Mipha, Champion of the Zoras, for Smash Switch

[Luminario]

It is my pleasure~

​

Mipha is a supporting character from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. She is a Princess of the Zoras, and was chosen to be the Champion of the Zoras and pilot of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta by the king of Hyrule. In Breath of the Wild's story, she was killed 100 years earlier by Waterblight Ganon, and her spirit was trapped in the corrupted Vah Ruta for those 100 years until Link defeated the beast, freeing her and Vah Ruta to take on Calamity Ganon at the right moment. She has the unique ability to heal her allies called Mipha's Grace, a trait many warrior Zoras and Link found invaluable.

How would Mipha fight?​

Mipha would primarily fight with her Lightscale Trident, her signature weapon. Being a Zora and being the pilot of Vah Ruta Mipha could also incorporate multiple water and ice manipulation into her moveset. She could also inherit a few mechanics from Link's playstyle in BotW, mainly the spear attack, the spear throw, and Cryonis. Her unique ability, Mipha's Grace, would likely be too overpowered if she could heal herself with it, but seeing as how there's no evidence I know of that she could use it on herself I believe it should only be able to heal teammates instead, making her the first support fighter in Smash. Like with all my character thread I made a moveset for Mipha too. To summarize, Mipha uses a mix of spear attacks and water manipulation to attack, her specials include an arcing javelin throw and a Cryonis Block creator, making her the first character able to summon a heavy projectile too, with her Final Smash summoning Vah Ruta to create a vast downpour that pushes opponents down. I added Mipha's Grace into her taunt as opposed to a special, so she's still free to fight solo without any part of her moveset restricted.

Spoiler: moveset~

Note: I say spear a lot but it's actually the Lightscale Trident. Mipha has subpar run speed, average air speed, and is somewhat floaty. Slightly shorter than Link.

Jab: Quick stab with the spear, spins it upwards for a hit with the base, then a horizontal slash. Flurry has her rapidly stab forwards just like Link's spear charge attack.

Ftilt: Simple horizontal slash.
Utilt: Spins the spear over her head, helicopter style. 3 hits.
Dtilt: Upwards slash with the spear from the ground. Good combo starter.

Dash: Strong stab forwards. BotW Link's spear dash attack. Pretty strong and quick but bad endlag.

Fsmash: Reels back before violently stabbing the ground with the spear. Icicles then sprout from the ground forwards. Hitting with the spear instead of the icicles does less knockback so it's good to space this well.
Usmash: jabs the base into the ground to shoot water from the ground both sides of her. These spouts hit the opponent into Mipha stabbing her spear upwards. Good range on both hits but quite laggy.
Dsmash: Summons a whirlpool at her feet for multihit damage before posing like her statue in Zora's Domain as icicles sprout up and hit opponents away. Good at catching rolls and not very laggy, but not that powerful either.

Nair: Wide sweep around with the spear.
Fair: 3 stabs forwards starting at a slightly upwards angle, pure horizontal, then slightly downwards angle.
Bair: Jab backwards with the base of the spear.
Uair: Multihit helicopter spin with the spear.
Dair: stall-then-fall downwards thrust. Just like the spear jump attack from BotW.

Grab: Grabs the opponent with her free hand. Alright range.
Pummel: jab to the shins with the base of the spear.
Fthrow: stabs the spear into the ground in front of the opponent and then lets it go, turning away from it and ducking while covering her head. A bolt of lightning then shoots down at an angle hitting the spear for heavy damage on the opponent. The bolt can hit others in its path too. Good kill throw.
Bthrow: Spins the opponent behind her then whacks them with her head-fin-tail thing. Pretty weak.
Dthrow: Comes down with the spear hard on the opponents head, knocking them off the ground. The basic combo throw.
Uthrow: Summons a blast of water from below the opponent. Your run-of-the-mill basic up throw.

B: Icicle Spear. Mipha spins and twirls her spear as it gets encased in ice, then holds it back waiting to throw it. From this point the spear can then be aimed to fly in a variety of angles as it flies in a wide arc. Mipha simply pulls out another spear as she throws the one she was holding, so she's never actually without it. Start lag and end lag are too high to just spam this move, so it requires space to use effectively.

Side B: (some trident reflector pun), Reflector. Mipha twirls the spear in front of her from the middle of it like a baton, reflecting projectiles. Has a secondary effect with down B.

