many wheelchair-bound characters in MYM, but as someone who made one of them it’s a detail that I appreciate. Further props for detailing that Joe can’t physically crouch down, but he has a “crawl” that he can use to mindgame opponents since it looks like his walking animation.
That only police-based characters can pick up the nightstick is… a funny choice that provides food for thought. Won’t make too much of a deal out of it, since your intention here is to make it so only Joe can pick up the nightstick. Items are always fun, and the nightstick isn’t just some afterthought in this set either: it actually gets referenced in moves where it alters Joe’s moveset, or leaves him in a good position to throw it like U-air.
Side Special says Joe dives 4 grids forward, then goes 2 grids backwards into his chair - I assume the wheelchair moves while he’s diving/performing his punches?
I assume that Down Special’s base damage reduction and knockback buffs are just meant to be very small in spite of being listed as 0.5x? Interesting that he loses his nightstick permanently when it breaks or gets thrown offstage.
Crane is an interesting offensive + defensive recovery with great height, but with the R.O.B decay where it gets weaker when used again too soon.
U-tilt certainly goes MYM’ian with the beer glass throw when angered, and how it can make a surprising beer puddle on the ground.
F-air is a kind of nice simple but effective melee attack.
I like the forward movement D-air gives you upon landing. Aside from just being fun and adding something to the ground game, it makes good use of the wheelchair’s wheels.
If the nightstick acts as a throwing item and overrides your z inputs, how is Joe able to land a grab (to use it for his D-throw) while holding it? Guess you could just say that pressing z without a direction still has Joe grab instead of throwing his nightstick backwards.
Final Smash is exactly what I thought it would be - nice.
Is posting an image of your character wearing drip at the end of their moveset going to be a trend among your movesets? Not that I have anything against it.
Definitely your best moveset right now, Joe vibed with me more than the other Joe(Joe) for having more interesting base concepts and, in my opinion, less awkward moves. I wouldn’t say the concepts and melee were at “rock solid” level, as Side Special felt like the weakest Special and didn’t add that much despite its fun animation, but I’m sure you’ll improve as the contest goes by. You’ll get plenty of reads too, since Jamcons are like that.
The Cooler McDonaldland Mascot (Grimace by dilliam
)
Where's my Sch - wait i already used this joke
Anyway, I had quite the fun time reading Grimace! Despite the document's length and Grimace having two mechanics to his name, the read was quite digestible (pun entirely intended) and gave me the perfect amount of elaboration I needed to visualize each and every move. Speaking of, I quite enjoyed reading about the mechanics - I've seen weight-shifting fighters before, but I was really hooked by the menu mechanic - Having your options change without your own input has always been a really interesting concept, and I think you execute it quite well here.
Now, onto the actual moves. While a lot of the basic attacks are adopted from other Smash fighters (not that there's a problem with that to begin with), I'd argue they fit Grimace quite well and emphasize his playstyle to a tee. The Neutral Special is very fun and easy to grasp, even with the menu mechanic in mind, and the other specials play into Grimacy's themes with an assortment of ways to prime your opponents for a brutal punish - and of course, get a snack in there while you're at it.
Overall, this was a great set and a fitting one for our purple bud. Nice job!
Yo, Joe! (Joe Swanson by BrazilianGuy
)
Now this one was an interesting read. Ironically enough, Joe being wheelchair-bound opens up a lot of interesting possibilities for a moveset, and if anything, I'd say that you took advantage of them pretty well! The crawling mindgames Kata mentioned sound really fun to screw around with in matches, and giving Joe a strong ground speed makes sense and opens up more possibilities! That said, it does kinda make Side Special feel weaker aside from its command grab aspects. All the other specials are solid, though (even if the police-only interactions with the Nightstick sound super situational, but that's a minute point).
As for the basics, they're all pretty solid and encapsulate Joe's weaknesses while still being fun to use - Down Air sounds super fun for schmoovement, and while I'm not really sure what the point of Up Air's puddle mechanic is in the grander scheme of things, it's a novel concept.
Overall, there's things that you could do with a little touching up on - I'd recommend some sort of change to Side Special to make it more favorable in certain situations, and there's a paradox wherein Joe is said to be able to grab people while holding the Nightstick, which would be impossible within original Smash confines, but overall, you've got a freakin' sweet base here! I'd love to see this fleshed out more!
---
Oh, also, while I'm here.
