And the world was plunged into the dark of night. The dark of destruction. Oh, that it should come to this…
--- DARK GAIA ---
Game of origin: Sonic Unleashed
Dark Gaia is a hyper-energy organism that lives in the Earth’s core. He gains power over the eons in order to mature and destroy the Earth. He actually once succeeded, but his rival, Chip the Light Gaia, repaired the planet. Chip has successfully beaten Dark Gaia countless times over the history of the Earth, but in Sonic Unleashed, Dark Gaia was finally able to attain his fullest power, and it took the combined might of Chip and Sonic the Hedgehog to defeat him. Dark Gaia is possibly the strongest being in the Sonic universe, as he is able to hurt Super Sonic to the point of the formerly invincible character having a normal life bar in the final battle, and even when you win, Sonic is so worn out from the battle that he faints while still in his Super form.
--- OVERVIEW ---
Dark Gaia, to put it simply, is the God of defense. While he has next to approaching options, he can stop an approach with ease and punish those who fall for his baiting tools. When a foe does get in close, Dark Gaia will have to rely on his excellent grab game to get the job done, including an additional special move that can only be performed from a grab!
--- HOW DOES THIS THING WORK? ---
Dark Gaia was never intended to be anything other than a boss in Sonic Unleashed so some creative liberties are required to make him work as a playable character. First of all, here are some videos of his boss fight in both version of Sonic Unleashed. You may recognize some of his attacks in the actual move set.
Video I:
360/PS3 part 1
Video II:
360/PS3 part 2
Video III:
Wii part 1
Video IV:
Wii part 2
Now then, you are probably wondering how the heck a large snake-like creature that never leaves the lava is supposed to look in Smash Bros, especially trying to move around. You see those tentacles poking out of the lava in Video II? In Brawl, Dark Gaia has 8 of those as his legs. Yes, he is an octopus-dragon-snake-thing. They are all slightly longer than Ike’s sword. Dark Gaia moves by having those tentacles reach forwards and bite onto the ground and pulling Dark Gaia forwards…slowly, VERY slowly. In fact, due to Dark Gaia’s method of moving around he unfortunately has no way of dashing. This means that he has no dash attack. To make up for this, Dark Gaia can crawl, and his unique body structure of also having tentacles on his back means that he can perform a crawl attack!
As a second note, you may have noticed that Dark Gaia has 3 large green eyes on his head in his normal form in addition to his two regular eyes on his face. In Brawl, Dark Gaia starts out the match without the extra eyes, but he can acquire them with the help of his Grab-Special.
--- STATS ---
Movement Speed: 1/10 (So bad that he doesn’t even have a dash!)
Traction: 10/10 (Moving so slowly means that he has nothing to decelerate from)
Attack Speed: 2/10 (The only thing stopping him from being a 1/10 is that he has a scant few faster moves.)
Attack Strength: 9/10 (Pretty much every move is either a great damager or a KO move, or both!)
Range: 9/10 (A decent selection of projectile-like moves mixed with his tentacles and arms for long range melee strikes)
Priority: 4/10 (Some disjointed moves, but for the most part he’s below average)
Weight: A little less than Bowser’s
Jump Strength: 5/10 (His first jump is actually decent)
Second Jump Strength: 4/10
Fall Speed: 9/10
Size: Bowser’s height, but somewhat thinner. His back tentacles have a hitbox, but his leg ones only have a hitbox when they are being used in attacks or in his movement animation.
Crawl: 7/10 (Dark Gaia’s serpentine body allows him to bend all the way to touching the floor while crouching, and his body is thin enough that he can duck under attacks that were aimed for his head in standing position. His crawl is also a little faster than his normal walk by using his claws to pull himself along in conjunction with his legs, making his crawl the closest thing he has to a dash.)