Down B: Cryonis Block. Can only be used on the ground. Mipha stabs the base of her spear into the ground and creates a block of ice that functions like a rolling crate without the wheels (meaning you can stand on it and pick it up but throwing or hitting it won't push it along). Depending on whether you press left or right during the startup the block is created either right in front of her, further away, or right below her, in which she will be lifted up on top of it. Pressing Down B again has Mipha stab her spear into the ground again and causes the ice block to explode no matter where it is, slightly damaging anyone around the block. Side B has a unique effect with the block: while no regular attacks can push the block along, using Side B next to it will cause it to slide along the ground, hitting anyone in its way for slight damage. At minimal percents the block sliding and making it explode can combo into each other for alright damage, but the slide is more for approaches as it moves as fast as Mipha's run (which is pretty poor in itself, like Zelda poor). 5% damage or more breaks the block.

Up B: Zora Uprising. Similar to Squirtle's up B, Mipha simulates swimming up a waterfall at great speeds before flying out of it. Opponents take multihit damage as Mipha ascends before getting shot away as she flies out the top. Good range for a recovery, but predictable and Mipha has no hitbox after flying out the top of the waterfall.

Final Smash: Ruta Downpour. Mipha summons the Divine Beast Vah Ruta behind the stage then jumps on it. Ruta then shoots out a large quantity of water from its trunk that shoots down like a waterfall from the top of the stage to the bottom. Any enemy caught in the downpour gains continuous damage with no knockback and is pushed down heavily, which is extremely dangerous if they're off stage. The downpour can also be moved left or right slowly. lasts for around 10-12 seconds.

Taunt 1: Mipha's Grace. Mipha does the animation of giving Link the Mipha's Grace power from BotW and creates an orb in front of her. If a teammate touches this orb they heal 5% damage as Mipha says "It is my pleasure". Takes a second for the orb to appear and more time for the taunt to end, and holds the teammate in place for the end duration of the taunt, so it's not the best idea to use it in the heat of battle.
Taunt 2: Mipha poses like her statue in Zora's Domain as blue flames circle around her.
Taunt 3: Elegantly jabs the base of her spear into the ground and faces the camera, as ripples and bubbles emanate from the ground beneath her feet.

Victory 1: Mipha jumps out of a waterfall, flips elegantly, then lands for the freeze frame.
Victory 2: Mipha spins the spear dynamically before jabbing the base into the ground.
Victory 3: Mipha does the Mipha's Grace animation and says something like "my duty has been fulfilled".

Why Mipha as a fighter?​

While all of the Champions got an equal amount of screen time, Mipha is the Champion with the strongest connection to Link. She also seems to rather popular amongst the Champions, though it's hard to accurately measure something like that. Mipha being a Zora also adds to her inclusion, as Zoras have appeared in most Zelda games right from the first one, sometimes as an ally and sometimes as an enemy with varying designs, but Zoras none-the-less.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I really don't see any of the four champions getting the playable treatment. They could always be made into assist trophies, but other than that, trophy cameos are pretty much their best bet.

 

[fogbadge]

i suppose shes not got much chance but i support her because i doubt theres a zelda character i dont support

 

[Reila]

She looks cool, I will give you that, but I would much rather show support for underrepresented franchises. With that said, I will take the Zora girl over more Fire Emblem or Pokémon ****.

 

[SmashChu]

Someone finally made a thread for the Zelda champions huh?

I think I've said this before, but I would say the Champions are very possible. They have been given a pretty prominent roll, the DLC will likely expand them as characters and they even got amiibo. The champions re[present a weapon from the game and have abilities they give Link, so it would be very easy to build a moveset for them. Breath of the Wild has also been a massive hit, so that helps too. I think folks are saying they are unlikely by looking at the prior games and seeing no Zelda characters. I would disagree with that based on what I've mentioned. It's trying to apply old criteria to a new game (if that makes any sense).

Mipha is probably the most likely of the 4 given her race, ability, and weapon, but this moveset is very weak. I guess you're trying to go with the ice stuff, but using ice really isn't something the character does. Why not have healing as a special move since that's a major part of her character and no other character in Smash can do that (save WFT).

 

[Luminario]

Mipha is probably the most likely of the 4 given her race, ability, and weapon, but this moveset is very weak. I guess you're trying to go with the ice stuff, but using ice really isn't something the character does. Why not have healing as a special move since that's a major part of her character and no other character in Smash can do that (save WFT).

You're probably right that she would likely not use any ice moves, I just wanted to throw that in there for a bit of visual flair, since her just stabbing with the trident for all her normals sounds so boring. They could probably rationalise it by saying she's channeling the power of Vah Ruta or something.