Dozle Zabi being Smady's big return to solo setmaking and also a huge, explosive Gundam set makes it probably the frontrunner to be the set people are most excited for, but for me it was definitely Ikkyu. I've been waiting years hoping we'd have another Read or Die set from Slavic here and making a set for the final villain was definitely a sweet one to see. Plus like Kat has gleamed, this guy offers great Story Mode potential! Especially if we get any more sets for historical figures who can be part of his clones, or like a Fates character(s) where he could be their Master. Of course, that's just personal hype. How good's the set?
The image makes the stats look cool, that's a nice touch.
"The four I-Jin are as follows: Mata Hari, the international spy and Ikkyu’s personal lover (in R.O.D., not real life)" um, citation needed??
The I-Jin seem largely designed to be more of support tools to Ikkyu's moveset, which I think some may find curious but makes perfect sense to me. Not only in the sense of him being the mastermind, but it is pretty accurate to the way the show works (excepting perhaps Gennai Hiraga), I assume Genjo Sanzo was kept out due to time or control scheme? The attacks themselves all feel like they fit unique niches, from Mata Hari's shield-weak yet fast attack to Gennai's spacial control and Wilcox/Ludwig's long term threat. It definitely feels like a good starting place. Ikkyu's Side Special...is that Petra inspiration I see? I do remember you liking a bunch of concepts from that set when previewed and the Specials seemed to hit well when you read her too. The mindgames aspect is obviously very fitting here, and I like how it sets the tone you went for in the intro of being a read-heavy, tricky fighter and feast-or-famine kinda fella when it comes to those reads. I also like the use of it as a brief hide-y hole to change what I-Jin is active, the move reminds me of an old Momiji Inubashiri idea I had in some ways but I digress. The possibility of hit confirms for mindgames almost makes me imagine, like, it hiding the damage percents or having it illusionarily "go up" if he is "hit" during the Paper Tiger invisibility but that's probably too big brain honestly.
"There's no angling this move, no cancelling out of it, and Ikkyu will pass the ledge with this move at any point besides the end, to Froy’s chagrin." look man pit up special is hard
He even has a cool Up Special! The fact that Beethoven's variant only fills his meter is funny ("(he’s playing Moonlight Sonata, for those curious, since they’re moving closer to the moon)", the Slavic writing is on point), if maybe not the best, but all of the other ones provide ways to tinker and toy with the straightforward recovery, and it feels like it gives him a weakness like an exaggerated K. Rool recovery...which given his Bayonetta weight and terrible stats, yikes! Definitely a reason he can't commit too hard.
"He’s basically a professional Vtuber, if we’re being completely honest with ourselves." A weapon to surpass Metal Pomu?!
"His tapping of his cane is a comically small easter egg hitbox that deals 1% damage and low downwards knockback. It’s exceptionally funny as this move can 2-frame with this pitiful hitbox!" Ah, I see you too want to add in the anti-Egg Roll tech.
Gotta agree with Kat that I love the "There’s not nearly as much vertical coverage to this move, only having a grid of vertical reach at 99% charge. Ikkyu’s plans are wide-reaching but not particularly deep, after all!" line, since it does fit in quite well with Ikkyu in the series (who definitely doesn't exactly have the philosophical depth of his real life self), and even aside from anime-specific vibes is a real good feel for the greasy monk that he is. The attack itself is a little paralysis variant, I do think it is perhaps rather weak right now until we get to the Persona 3 Symphony which is obviously, you know, powerful. In particular I think the 75%+ version could have a higher stun amount, because it is already a pretty big investment to get that far. The fear of having to deal with an instant kill attack is obviously a lot, especially since he CAN disguise a lot of the starting lag behind Paper Tiger, but it certainly isn't easy to get (Beethoven being out seems, so far, universally bad for COMBAT) and feels like it is predictable so you don't wanna spam it. If anything, the fear factor made by Paper Tiger where the foe has to worry about the instant kill coming out seems as good, playing into the mindgames aspects. I'd say it is a pretty dang strong Special core honestly, definitely funky but in an Ikkyu fitting way.