PROS
Unrivaled defensive options
Excellent power
Excellent range, including a decent projectile game
Heavy
Excellent grab game
CONS
Poor at approaching
Slow as heck in both movement and attack speed
Cannot dash
Mostly poor aerial game
Mostly poor recovery
Big target
--- MOVE SET ---
STANDARD ATTACKS
Standard A [Shielding Slash]
Dark Gaia does a diagonal scratching motion with one of his claws as a purple streak of energy is left trailing behind it. The scratch has below average priority but deals a nice 11% and average knockback. Dark Gaia will keep alternating hands each time you press the attack button, but there is a bit of lag between each scratch.
The main purpose of this move is unleashed when you HOLD the attack button. If you do so, after Dark Gaia completes his current scratch, he will hold out both hands in front of his chest as a thin purple wall of energy emits from them that covers most of Dark Gaia’s front. This acts as an impenetrable shield against all forms of attack, and Dark Gaia can keep it held out forever. The shield inflicts set average knockback on opponents who physically touch it. However, it only protects him from the front, and there is average end lag when he stops using it.
Forward Tilt [Lava Wave]
Dark Gaia will lower one arm and perform an underhanded swipe with it along the ground. This creates a wave of lava to form in front of Dark Gaia that is the size of Kirby. The wave moves forwards slowly and goes as far as Ike’s sword is long before breaking. It is disjointed, deals up to ten hits of 2% each, and when it breaks, deals above average knockback. The lava has some realism to its physics, falling off platforms and smashing up against walls, though this doesn’t affect the wave beyond its movement path. Above average startup lag with low end lag.
Notes: Since the wave travels along the ground and is a good size, this could be a good way to force a ground-based opponent to try and approach from the air. It also has great damage potential and even some KO potential.
Down Tilt [Unholy Birth]
Dark Gaia will look downwards as he spews a cloud of purple air straight at the ground. After 1 second, he will stop as the purple air comes together and changes shape to form into the enemy in the picture, known as a Nightmare. These are in fact sentient pieces of Dark Gaia’s soul, so they are more than willing to serve the original one. It takes 1.4 seconds to summon a Nightmare, and then Dark Gaia himself can move around again.
A Nightmare can scurry around the map at a 6/10 movement speed, and can perform 2 jumps that are both a 4/10 in height. They are floaty creatures with a 3/10 fall speed. A Nightmare will pursue the nearest enemy and when they get close enough they will attack with a flurry of quick slashes that have low priority and deal 7% with low knockback, but the slashes can be performed as rapidly as Meta Knigh’s DTilt, making it a great harassment tool. A similar slash attack will be performed if the Nightmare is in midair. Nightmares have a measly 12 HP and only one can be on the stage at a time.
If you input for this move with a Nightmare summoned, Dark Gaia cross his arms and close his eyes as though he is resting, and the Nightmare will suddenly stop moving. This is because you are now in fact controlling the Nightmare! You can make it move and jump with standard controls, and perform the slash by pressing A. You will automatically regain control of Dark Gaia if the Nightmare dies, or you can press B to have the CPU resume controlling the Nightmare while you go back to the main body of Dark Gaia. Dark Gaia himself does not move and his completely defenseless while you are manually controlling the Nightmare, but thankfully the transition between controlling characters happens in a quick .3 seconds.
Up Tilt [Shock Roar]
Dark Gaia will defy common sense by performing a hand stand, using his mighty claws to hold up his large serpentine body. The 4 backmost leg tentacles will look at a 60 degree upwards angle and then they will screech, shooting ringed waves of sound energy that are as large as Wolf’s blaster, and travel at the same speed and distance too. Each sound ring deals 9% with average knockback and has good priority. Average lag on both ends of the move.
Notes: This is pretty much the opposite of the FTilt, being used to get aerial fighters to come to the ground. As an Easter egg, in wifi mode the mouths of the tentacles might emit a random taunt message as a “translation” of the screech.