I didn't include her healing into a special because if they go down the road of only being able to heal teammates that would render one of her specials completely useless in non-team matches, and if they go down the road of healing herself it could easily be OP or useless depending on the balancing involved. With WFT their healing is so low and mostly a secondary effect to moves so it's not an issue, but to dedicate an entire special to healing yourself would lead to many complaints if Mipha can knock opponents away easily to spam it, so to remedy that it would have to be too situational or heal so little that it's practically unusable. There's just no easy way to let a character have a dedicated self-heal special in this game without problems, which is why I made it only heal teammates then locked it to a taunt to free up her specials so that she's not a special down in free for alls.

 

[Altais]

Given how long ago Twilight Princess was released, I'm honestly starting to doubt Wolf Link's inclusion, as he probably won't make as big an impact as he would have during the Smash 3 days.

That said, if we do get a new Zelda character in Smash 4 Switch, I'm willing to bet it will be someone from Breath of the Wild. Either Mipha or Revali.

 

[Cosmic77]

Given how outdated the other main Zelda entries are, I think a Champion has a good shot of making the cut for the next Smash. A lot of people write them off too soon and forget that most of the other popular Zelda characters (Midna, Tingle, Impa, Skull Kid, etc.) have had multiple chances to get into a Smash game. Since this is their first time to be considered for Smash, I think any of the four Champions has a genuine chance of becoming a newcomer (Course, Mipha would be the one I'd prefer to get).

I've also noticed some doubts about a healing character making it in Smash. I think Mipha could still use her healing abilities if they were handled in a way similar to Cloud's Limit Break. If she has a charging special that recovers no more than 5% and doesn't give her any additional perks (like how WFT's Sun Salutation and Deep Breathing does more than just recover health), I wouldn't consider it broken. Even if it somehow was OP, it still couldn't be as bad as Cloud's Limit Break, which charges as he takes damage.

 

[Deleted member]

I'd be down for any of the Champions to be playable. Likeliness doesn't look too extraordinary, but they'd all make for some fun characters.

In particular I really like the moveset you've thought of for Mipha here. Though if you don't mind me mentioning, there are a few tweaks I would make.

• I really don't think the Ice incorporation is necessary outside of Cryonis. Fortunately the normal moves that use it could just have water instead.
• This would of course mean a different Neutral B for Mipha. Since I'm a fan of the idea of each champion having 1 skeikah slate rune as a special, their Divine Beast as a Final Smash, and their signature ability as a special that obviously means Mipha's grace at Neutral B. I think Cosmic77 gave a good description of how it could be balanced. Though I would make it heal 8 percent instead of 5.
• I think there could be a better Side B for Mipha. Why not that Wave projectile that Ruto uses when you fill her meter in Hyrule Warriors? It could only travel a short distance and still have the effect of pushing projectiles like the Cryonis block.
• Speaking of Ruto since Mipha is using some of the Water attacks like Ruto did in Hyrule Warriors then maybe a Silve Scale on Mipha's wrist would be a nice touch.
• Last but not least, the Final Smash. I think it's an amazing idea but actually getting any KO's with it sounds a little difficult. Maybe incorporate summoning Cryonis Spiked Balls with a button press?

Other than that though this is an amazing moveset for Mipha. But in terms of other things, I've thought of 2 stage ideas that could be Mipha's home stage in Smash. One from Breath of the Wild, and one from a different Zelda game. Twilight Princess in this case.

Breath of the Wild Home Stage:
Zora's Domain

Other Zelda Game Home Stage:
Lake Hylia

​

What do you think?

 

[Luminario]

I'd be down for any of the Champions to be playable. Likeliness doesn't look too extraordinary, but they'd all make for some fun characters.

In particular I really like the moveset you've thought of for Mipha here. Though if you don't mind me mentioning, there are a few tweaks I would make.

• I really don't think the Ice incorporation is necessary outside of Cryonis. Fortunately the normal moves that use it could just have water instead.
• This would of course mean a different Neutral B for Mipha. Since I'm a fan of the idea of each champion having 1 skeikah slate rune as a special, their Divine Beast as a Final Smash, and their signature ability as a special that obviously means Mipha's grace at Neutral B. I think Cosmic77 gave a good description of how it could be balanced. Though I would make it heal 8 percent instead of 5.
• I think there could be a better Side B for Mipha. Why not that Wave projectile that Ruto uses when you fill her meter in Hyrule Warriors? It could only travel a short distance and still have the effect of pushing projectiles like the Cryonis block.
• Speaking of Ruto since Mipha is using some of the Water attacks like Ruto did in Hyrule Warriors then maybe a Silve Scale on Mipha's wrist would be a nice touch.
• Last but not least, the Final Smash. I think it's an amazing idea but actually getting any KO's with it sounds a little difficult. Maybe incorporate summoning Cryonis Spiked Balls with a button press?