Given Forward Smash is one of the few moves that drastically use I-Jin, so obviously there's hope it'll be a nice, big and flashy input. Giving Ikkyu a command grab on Forward Smash with it is a bold choice, but I like how it allows him to circumvent the "no grabs" part of his mechanic without giving him full access to his grab game (and also still preventing shield-grabbing), and it otherwise is your standard prone command throw kinda dealio. Gotta agree with Kat that Gennai Hiraga's attack here feels like something that could be fun in an actual Gennai Hiraga set, with the "pull back" knockback magnetism, and the Elekiter could serve well too. Of course here it is just a Big Payoff Attack, but does it need to be anything else? Beethoven's attack does feel pretty weird without any hitbox to it, especially since Up Special feels more fitting for the "risky but big Beethoven payoff" (I guess it has movement instead?), and it does make me realize if Paper Tiger just covers up the animation doesn't that mean everyone hears the Beethoven attacks? I've been informed that Paper Tiger is supposed to mute sounds from within Paper Tiger as well, so that solves that, but I think maybe making Beethoven's F-Smash more of a "less Beethoven Meter gain but has an actual musical hitbox" (music note flying forward? Something visually like DK Bongos Final Smash?) would make more sense. Oh, and Wilcox is fine.
Both of the other Smash attacks are solid, fit into his gameplan well, Up Smash I think I prefer of the two but Down Smash is important glue into his combos and prone game. Dash Attack feels like it could kill earlier (110%?) given the sweetspot/sourspot-ness making some real risk and being a Frame 21 starting attack. It would also differentiate it more from F-Tilt, which would probably be a good thing. Forward Tilt does feel important as a tool he can just kinda throw out to gauge the foe's reaction to Paper Tiger. Ikkyu's standards didn't blow me away, but I did like Down Tilt bringing it together and some more uses outside of Paper Tiger. Forward Aerial fortunately quickly provides something I wanted out of the set, more non-Paper Tiger mixups to help sell that sense of "mindgames" that aren't just flowing from a single core move, plus it gets something stylish as a reward to get the opponent All Mixed Up. Back Aerial feels like it over-emphasizes how long 11 frames is (Bowser FAir, Ike FAir, Pyra NAir), but the actual move is fun. Feels a bit awkward how many moves in this set kill at, like, exactly 140% and without much variance to them. I kinda wish that one of Ikkyu's aerials was something akin to Down Smash, kinda like an aimed stream of fire in a direction. Down Aerial, perhaps, so that he could hit the Wilcox bomb from above from potential heights to not be hit by it? Would worsen his landing game, though. Alternately, I could see a downwards cane strike where he can stay on the cane a moment to either land or jump off of as a mixup. Corrin pin-esque. I do like the way it can pop up foes for air combos, so maybe the Corrin pin-y idea but with a hitbox that still works for that?
Forward Throw would be fun if the foe was considered a hitbox after being thrown, Mario B-Throw style, so that they could hit a bomb, count as the hit and trigger it, letting Ikkyu get off a master plan of a finisher with it! Could give it a low angle to work with that too, allowing it to be a tech chase throw before it becomes a pure spacer? I do kinda wish these throws were a bit stronger, I think Up Throw and Back Throw could have slightly higher damage numbers, to emphasize the "grab is hard to land but very rewarding" feel that gives him options for mixing up outside of Paper Tiger. Maybe upgrade F-Throw to 6% + 8% too? Down Throw is a pretty cool basis for the set to end on (good to have it here rather than the start of the grab game btw), Mata Hari's variation definitely feels like a rather "easy" way to get the Suicide Symphony kill (I wonder if the sleep should be shorter?), but with how difficult the Beethoven Meter is to get up I don't mind it being a bit kill confirm-y. Gennai's attack does feel kinda redundant with Mata Hari's, basically being a weaker version honestly, in general I wish they didn't all feel like variations on stun. Maybe Gennai's could be, like, shocking opponents every time they throw out an attack with the same Samurai movements, and then he finishes with a big electric attack whose power scales on the number of attacks they threw out? It encourages the foe to avoid engaging Ikkyu much, which with the threat of the Beethoven Meter and his general spacing is good for him and puts foes in the bind. The electric attack could even be area of effect, so it can set off Wilcox Bombs.
Overall, Ikkyu is pretty cool! It certainly isn't perfect, the grab game is really just kinda "there" (Down Throw in particular I think could be improved into a real head turner with more time) and some of the moves feel too 'close" to each other, but the core idea is solid, the set is overall well balanced, there's some good big brain stuff at play here with the Beethoven Meter / Wilcox Bomb, and i think Paper Tiger really adds an extremely fitting element of "Mindgames" that gives Ikkyu a good master planner vibe. Fix up some of the weaknesses later and at least for me it could be a real kneeslapper. Personally, I don't think it is quite better than Lyn as a solo outing Jamcon because...I just really liked Lyn's set, honestly. But it is still pretty dang high and I think it sets a good bar of quality for other competitors this Jamcon to exceed. There's a lot of high effort stuff here, though, so...yeah. Glad he's here to give us Read or Die: The Franchise and the set well met my hopes for him.