Crawl Attack [Tentacle Impale]
From Dark Gaia’s crouching/crawling position, he will lash out with one of his back tentacles. It will deal 10% with average knockback, and it can reach a little further than Ike’s sword, making it an excellent spacing tool. However, the tentacle has low priority, and if it is out-prioritized, it is destroyed in a flash of blue smoke. The tentacle will regenerate after 30 seconds, but remember that Dark Gaia only has 6 back tentacles; if you manage to lose all 6 you are in fact unable to use this move. There is below average startup and end lag to this move.
SMASH ATTACKS
Forward Smash [Meteor Storm]
A small pool of lava appears in the background as Dark Gaia leans over and reaches into it with one hand. A fiery portal will appear if there is no ground in the background. After .75 seconds (For the record, that’s the startup lag of a Falcon Punch), he quickly pulls out and throws a large (the size of Kirby) flaming stone that looks like a meteorite. The meteorite moves at a slow speed and travels until it hits something. The meteorite deals 20% (33% charged!) and good knockback. There is above average end lag to this move. The primary benefit of this move is that during the startup lag, Dark Gaia has super-armor against all projectiles. The priority of the meteor is also very strange, being abysmal against non-projectiles, but infinite against other projectiles.
Notes: Say goodbye to campers with this attack! The startup bonus and the meteor’s projectile eating nature makes this the ultimate anti-projectile move, and this move is in fact a super-strong projectile! Now those pesky spammers will be forced to try and approach you, putting them in a bad spot. Be warned, however, that the meteor can be reflected just like any other projectile, so this isn’t fool-proof.
Down Smash [Hot Feet]
Dark Gaia will lift his hands while fiery energy gathers in them, and then he will plunge his hands into the ground, holding them in there for .6 seconds before pulling them out. We can see some molten rock be tossed out from the ground when his hands retract, but this is just a graphical effect. Once Dark Gaia retracts his hands, glowing cracks begin to form on the ground around him, covering an area from just past Dark Gaia to one DK’s width on both sides, depending on charge time. If the platform ends in that distance, then the area of effect just ends with the platform. Dark Gaia can move around while this is happening. .8 seconds after the ground starts to heat up, a wall of fire bursts from the heated ground, going as tall as Ganondorf before fizzling out and the ground returns to normal. The fire is disjointed and anybody who touches it takes 17% and high knockback. There is above average startup lag to perform the initial hand animation for the attack, but low end lag.
Now, the charging that I just described to you is in fact only half of the possible charging you can do. If you charge “all the way” for the previous effect, Dark Gaia begins to flash red instead of yellow and is actually performing a second loop of charging! If you complete the entire second loop, when Dark Gaia infuses his energy into the ground, the entire platform will heat up, no matter how large the platform is! Try this on a stage like Mushroomy Kingdom for fun times!
Notes: This is a move that you want to attempt the moment the opportunity presents itself. Having even the first charge loop in use is a great way to scare off enemies, not to mention to you could always walk out of the fire and throw enemies into it if you’re lucky.
Up Smash [Shield Clap]
Dark Gaia spread his arms wide and then he claps them above his head, creating a little burst of purple energy to form around his hands when he does so that goes out as far as Olimar’s height. In the few frames that Dark Gaia is swinging up his arms to clap them together, getting hit by an arm deals 10% with average knockback. Being hit by his hands as they clap deals a mighty 25% but only average knockback. Being hit by the energy burst deals 10% with below average knockback. Instead of increasing damage dealt, a thin purple platform of energy will appear over Dark Gaia’s head while he’s charging, which acts as a solid platform and even lingers for a moment during the end lag if its charged up at least halfway.. This effectively protects Dark Gaia from above, helping him deal with this move’s high startup lag. The swinging arms and clap have below average priority but the energy burst is disjointed. The move has average end lag.
Notes: Dark Gaia’s size means that the clap will not really hit low enough for grounded opponents. However, this is a great anti-air move, as the shield forces airborne opponents to move to the sides to attack, where they may be hit when Dark Gaia swings up his arms.