Other than that though this is an amazing moveset for Mipha. But in terms of other things, I've thought of 2 stage ideas that could be Mipha's home stage in Smash. One from Breath of the Wild, and one from a different Zelda game. Twilight Princess in this case.

Breath of the Wild Home Stage:
Zora's Domain

Other Zelda Game Home Stage:
Lake Hylia

​

What do you think?

Those are some better ideas that I had, I'll say that.
I threw in the ice powers simply to add flair to the moveset, so pure water works just as well.
Mipha's Grace could certainly be added as a special instead, I just didn't like giving her a team healer special that's essentially useless in non-team matches. Of course this hesitation goes out the window if she can heal herself with it instead. Plus I'd like a spear throw special.
To be honest, I was at a loss about what to do with Side B, but a wave fits much better than the reflector idea I had and offers up much more unique potential.
Again, solid idea on the FS changes too. I was thinking about balancing it by giving it heavy damage and a wide downwards windbox to make up for it being hard to KO with, but spiky ice balls cover the problem just fine.
For the stages, I gotta go with Zora's Domain. It suits Mipha to a T, has a great aesthetic for a flowy platform-heavy stage, and can incorporate streams that push players along with the potential of a flooding event that swiftly carries people along like Jungle Japes.

 

[UberPyro64]

Breath of the Wild definitely deserves a newcomer considering how much of a landmark title it is. Simply altering Link and Zelda is not enough in my opinion.

Mipha is my pick for a newcomer and seems to be the most popular choice as well. Though I'd be perfectly fine with Urbosa or Daruk. Revali is a little too much like Falco though lol.

 

[FunAtParties]

I loved the Zora's and their Divine Beast in BotW. Mipha is one of my favorite characters from that game. If they could implement her healing into her moveset I'd love to see her playable in Smash.

 

[Kenith]

Supported because she has a trident. That's pretty much it. My fav Champion is still Urbosa but you can't say no to a trident.
Also Mipha would probably play similar to how Azura would've so yeah, I'd be down

 

[Morbi]

Mipha or Prince Sidon are the only Breath of the Wild characters that make sense to me. I highly doubt it will happen based solely on the precedent. But it would definitely add some diversity to the roster.

 

[Cosmic77]

Don't think it's been mentioned here yet, but Mipha is Eiji Aonuma's favorite Champion.

I don't recall if Sakurai has said anything about having a favorite, but if Mipha is the favorite Champion of the person who created the Zelda series, then I'd say this bodes well for her chances.


That is, assuming we even get a Champion. Might be getting ahead of myself.

 

[Dr. Jojo Phantasma]

I have my doubts we will get any champion as the newcomer track record for Zelda hasn't been too good, but in any case out of the four champion I support Mipha the most, and I would be glad if she made it in.

 

[AwesomeAussie27]

Mipha would have to be my third favorite Champion, but I wouldn't mind her at all.

I support.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

Honestly I feel like people greatly overlook the champions having a chance, Zelda doesn't have very many possibilities for characters, especially since Link, is getting overhauled to reflect his BOTW appearance and they're probably gonna want to keep them consistent. The others are likely to get the same treatment despite Sheik and Ganondorf not actually appearing (I would be shocked if some concept art for them in BOTW doesn't exist though). Plus finally seeing playable Zora's and Goron's in smash would be awesome.

 

[SorrowOfAcheron]

I support. I haven't played BotW yet but I'm loving the Zora re-design.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Hi all,

Urbosa supporter here, but I've been making recolors for all of the champions in the other thread, and I couldn't break up a set - so I made some for Mipha as well!

1. Default (and red team)
2. Based on Ruto (with a green sash for her bethrothed )
3. Based on Lulu
4. Based on Laruto
5. Based on Rutela
6. Based on King Dorephan (and blue team)
7. Based on Oren (and green team)
8. Black recolor since it looks cool

Enjoy!

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

Hi all,

Urbosa supporter here, but I've been making recolors for all of the champions in the other thread, and I couldn't break up a set - so I made some for Mipha as well!