A little update: I was going to participate in this Jamcon because it had a few of my "personal" franchises up for selection (K-ON!, Kunoichi Tsubaki, BOFURI), even whipping up 7 inputs for a set in less then a day, but a combination of two unusually longer days of work and suddenly feeling demotivated (+ lacking solid ideas) to work on the set meant I wasn't going to finish it and decide to get a headstart on Jamcon reading instead. The set choice was for a character I didn't like a ton, partly to "play it safe", which probably didn't help with motivation compared to if I had a cooler character choice. The timing for making a new BOFURI set feels bad right now, because Season 2 is still airing and I would rather wait for that to finish.
Was planning to have Koitsu, Barbatos and Barbara all wrapped up by now and get my nomination over and done with, but I am taking a brief break from commenting to do other stuff.
Hell yeah, new solo Smady set! Definitely knew you had it in you to pump out a quality Jamcon set, as Il Blud was a very strong indicator of that back in MYM23. With how much a portion of MYM has been into Gundam, it feels right for you to venture into this franchise.
I don’t know whether it’s because you’ve had a long solo absence, but there’s something about this set’s intro that reads differently. Might be the surprisingly low emphasis on talking about Dozle Zabi’s character (we know he’s giant, is part of a royal family, lets his emotions and rage get the better of him, and seems to be patriotic given he’s saluting in the opening picture). To be fair though, this isn’t really a moveset for Dozle Zabi, but a giant down-sized robot that is influenced by him. His anger is also emphasized in his mechanic section.
Your rage meter freezing while you’re performing an attack is a nice touch that I haven’t seen in other meter-based sets. It works better on a super heavyweight too, given the Gundam’s generally slow frame data.
Guard Tackle a bit strong? Frame 8 movement option that ignores shields, even if the reward isn’t huge. Kind of cool that it deals both shield damage and ignores them, so you get extra damage for your meter. Aerial vs ground mix-ups are good.
Haven’t seen a DK/Link-inspired Up Special in a little while.
Zeon Rage Down Special is definitely the coolest of all the Specials: a keep-away hitbox that freezes your meter in exchange for blowing you up after 5 seconds.
Wasn’t expecting a quick trap on the D-Smash.
U-Smash is pretty neat for its debris attack, which provides good coverage and can clash against hitboxes (even if I don’t see this happening a lot realistically, since the debris will be airborne and most aerial attacks won’t deal 18-25%). The move goes a little harder when you factor in the optional machine gun fire on the debris.
N-air is long, but has a neat landing mix-up where you get low landing lag or a landing hitbox to keep opponents close and pile on extra damage. Aerials in this set are quite solid, with even a simple Sephiroth style B-air getting good mileage in tandem with Zeon’s Rage. Haven’t seen a MYM26 set go into as much detail about auto-canceling as you have - good to be reminded of it.
The ability to walk during F-tilt is fun with Zeon’s Rage, especially as a shield-baiting option for Overheat. Add in the ability to slide after the move, and it is one of my favourite moves in the set.
The writing in this set can be a little jarring when the set uses a lot of commas. Like this sentence for example: “The Zeon’s Rage version of the attack differs visually as the Zaku II grips the Heat Hawk for slightly longer, then spins much more viciously fast, with its red aura flaring up and Dozle screaming in rage, dealing three hits of 3% damage, and one final hit of 25% damage and KOing from 105%!” Might be good to split this into two sentences, where one describes the attack animation and the other how much damage the attack deals. There is also “Dozle’s Zaku overloads with energy creating a freeze frame moment overheating and becoming slightly reddened in color as Dozle roars with anger from within the mobile suit,” which could do with a comma. Sorry if I’m beating down on this set’s writing, especially when Jamcons don’t give you much time.
I still enjoy the constant references to big heavies in Smash Ultimate, like Rool, Incineroar and Sephiroth. Everyone brings something to their set’s writing with their own experiences and tastes.
I really liked reading your personal thoughts at the end of the set. You definitely captured the “tactical” aspect of the character in the longer melee write-ups.