AERIAL ATTACKS
Neutral Aerial [Bad Hair Day]
Dark Gaia bends over forwards as the purple fiery hair on his back flashes orange. His entire back covered by the “fur” is a low priority hit during this flash-fire that deals 8% and average knockback. There is below average startup and end lag. The biggest flaw of this move, though, is that only really damages enemies above Dark Gaia, and his USmash is better at anti-air to begin with. There is one point to using this move however. If the move ends up clashing with a disjointed attack, the hair will suddenly travel along the disjointed weapon and hit the enemy who performed the attack. This property means that this is the one move that can “out-prioritize” a disjointed attack. So use it for that, and perhaps only for that.
Forward Aerial [Thunder Palms]
Dark Gaia will hold his open hands just in front of himself as electrical energy begins to build up around them. After 1.2 seconds, he will thrust forwards his hands as they surge with lightning, dealing 16% and good knockback to anyone they hit. They have below average priority. While the move does take awhile to come out, Dark Gaia continues the attack even if he lands. There is also average end lag.
But that’s only half of the story. If you hold the A button as the end lag ends, instead of attacking, Dark Gaia will clench his fists, causing the electricity to flow up his arms and into his body, creating a protective “coating” of electricity that lasts for the duration of the (still average) end lag. In addition to providing super armor, anybody who physically touches Dark Gaia while he has this coating will take 10% and be paralyzed for 1 second. Free grab anyone?
Back Aerial [Tentacle Stretch]
All of Dark Gaia’s back tentacles will lash out behind him and stretch out as far as they can, which is slightly longer than Ike’s sword. The tentacles all lash out in different directions to cover a good vertical space as well. Hitting any tentacle deals 6% with okay knockback. Like the Crawl Attack which also use the tentacles, this is a good move to throw out every once in a while for spacing, but the tentacles have low priority, and just like in the crawl attack they will be destroyed for 30 seconds if out-prioritized. Since Dark Gaia uses all his tentacles in this attack, the efficiency of the move decreases with each tentacle Dark Gaia loses. Low startup lag with average end lag.
Up Aerial [Lava Tsunami]
Dark Gaia will hold out one hand and do a “come here” motion with it. The screen suddenly turns darker as a HUGE wave of lava comes from the side of the stage that He was facing, going up almost to the top of the screen and very slowly moving the distance of 1/5 of Battlefield’s main platform. Yes, this does mean that on many stages the lava wave won’t even reach the stage itself before breaking apart. It is of course disjointed and anybody who hits it takes an amazing, astounding, destructive…10% and average set knockback. While there is above average startup lag to summoning the lava wave, there is low end lag, and Dark Gaia is free to move around once he completes the summoning animation.
Notes: For all its vertical range and disjointedness, this move is incredibly situational. Nobody would purposely jump out to hit the wave, and if you hit someone into it, the wave will just hit them back to the stage, possibly stopping a KO.
Down Aerial [Ground Clinger]
Dark Gaia extends his leg tentacles outwards to both sides and then he swings them downwards, clapping them together under the center of his body. While his leg tentacles are as long as his back tentacles and thus give the move great range, this move has some major issues. The attack only deals 6% with low knockback, and the tentacles have abysmal priority. Also, while the move has low startup lag, it has high end lag, and since Dark Gaia falls so fast he’ll probably end up having to deal with it as he lands, perhaps making him punished even when he hits his opponent. And then there’s the fact that under normal circumstances, the move hits in locations on the screen where Dark Gaia would be better off using his ground attacks…yikes.
There is however one saving grace. If Dark Gaia performs the move right as he’s about to hit the ground, the tentacles will latch onto the ground using their mouths and soften Dark Gaia’s landing, allowing him to almost immediately move again. If this function of the move is used, the attack has no hitbox. Still, Dark Gaia’s aerial game is inferior his ground game anyways, so you’d probably be better off pulling him to the ground to begin with.
