So here’s what I see happening….. The DOJO updates with a character every now and then. And this update comes complete with pictures. With or without an additional update concerning each characters Special (B) moves, some of us are convinced that some of the Brawl characters will play largely the same as they do in Melee. Let me be the first to say NAY. Even if the characters and their moves look the same, it’s all about the little touches and tweaks that go a long way in determining how a character feels.
But lets not be too hasty. It’s still all about balance and design. The reason Fox and Marth are such perfect characters is someone (I’m not going to say who) decided to craft each one of their moves to make a character than has excellent options in most situations. After the moves were envisioned, this same nameless person looked at each B move and gave them additional options and tweaks. This guy decided that Fox should be able to shorten his illusion, cancel his shine/reflector and blaster, and be able to aim his fox fire in 16 directions. Marth got interchangeable dancing blade combinations that he can delay and stop at each step. His sword cannot be clinked or stopped by another attack either. Marth also got a counter move that counters every kind of hit or projectile. And if that wasn’t cool enough, Marth is invincible for a short period of time while countering. What wonderful characters! Someone really cared about them. How can Brawl make some of the other cares as “cared for?”<!--more-->
In fact, I’m quite convinced that because of the limited time for Melee’s development, Sakarai and team only had time to care for the “cool” characters. Honestly, I’ve met a lot off smash “goofballs” who love a given character more than they should. (I’m one of them) Is it surprising that I’ve never met a Game&Watch fan? Is he just too much of a “uncool” character? Sakurai and team must have thought so. G&W is perhaps one of the most uncreative bland characters in the game. The majority of his attacks are general hits with high priority. What’s worse is his B moves didn’t receive any consideration for balance, function, or coolness. For example, his bucket attack absorbs only some projectiles. Not only does this fact limit the use of this attack, but the enemy practically has to cooperate with you in order to fill your bucket. And if you’re not playing an enemy which such attacks, then you have a completely wasted move. Unlike Marth, who’s counter depends on other people attacking him, the bucket doesn’t do harm to the enemy or give G&W invincibly when filling up. What a waste! His sausage attack isn’t much better. Like Mario’s fireballs, these small slow moving projectiles give the enemy very little stun. Mario can at least jump and shoot at the same time. This is not to mention that the fireballs bounce off of the ground and walls. When throwing sausages, G&W plummets out of the sky. This sudden lack of movement is limiting. Though the pan does give enemies a nasty burn if they get too close, this random and unpredictable move is difficult to follow up.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/250px-captain_falcon.jpg" title="250px-captain_falcon.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/250px-captain_falcon.jpg" alt="250px-captain_falcon.jpg" /></a></p>
So as part of this noble effort, I would like to discuss Special move adjustments that could make all the difference in the world to a character. You can think of this as fixing Melee, or hopeful wishes for Brawl. First up…. our good friend Captain Falcon.
<strong>Falcon PUNCH</strong>. The more I think about it, the more I support this move for being the signature move of Smash. It’s a move of legend, or it’s supposed to be. Why on earth would Sakurai and team give Falcon a Knee (forward air) that’s more versatile and powerful than the Falcon punch. This isn’t right. In order to return this move to glory, any or all of these ideas would do the trick….