Final verdict: Dozle has a solid melee game all-around, but most of his Specials feel decent but not great, there being other sets this contest with more exciting concepts or execution in my opinion. Nonetheless, this set was a pleasant surprise to see, and excellent that you were able to join in on this jam-packed Jamcon. Makes it very hopeful that you’ll have the time to join in more this contest.
Man, it’s been 10 whole contests since we got some Read or Die movesets. Your MYM16 R.O.D movesets were pretty nostalgic to me (while showing me that you were cool and were an anime fan back in those days) and actually got me to watch the anime on Youtube, so getting a moveset for the ultimate villain of the OVA is really something. I forgot a lot of what I watched since it was long ago, but it’s refreshing to be reminded of how ridiculous the OVA’s plot is. This man is going to contribute a lot to MYM26’s story mode.
My Fate/Grand Order influenced brain thinks it’s funny to see Mata Hari depicted in a moveset for a different franchise.
“but with less potential for damage and a worse ability for color starting.” I get that “color” is meant to be “combo” and that this is an innocent typo, but it sounds funny.
Side Special is kind of cool, acting as a crumple or way to disguise an Ikkyu attack.
The various ways that each I-Jin affects the fixed platform recovery is fun.
“There’s not nearly as much vertical coverage to this move, only having a grid of vertical reach at 99% charge. Ikkyu’s plans are wide-reaching but not particularly deep, after all!” I love this sentence. The way the Suicide Symphony is incorporated into this set is quite interesting: being confined to a static-y close-ranged-ish hitbox is both creative and nicely-restrained for MYM balance, for both the low and max meter variants. Fitting that it’s the last Special, giving the move a build-up you’d expect from a villain’s master plan.
I don’t know how Bubby would feel about Kirby being allowed to kill people with a Suicide Symphony. Good thing this moveset is confined to the Slavic-verse, right?
Forward Smash reminds me a lot of my Ferrijit’s F-Smash, where your minions do all the attacking for you. I like the dynamic of Mata Hari’s attack being an actual grab that bypasses the no-grab restriction of Side Special, so foes can’t just shield against that too eagerly if Mata Hari is out. Gennai’s “magnetically pull the foe back in for the second hit” is surprisingly very inspiring for what is just a really fun visual effect - a modern take on magnetism? Gennai’s attack also works very well out of Side Special. In fact, the mix-ups with your I-Jin and their different attacks add an extra layer of interest in what would otherwise be a pretty basic mindgame Special, making it more interesting for me than Rumia.
Copypasting pictures for the I-Jin sells how there’s barely any material or pictures for them on the internet.
It’s weird that I’ve read two sets in a row that emulate the Link (or Hero) Dash Attack. You’ll know it when you read it (or just look at the comment above this one). The move gets good enough mileage out of the man’s proning game and Neutral Special.
“His dash grab is notably nad,” Another funny typo, heh.
Throws feels a bit underwhelming for the most part, but everything else before them was pretty solid. D-throw is very fun, though! A delayed effect that can be broken by defeating a minion is something I want to do too and had ideas for before reading this set. Also, would Ikkyu’s green fire-based attacks go through the freezing effect?
Would be fun if Beethoven’s D-throw effect let him land your Neutral Special as a delayed hitbox.
While your Jamcon sets have varied in quality, sometimes simple and sometimes jokey, I’m happy to say that Ikkyu is definitely your best solo (Jamcon) outing! A pretty strong base that never really wanes in quality.
So glad that the floodgates have opened on Kill la Kill sets! Weird that all the water's been pink so far... regardless, very happy to see Nui get a set and a rock solid one at that! Just off the bat, even though I already mentioned it in the Discord, I want to commend the characterization and animation details of the set heavily. Nui is defined by her animations in Kill la Kill, even more than the other characters in the show and this set doesn't disappoint from that perspective. Whether it's her squishy crouch animation, her dichotomy of inappropriately cheery to absolutely psychotic animations as the match goes on, or, my personal favorite, her Down Air Stall-and-fall, this set nails the aesthetic of the character perfectly. On that note, this also seems like a step up for set presentation-wise from last contest which is something I definitely appreciate.
Nui takes a lot from Kill la Kill IF it seems, at least from what little I've played of it. This serves as a strong foundation for her clone-centric combat style. Fun to have multiple sets this JamCon that are generally poor at combos and rely on using their clones to set them up . With her ability to program (almost) any of her attacks into her clones for a one-use attack as a puppet, use them as missiles, or attach the foe to them with a tether, Nui comes off something of a Diet Jodie, which is a very good thing! She's not as deeply entrenched in the minion manipulation as Jodie is, obviously, which is good since this is a JamCon and we don't need to be more scared of you and because Nui's clones warrant a less intense focus as part of the source material.