SPECIAL MOVES
Neutral Special [Shocker Cannon]
Dark Gaia opens his mouth wide as his eyes begin to glow brighter and brighter. After the same amount of startup lag as a Warlock Punch, Dark Gaia screeches and fires a massive electrical beam from his mouth that travels infinitely and is as thick as to take up all of Dark Gaia’s mouth. He fires the beam for two seconds total, during which time it deals no hit stun or knockback but many hits of 2% each, dealing up to 20% if someone is dumb enough to not get out of the way. The beam is disjointed. The move has above average end lag as the beam fizzles out.
Now, at any point during the firing of the beam, you may press the attack button for Dark Gaia to instantly cancel the beam into a quick burst of energy that covers an area half the size of Donkey Kong. This burst deals 16% in electrical damage and good knockback, and is disjointed. The end lag is still the same as the normal beam.
Side Special [Shocker Balls]
Dark Gaia opens his mouth and rears back his head, pointing it straight up as electrical energy gathers in his jaw. After .6 seconds, Dark Gaia will lean put his head back down and lean forwards slightly as he spits out a ball of purple electricity that is the size of Kirby and moves at a below average speed. It travels until it hits something, and it deals 12% with 1 second of paralyzer properties upon impact. There is low end lag to shooting the ball. Besides using reflectors, the ball can also be reflected by being struck by any attack. But, this also applies to Dark Gaia when his shot is sent back to him, making this attack like playing the Ganondorf battle in Ocarina of Time.
Up Special [Lava Geyser]
Dark Gaia lifts his hands as the ground starts to bubble with lava underneath him, and then a geyser of lava shoots out from the ground and slowly lifts Dark Gaia. He goes as high as Sonic’s Spring and it takes him 2 seconds to reach that height before the geyser disappears and he enters freefall. The geyser is disjointed and foes who touch it take 12% with average knockback. The main benefit of this move is that Dark Gaia can actually perform his aerials while riding on the geyser, allowing him to actually reach the full height of the move. If he is in the middle of an aerial attack when the geyser ends, Dark Gaia will enter freefall after completing his current attack. There is average startup lag but thankfully low end lag (unless Dark Gaia decides to perform one of his laggy aerials of course.)
Down Special [Hyper-energy Shield]
Four of Dark Gaia’s leg tentacles, 2 in the front and 2 in the back, will arch upwards so that they’re heads are at the same height as the main head and positioned one character width away from the main body. They will open up their mouths as a large dome of shield energy surrounds Dark Gaia, going as far out horizontally as the leg tentacles, and slightly higher than the main head. The dome completely absorbs any and all attacks, and it acts as a wall for opponents. Enemies can even stand on top of it where the dome starts to be more rounded. Dark Gaia can move forwards and backwards while holding out the dome by simply using the remaining leg tentacles, and he moves at his regular (pathetic) movement speed. He can keep the shield out as long as you hold the B button, but there are two things to consider. First, the tentacles forming the shield can be struck in their exposed eyeballs while the shield is out. Each eye only has a measly 10HP, and upon loosing it will screech in pain and withdraw from holding up the shield. If you lose of the 4 tentacles, the shield is disabled and Dark Gaia will be stunned as though his regular shield was broken. Besides that, there is average end lag to stop using the shield. If performed in the air, the shield will extend to cover a small distance below Dark Gaia, and he can continue using it when he hits the ground. There is low startup lag to putting up the shield.
Notes: A fun use of this move is to have a teammate stand on top of it to get some extra height for their initial jump.
GRABS
[Grab Motion]
Dark Gaia will perform a bear-hug motion with his arms, holding into the opponent’s sides with his large claws if he connects. This has good range for a grab due to Dark Gaia’s size, and is very quick to come out, making a great choice for punishing a shielded attack. There is highly punishable ending lag, however.
If you tap the control stick forwards while pressing the grab button, one of Dark Gaia’s tentacles will arch back before lashing out as far as Ike’s sword. If the tentacle hits an opponent, it will wrap around him and pull him close to Dark Gaia’s body. This is called a “smash grab”. Throws performed from a smash grab have different effects from the standard grabs using Dark Gaia’s arms, mainly a damage bonus. The tentacle in a smash grab has some startup lag to it, so for the most part you’ll be sticking to normal throws, but there is literally no end lag as Dark Gaia can start to move once the tentacle begins to retract should it miss.