<ol>
<li>Make Captain Falcon unflinching during the time between when he starts the attack and right when the punch is released. This will allow Falcon to fly into danger, take a few hits, and put the pressure on the enemy. You could even edge guard with this move.</li>
<li>Allow Falcon to wall kick after he’s started the Falcon Punch (if in the air) so he can reverse direction. After all, aren’t his legs free while preparing the punch anyway? And if you time the wall kick too late, Falcon will punch against the wall to propel himself into a super jump in the opposite direction.</li>
<li>The Punch can strip all the jumps away from the opponent upon contact. This means that if he happens to punch a Kirby off the stage (even at low damage), the only thing Kirby can do to save himself is Up+B. That ought to get you to fear the greatest punch known to man.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Falcon Kick</strong>. This move looks like a kick, but it doesn’t act like one. Lets fix that…
<ol>
<li> The kick should drag enemies along for the length of the kick and fling them off right at the end. This would allow Falcon to drag a player from one side of the stage out and off the other side. If he hits you in the air, he’ll drag your back to the ground or even off the side of the stage to both of your dooms. Because of this new property, the strength of the attack can remain low, or even be lowered. Now, this move isn’t about killing, it’s about pushing the enemy around.</li>
<li>Because I don’t recommend adding strength to Falcon’s B moves, I would like to make them more versatile. Perhaps, Falcon should be able to shorten the kick. Many times, even when successfully hitting the enemy, they have a chance to recover and even attack Falcon because his kick runs too long and has too much lag at the end. I don’t recommend taking the lag out, but allowing Falcon the ability to cut off some of the distance would really help him. And if Falcon still gets a free jump after kicking in the air, then perhaps he should only be able to shorting the kick after making contact with an enemy. Now the move is dynamic.</li>
<li>Add some priority. Like Fox’s up+B the Falcon kick is a pointed attack engulfed in flames. Fox has a unique amount of priority with his up+B. Though it doesn’t have a lot of range, it’s speed somehow allows Fox to out prioritize what appear to be even the cleanest of hits. Somehow Fox makes it out of impossible situations. Why not the Falcon Kick too?</li>
<li>Allow the kick to be canceled into a ledge grab. Fox can do it with the illusion and his up+B. It’s only fair right?</li>
<li>The Falcon Kick is fast, but it’s not that fast especially compared to Fox’s illusion. What if Falcon could add speed to the kick by getting a running start first? Sounds cool to me.</li>
</ol>
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/falconw300h217.jpg" title="falconw300h217.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/falconw300h217.jpg" alt="falconw300h217.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Raptor Boost</strong>. (Forward B) This move is pretty well made. By using it, Falcon rears back to potentially avoid oncoming attacks. This creates a natural dodge. When dashing forward, Captain Falcon dodges projectiles. This is a subtle touch that has a wonderful execution. Because Falcon doesn’t have any projectiles, he’s more vulnerable to them. By being able to dodge projectiles Falcon can dash head long into a dangerous situation and come out unharmed and swinging hard. On the ground this punch send enemies upwards in flames for a nice set up for his air attacks. But in the air, this attack becomes a joke. Instead of sending enemies up, if Falcon is air born, the punch is directed down. After punching the enemy, Falcon falls out of the air helpless. If he’s off the stage, doom is certain. So what does Falcon gain for doing such a risky maneuver? The enemy is spiked downward right? Not quite. The enemy is sent down in a meteor spiral which means he can break it with a jump or a well timed up+B. Basically, with great risk and careful aim, you don’t get anything good. Lets fix it.
<ol>
<li>Make the move Spike. If Falcon is going to practically kill himself to pull this move off, then don’t give the enemy such an easy way to return to the stage.</li>
<li>Make the move grab on to edge. If Falcon has the coordination to dash through the air and punch someone, then surely he can grab on to a ledge. This would also make a cool way for him to get rid of enemies foolishly hanging on to the ledge for too long.</li>
<li>I don’t like the idea of Falcon being a helpless sitting duck when he manages to make contact with this move. If his misses that’s another issue. If you miss on the ground you deserve to flop on your stomach. If you miss in the air, you deserve to deserve to fall. But if you make contact in the air, Falcon should flip over and rebound in a short of jumping animation. This would allow Falcon to pursue opponents off the sages, send them down and out of the way while giving Falcon a chance to rebound towards the stage. I can imagine Falcon taking out 3 players off the stage with this move alone in a feat of the most graceful acrobatics.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Falcon Dive</strong>. (up B) This move is slow, it isn’t very strong, has a considerable amount of lag, and it has a fatal flaw built into it. If Falcon uses this move to return to the stage, a player can simply jump into harms ways, take the hit, fly back and tech on the side of the stage. When this happens, Falcon can’t do another up+B for another few seconds leaving him wide open for a fatal blow. If this wasn’t bad enough, because Falcon flips around before grabbing the edge, he can’t grab the edge quickly making him a a big and easy target to hit. As long as this move remains Falcon’s primary method of returning to the stage, he’s as good as dead. You know the drill…