View attachment 141372

1. Default (and red team)
2. Based on Ruto (with a green sash for her bethrothed )
3. Based on Lulu
4. Based on Laruto
5. Based on Rutela
6. Based on King Dorephan (and blue team)
7. Based on Oren (and green team)
8. Black recolor since it looks cool

Enjoy!

these look bomb! I love the laruto one

 

[Deleted member]

Hi all,

Urbosa supporter here, but I've been making recolors for all of the champions in the other thread, and I couldn't break up a set - so I made some for Mipha as well!

View attachment 141372

1. Default (and red team)
2. Based on Ruto (with a green sash for her bethrothed )
3. Based on Lulu
4. Based on Laruto
5. Based on Rutela
6. Based on King Dorephan (and blue team)
7. Based on Oren (and green team)
8. Black recolor since it looks cool

Enjoy!

I like the King Dorephan Color the best personally.

 

[FunAtParties]

Black recolor since it looks cool

You got lazy.
jk

Thanks for doing a Mipha one, I enjoyed all of them, but got some extra love for Mipha. Favorite is Lulu

 

[SorrowOfAcheron]

What program do you use to make re-colors?
I want to make some but using Paint is a major pain unless it's a not-so-detailed sprite.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

What program do you use to make re-colors?
I want to make some but using Paint is a major pain unless it's a not-so-detailed sprite.

Photoshop. I just get an invisible BG model (the champions were all hard to find, so I went with the amiibo for most and then had to erase the stand), then I saved selections for each part I was going to recolor. After that, it's a lot of load selection -> change hue/saturation and/or brightness/contrast.

You got lazy.
jk

...well there are some Zoras who are black...like nameless guy #1. And the other one...the dude whose wife swam off? So it's based on the game...in a fashion...

Honestly, from the first moment I saw the Zoras in BotW, I thought Orcas so that's what I was going for (Free Willy recolor FTW lol). I'm still not sure if I like the new Zora style since I thought the OoT/MM Zoras looked great, but doing the recolors let me see how much I like the blue versions. Especially the Dorephan or Ruto recolors; that's a nice combo. Actually my least favorite of all of them is the original - not a fan of the red...

I know Sidon originally had grey in his concepts, but he would look baller in blue.

...ugh, now I hafta go do that too

 

[3D Dillon]

Strange how Mipha gets her own thread while the other champions share a thread together.
And... Mipha has more views than Daruk/Revali/Urbosa.

 

[Luminario]

Strange how Mipha gets her own thread while the other champions share a thread together.
And... Mipha has more views than Daruk/Revali/Urbosa.

Oh I made this thread for Mipha first, then the other guy came along to create the thread for the rest of the champions.

 

[fogbadge]

Photoshop. I just get an invisible BG model (the champions were all hard to find, so I went with the amiibo for most and then had to erase the stand), then I saved selections for each part I was going to recolor. After that, it's a lot of load selection -> change hue/saturation and/or brightness/contrast.

that doesnt sound as complected as i thought it was, maybe i should i give pallet swaps a try

 

[kool2419]

I would instantly main mipha if she`s in smash switch, she`s my favorite champion ( my second one being urbosa) in the game. So mipha has my full support.

 

[Cosmic77]

Heads up. Mipha is being rated on May 31 (last day of May) in the RTC thread. I'll be making a lengthy post to support Mipha on that day, doing my best to convince others why she should and could be in Smash. If you want to add your thoughts or show your support for Mipha, mark the date.

 

[Mental Surge]

While I seriously doubt she would make it in I would be all for it.

 

[BluePikmin11]

I am very interested in what you have to say about Mipha, because after looking at Rosalina's incorporation into Smash, I am open to the idea of a BOTW character getting in now.

 

[Sage of Ice]

my only real complaint with mipha - or any of the champions - is that it'd feel like part of an incomplete set. it'd be asking a bit much to get all four champions (tho as far as i'm concerned half the roster could be zelda and i'd be over the moon) and declaring one to be worthy over the other three would be hard imo

not that i'd argue too much if she did join the party.

 

[MoonlitIllusion]

my only real complaint with mipha - or any of the champions - is that it'd feel like part of an incomplete set. it'd be asking a bit much to get all four champions (tho as far as i'm concerned half the roster could be zelda and i'd be over the moon) and declaring one to be worthy over the other three would be hard imo

not that i'd argue too much if she did join the party.

These guys say hi.

 

[Sage of Ice]

These guys say hi.

i know, and i've never been super keen on that either! charizard without trainer took some getting used to.

i guess it's not a reason she shouldn't happen, just why she wouldn't be my first pick.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

These guys say hi.