Grab Attack [Suck ‘em Dry]
Dark Gaia will squeeze the enemy in his grasp for 4%, and then he will shove them away for set below average knockback. Wait, he ends the grab after using this pummel? Yes, he does. However, after being chocked by a giant dragon, the enemy will have the wind knocked out of them, and their next move has slightly more startup lag due to difficulties in mustering the strength to use the move. For the smash grab, the tentacle will constrict the victim for only 2%, but the grab won’t end after using it, and the tired effect will still take place after the grab ends, whether the enemy escapes or Dark Gaia performs a throw.
Forward Throw [GTF Away from Me]
Dark Gaia will harshly shove his opponent away for a great 14%. However, the move deals set average knockback, so it can’t KO unless you managed to toss someone into a stage hazard. In the smash grab version, the tentacle will toss the opponent away for an amazing 18%, but with the same knockback. This is a great move for damage racking and getting some distance between Dark Gaia and his enemy.
Back Throw [Feral Thunder]
Dark Gaia will harshly turn around while tossing his opponent with both hands. This deals 12% and good knockback. For the smash grab, Dark Gaia will turn around while charging up electricity in his hands. He will then toss the enemy from the tentacle in the same direction that he normally does, but Dark Gaia will immediately fire a bolt of lightning from both hands at the enemy when they’re released, causing the enemy to be sent flying with 13% and high knockback. This is a good KO option no matter which variation of the move you use.
Up Throw [Heart Stopper]
Dark Gaia will lift his foe above his head and inject his enemy with a surge of lightning from his hands. This deals 8% and average vertical knockback. However, if the enemy was grabbed while under a paralysis effect, the move will deal an additional 6% for a total of 14% damage and good vertical knockback.
The smash grab version of the move is an almost entirely new move. The tentacle will lift the enemy into the air and then throw them forwards. The tentacle will then quickly lash out and strike the foe in midair and pierce straight through their body. This deals 10% and below average knockback. However, the enemy will have their movement speed reduced for 5 seconds due to their heart being damaged. This is one throw where the smash grab isn’t always better to use than the regular grab as both versions have their own benefits
Down Throw [Chokeslam]
Dark Gaia will lift the enemy while holding them firmly in his grasp, and then slam down his foe for 8% and low knockback. This also reduces the enemy’s shield strength by 25%. With the smash grab, the tentacle will do the slamming (no kidding!) for the same damage, but instead of shield reduction the enemy is simply bounced slightly upwards, allowing for Dark Gaia to perform a regular grab on the opponent for a 2-grab combo. Holy $#!7 Dark Gaia actually has a combo!
Grab Special [Stare Into the Abyss]
Dark Gaia opens his eyes wide as the enemy screams like when they are being star KOd. A trail of energy runs from their eyes into Dark Gaia’s, and then Dark Gaia throws the enemy away for no damage and high set knockback. After doing this, Dark Gaia growls as those 3 large green eyes form on his head in .5 seconds. Dark Gaia can then begin to move around again. As long as Dark Gaia has those special eyes, all of his non-grab attacks deal slightly buffed damage and knockback. Dark Gaia keeps his new eyes with no time restraints, however he will lose them after receiving 10% damage to the head. Considering Dark Gaia’s great defensive powers, it should be manageable to guard your head.
SITUATIONALS
Get-up Attack Front [Overpowered Slam]
Don’t worry, the move isn’t actually overpowered. Dark Gaia will lift his hands and slam them into the ground in order to push himself back to his feet. This creates a screen distortion around Dark Gaia’s hands where he slammed them into the ground from the sheer power he’s exerting. The screen distortion is a disjointed hitbox and it deals 9% with spiking knockback if the enemy is in the air or a pitfall effect if the enemy is on the ground.