The Specials are a really strong area of the set, though I will say my enjoyment skews heavily towards the clones and the Down Special Disappear (another cool 'command dash' type move we've been seeing a lot of lately). Up Special is very fitting for Nui and a really handy 'shortcut' by borrowing heavily from fellow pretty-in-pink Peach, simple but effective and capturing her character well (I do enjoy the distinction of her opening the umbrella before floating upwards). Side Special is a neat command grab move that fits in well with her job as Couturier, it's cool how she can either knock the foe out of the move to stay safe or risk letting the foe come in close to leave them completely vulnerable, though I do find the animation here specifically a bit hard to parse.
Focusing on highlights from here on out, Down Smash is a really neat move that incorporates Nui's oh-so-helpful nature along with her clones to make a really scary, if impractical on its own, move, and good to get some raw Life Fiber power in the moveset. Jab is fun and not something I had considered before for a Kill la Kill set but you make a very good point about the flurry of blows being so standard for the series. Dash Attack is a really funny animation and even funnier it's one of her basic combo starters, meaning Nui will be launching herself all over the place alongside her own clone missiles. Forward Tilt being a three-hit combo is neat, fitting for a fight anime, and a satisfying input on her. Up and Down Tilt are also very cool moves, giving Nui's grounded game an excellent impression with a lot of charm and memorability. I mentioned Down Air as a highlight earlier and it still stands, I had a vocal reaction to that because it's so great for a stall-and-fall and the actual move is cool too. The rest of the air game has a strong showing of fundamentals.
Grab Game is where the set really slumps, if anywhere, which is not uncommon for JamCons as I can personally attest to. It's certainly not bad or dysfunctional, and it does capture Nui's character well, but it lacks oomph outside of Forward Throw's unique tether (which is still quite cool). The biggest example is with Nui's Down Throw, which has a great inspiration and animation, but just feels very meh for such a big moment (as someone who literally made a stabbing-through-the-neck move that can prone this JamCon too). I think in part it might be that Down Throw talks itself down a lot (not as good as Snake's DThrow, not that good a prone chase option, etc.) that kinda leaves the last input of the moveset feeling 'meh', and given a big part of her tech chase requires setup with her clones, I think the move could afford to be decently stronger.
The only other criticism I'd have about the set, and not one I'd weigh very heavily, is the set does lack a few of Nui's Big Defining Moments from Kill la Kill. I know you explained why you didn't go for a few of them in your own Nui comment, but I do think it's a little off for them to be fully absent without at least a flavorful reference. Probably the biggest would be the lack of her fingernail unraveling from her debut. Yeah, it's only good on Goku Uniforms in canon but it's one of her iconic moments and completely shuts down the anticipated fight with one of the Elite Four. The arms-cutting-off thing feels like it could be incorporated in the flavor, I'm fine with it not being part of the moveset for the reasons you listed, and same with her auto-decapitation. Maybe she could have separate victory animations when she wins while in her 'angered' animations? Like I said, I don't weigh these compared to the actual moveset really since character interpretation is a personal thing and it's odd to judge poorly on that (barring some grotesque interpretations), but are still things which popped out to me.
All said, I really enjoyed this moveset and given I had just considered her moveset potential a few months ago randomly it lived up to my dreams more or less! Fantastic work for a JamCon!
Alright, well. It's the end of the month, and I've realized I bit off way more than I can chew with this moveset. About 11 years and 9 months ago, I made a moveset for an original character named Emidius, and it was called Emidius Amarandos. It was a ridiculous joke moveset that was truly ahead of its time. I decided to remake the moveset recently, but I was stricken with the harsh reality that moveset making is hard. So I gave up on remaking it altogether, and instead, since Emidius Amarandos was literally the peak of comedy, I'm just going to post it a second time. Hope it blesses the start of everyone's month, and makes the contest easier since there will never be a moveset posted that tops it.
. With her ability to program (almost) any of her attacks into her clones for a one-use attack as a puppet, use them as missiles, or attach the foe to them with a tether, Nui comes off something of a Diet Jodie, which is a very good thing! She's not as deeply entrenched in the minion manipulation as Jodie is, obviously, which is good since this is a JamCon and we don't need to be more scared of you and because Nui's clones warrant a less intense focus as part of the source material.