I'm not going to pretend that Charizard doesn't feel incomplete, especially since the other two members of his team didn't make the jump.

I really would love it if they gave us all four of them. Everyone seems to favor a different one, and Mipha is nowhere near my first pick (Urbosa is).

Other issue is that they are all canonically dead and therefore don't seem to have much of a future.

The Zelda series needs more love though, it would just feel wrong to me if only Mipha got in and left the other three as just trophies. Now if they gave us all four as DLC... screw any "Zelda is too overrepped" complaints, I'll take it!

By the way, how awesome would it be if we got the champions as DLC for the new Hyrule Warriors?

 

[fogbadge]

Other issue is that they are all canonically dead and therefore don't seem to have much of a future.

to be fair several links and zeldas are canonically dead

 

[Luminario]

I didn't really mention this in the OP but if representing all the Champions in Smash is important to Sakurai then Mipha or any one of the Champions could probably just use the other Champions abilities in their moveset. It still boosts a single Champion above the rest but it gets the others in there too without the need of changing Link or Zelda.
Also I don't think whether they're dead or alive really matters in the concept of Smash, especially since they're all just animated trophies anyway.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Also I don't think whether they're dead or alive really matters in the concept of Smash, especially since they're all just animated trophies anyway.

The main reason I brought that up was one Sakurai interview where he used "potential for continuing relevance" as a criterion for putting characters in, which is a big reason that Zelda's not really gotten any newcomers for a while since most are one-game only.

As for giving other champions each others' moves...possibly, but it'd still feel awkward. Each race does have their own variation on a spear/sword/shield/bow/bludgeon, so it could work, but it'd still be setting one above the others. Now, there is also the option that all four champions could share a moveset since they all do have racial variants of each others' weapons, but that would take some creative scaling. Revali's more of the average height, so it'd take scaling Mipha up (doable), Urbosa down slightly (no issues), and then Daruk (that's where it stops working logically). Unless you wanted to go with someone like Kass and have all of his specials be the champion specials.

I would like Link and Zelda mostly left alone - maybe give Link his jab infinite and the remote bombs as a special, so that leaves all four champion abilities for someone else. I'd love Zelda to keep the Goddess specials, but the current champion abilities are almost perfect recolors of her specials (Daruk = red Nayru, Urbosa = electric Din) and Mipha's Grace could be a healing down-special. Still, if one champion (or all) got their own, that'd let Zelda keep her moveset (and maybe get the transformation back...?)

The champions were all great characters, so I'd love them all to be in. I really would like them to just give us a load of DLC characters.

 

[Luminario]

The main reason I brought that up was one Sakurai interview where he used "potential for continuing relevance" as a criterion for putting characters in, which is a big reason that Zelda's not really gotten any newcomers for a while since most are one-game only.

As for giving other champions each others' moves...possibly, but it'd still feel awkward. Each race does have their own variation on a spear/sword/shield/bow/bludgeon, so it could work, but it'd still be setting one above the others. Now, there is also the option that all four champions could share a moveset since they all do have racial variants of each others' weapons, but that would take some creative scaling. Revali's more of the average height, so it'd take scaling Mipha up (doable), Urbosa down slightly (no issues), and then Daruk (that's where it stops working logically). Unless you wanted to go with someone like Kass and have all of his specials be the champion specials.

I would like Link and Zelda mostly left alone - maybe give Link his jab infinite and the remote bombs as a special, so that leaves all four champion abilities for someone else. I'd love Zelda to keep the Goddess specials, but the current champion abilities are almost perfect recolors of her specials (Daruk = red Nayru, Urbosa = electric Din) and Mipha's Grace could be a healing down-special. Still, if one champion (or all) got their own, that'd let Zelda keep her moveset (and maybe get the transformation back...?)

The champions were all great characters, so I'd love them all to be in. I really would like them to just give us a load of DLC characters.

I wonder if it makes a difference to Sakurai that all the Champions are a re-occuring Zelda race. The Zora especially have been around since the first game.

I wasn't really referring to the weapons per se, though that could sorta work, I was thinking that maybe the playable Champion could get the others unique abilities as specials, and have them appear in their ghostly form whenever the special is used.

I'm still not sure how to feel about Zelda getting the Champ moves. On one hand I'd like to see how they handle it, but on the other we'd lose the long range teleport and lose another special to a non-offensive move, plus I've really grown fond of the Goddess Spells.