Get-up Attack Back [Squid Bite]
Dark Gaia’s leg tentacles will all reach forwards as far as they can. They are collectively a single grab-hitbox, and if it catches someone they will be reeled into Dark Gaia as he pushes himself upright with his hands. When the enemy is close to Dark Gaia the tentacles will let go, but now there is enough hit stun from the move that Dark Gaia can perform his real grab. Enemies will have to take this move into account when knocking over Dark Gaia.
Ledge Attack < 100% [Nimble Flip]
Dark Gaia will bend his back so that his leg tentacles can reach the top of the platform and they will all lash out and grab onto it just past the edge. The tentacles are a single low priority hitbox that deals 6% and low knockback, and then Dark Gaia will perform a flip through the air as his tentacles pull him to solid ground. Show-off. Dark Gaia’s body is in fact a hitbox at this point while he is swinging through the air, and it has below average priority and deals 8% with average knockback. His body can only hit enemies while they’re off the stage, making this a potential edge guarding move.
Ledge Attack 100% [I See You]
Dark Gaia will pull his head over the ledge and gaze harshly at his enemies. If his enemy is facing him and is within one Dedede-width of him, the enemy will automatically turn around and dash away as far as ½ of battlefield due to being so scared of Dark Gaia. Connect or not, Dark Gaia will then scramble up to solid ground using his back tentacles to support himself.
--- FINAL SMASH - PERFECT DARK GAIA ---
Upon acquiring the Smash Ball, Dark Gaia will roar as he undergoes a frightening tansformation. His head will begin to split apart vertically as his extra eyes appear. 2 more arms will sprout from each side of his body, giving him a total of 6 arms. From the newly created opening across Dark Gaia’s head, 3 more large eyes will form on each side, and then a really big eye will form inside his mouth, giving him a total of 12 eyes. Yikes!
Anyways, Dark Gaia’s final form is of course much more powerful than his basic appearance. Surprisingly, he can still take damage, but he makes up for that with various buffs to moves, as follows:
- All arm-based attacks such as the Jab or Fair will deal triple damage and knockback. This is because when Dark Gaia would use his left hand, he will now use all 3 of the arms on his left side, for example. Note that this doesn’t apply to throws using his arms.
- His tentacle-based attacks (Crawl Attack and Bair) now have above average priority and the tentacles will not be destroyed if the move is out-prioritized. And did I mention that his tentacles will be restored when he starts the final smash?
- The Nightmare summoned via his DTilt will be colored red and its slash attack will have good priority and deal 10% with above average knockback.
- When Dark Gaia uses Meteor Storm, he will telepathically lift 3 rocks from the ground in front of himself, and throw them all forwards in a tight spread.
- When Dark Gaia uses his Uair, the lava wave that’s summoned will change to come from the background like the lava wave in Norfair. It will cover the whole screen and deal 14% with good knockback. Of course, players can spotdodge with proper timing, but at least the move is usable now, right?
- Dark Gaia’s throws will now always use the Smash-Grab effect even if you connected with a normal grab. The most obvious use of this is to just chain DThrows together to KO percents and then perform a BThrow for a KO.
This Final Smash lasts for 16 seconds, and then Dark Gaia screeches as a bright flash of light covers the screen and when the screen returns to normal he is back to his regular form.
--- STRATEGY GUIDE ---
So the first thing you’d notice about our dragon friend is that he has no movement speed or attack speed, nor does he have insane priority except for his disjointed moves. This means that he absolutely fails at approaching. What a useless character, right?
WRONG! Dark Gaia may not be able to approach, but that’s because he doesn’t need to! Dark Gaia is content to sit and wait for his opponents to come to him, all the while using his ranged moves such as Meteor Storm, Shocker Cannon, and Shocker Balls to damage enemies without having to budge an inch. When the enemy does decide to move in for the attack, Dark Gaia has plenty of ways to shut down an approach. Shielding Slash is a nice jab that has a shoving effect with its shield. Shield Clap is a great anti-air move. Hot Feet guards Dark Gaia on both sides. And while the enemy is on the way to approach, you have methods of disrupting that approach or placing the enemy into a bad position, such as Lava Wave forcing grounded characters into the air, or Sonic Roar forcing aerial fighters to the ground.
What happens if someone does get in close? Well, you’re kinda screwed. Dark Gaia is so big and falls so quickly that he’ll be eating combos to kingdom come. And once Dark Gaia is off the stage, even his high-reaching up special may not be enough to save him. This is when Dark Gaia’s grab game comes into play. All you have to do is predict one attack, spot dodge it, and you’ve just given your enemy a lot of damage, a stock loss, or other nasty side effects. Of course, even this is not without risks, as Dark Gaia’s grab animation is highly punishable should you botch it.
But of course, there will always be those stubborn fools who wish to try and outwait you. But even then, Dark Gaia has ways of forcing or encouraging an approach. See the enemy try to projectile camp, and use Meteor Storm to block off their weapons. Use Shocker Canon and Thunder Palms to bait enemies into attacking through your no hitstun or low priority, only for you to hit them with the second function of the two moves. In this case the below average priority of the attacking portion of Thunder Palms is kind of a good thing, as it give the enemy incentive to try and approach you. If Dark Gaia is feeling really lazy, he could simply summon a Nightmare and have that do the approaching for him, and you could even play as the Nightmare to make life more miserable for your enemy if Dark Gaia is in a safe position. If all else fails, and you have to attempt some sort of approach, it would be wise to remain crouched and use Dark Gaia’s crawl and his Crawl Attack to inch your way forwards, but even then you’re just trying to bait your enemy into coming after you.
And then we get to Dark Gaia’s aerial game. Wait, he has an aerial game? Yeah, other than Thunder Palms which has been mentioned several times in this section, there isn’t much reason to suggest leaving the ground. Sometimes Bad Hair Day could be used to counter a disjointed attack I suppose…
So overall, Dark Gaia embodies having a perfect defense as the best offense. He can’t pursue his foes, but why should he? He doesn’t need to honor you by facing you directly, he’d much rather watch you futilely try to amount an offense only to be smacked away the moment you think you have an opening.
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Credits Song: Sonic Unleashed: Dark Gaia Phase 2
SPECIAL ANIMATIONS
Taunt 1:
0:18 to :25 of this video.
Taunt 2: Dark Gaia hold his hands in front of himself as an electric current runs between his fingers.
Taunt 3: Dark Gaia swipes at the air a few times.
Win 1: Dark Gaia roars loudly as the losers all hold their ears.
Win 2: Dark Gaia stabs his hands into the ground, and then he pulls out a large chunk of molten rock and throws it at the camera, causing the screen to turn to static and black out. You can still see the results tabs.
Win 3: Dark Gaia’s leg tentacles begin to argue with one another in growls and screeches. The main head then glares at the leg tentacles and they all quiet down.
ASSIST TROPHY - CHIP
Yes, the “Light Gaia” that regularly beats the crud out of Dark Gaia is a little fairy-dog. After being summoned, Chip will wave to the camera and then he will fly to the center of the highest platform in the stage and float in place, watching the battle. He is invincible. If a character passes by him, Chip will hold out a hand to motion for them to stop. After the character stops, Chip will pull out a candy bar and say, “Want some chocolate?” The character will then take the candy bar and Chip will wave again before disappearing. After Chip leaves, the character will eat the chocolate, and they will suddenly get a sugar-rush! They will run around as fast as having a bunny hood and all of their attacks have slightly reduced end lag. The sugar-rush lasts for 8 seconds, but when if ends the character crashes. Now they will spend the next 6 seconds with slower than normal movement and attack speed. When this is over, the character finally returns to normal. Note that once Chip is summoned, if nobody gets some chocolate from him after 7 seconds pass, he will once again wave to the camera and disappear.
)... Really enjoyable all the way through. Definitely on par with Shellder, though I expect your next set to be a non-Pokemon one! 