<ol>
<li> When Falcon manages to grab an opponent, he should be able to Dive again much sooner. He doesn’t need to show off his manliness as much as he does.</li>
<li>Instead of launching enemies in the same direction he’s facing, Falcon should be able to point the enemy where he wants to shoot them off (either left or right). What sense does it make to send the opponents back towards the stage?e This will allow Falcon to easily turn the tables to those who foolishly miss their edge guards.</li>
<li>Falcon should be able to grab anything and shoot it back. This would in effect act as a primitive reflector. He would be able to grab anything physical. Even barrels and crates! If you try chucking one of those off the edge at Falcon, you might be seeing it again… real soon.</li>
</ol>
These suggested adjustments hardly add obvious power to Captain Falcon. They merely give him the ability to play in an all new way. The way his moves are in Melee, there is little incentive to use many of his B moves except when recovering (of course). If you don’t believe me <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eoSCiXFAPA" target="_blank">check out his video </a>and count all the times he uses B moves on the stage. The answer is 1. In many ways Falcon was balanced by his lack of options when recovering. His A air moves are perhaps over powered. All of his air attacks can combo into his knee which is stronger than the Falcon Punch. This is too much power for someone who is so fast and nimble in the air. It’s all about balance. Falcon’s A air moves need to be toned down and balanced like his ground A moves. Air moves are, after all, the most versatile moves in Melee because they can be Land Edge canceled. If they take out L canceling, then Falcon’s air moves don’t need to change as much.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg" title="ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg" alt="ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg" /></a></p>
This is a lot of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeHhrsrn6Q8&mode=related&search=" target="_blank">chew on</a>, so chew away on these last two <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsAiBgIaBxw&mode=related&search=" target="_blank">bites of awesome</a> until I do the next character tomorrow.
But lets not be too hasty. It’s still all about balance and design. The reason Fox and Marth are such perfect characters is someone (I’m not going to say who) decided to craft each one of their moves to make a character than has excellent options in most situations. After the moves were envisioned, this same nameless person looked at each B move and gave them additional options and tweaks. This guy decided that Fox should be able to shorten his illusion, cancel his shine/reflector and blaster, and be able to aim his fox fire in 16 directions. Marth got interchangeable dancing blade combinations that he can delay and stop at each step. His sword cannot be clinked or stopped by another attack either. Marth also got a counter move that counters every kind of hit or projectile. And if that wasn’t cool enough, Marth is invincible for a short period of time while countering. What wonderful characters! Someone really cared about them. How can Brawl make some of the other cares as “cared for?”<!--more-->
In fact, I’m quite convinced that because of the limited time for Melee’s development, Sakarai and team only had time to care for the “cool” characters. Honestly, I’ve met a lot off smash “goofballs” who love a given character more than they should. (I’m one of them) Is it surprising that I’ve never met a Game&Watch fan? Is he just too much of a “uncool” character? Sakurai and team must have thought so. G&W is perhaps one of the most uncreative bland characters in the game. The majority of his attacks are general hits with high priority. What’s worse is his B moves didn’t receive any consideration for balance, function, or coolness. For example, his bucket attack absorbs only some projectiles. Not only does this fact limit the use of this attack, but the enemy practically has to cooperate with you in order to fill your bucket. And if you’re not playing an enemy which such attacks, then you have a completely wasted move. Unlike Marth, who’s counter depends on other people attacking him, the bucket doesn’t do harm to the enemy or give G&W invincibly when filling up. What a waste! His sausage attack isn’t much better. Like Mario’s fireballs, these small slow moving projectiles give the enemy very little stun. Mario can at least jump and shoot at the same time. This is not to mention that the fireballs bounce off of the ground and walls. When throwing sausages, G&W plummets out of the sky. This sudden lack of movement is limiting. Though the pan does give enemies a nasty burn if they get too close, this random and unpredictable move is difficult to follow up.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/250px-captain_falcon.jpg" title="250px-captain_falcon.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/250px-captain_falcon.jpg" alt="250px-captain_falcon.jpg" /></a></p>
So as part of this noble effort, I would like to discuss Special move adjustments that could make all the difference in the world to a character. You can think of this as fixing Melee, or hopeful wishes for Brawl. First up…. our good friend Captain Falcon.
<strong>Falcon PUNCH</strong>. The more I think about it, the more I support this move for being the signature move of Smash. It’s a move of legend, or it’s supposed to be. Why on earth would Sakurai and team give Falcon a Knee (forward air) that’s more versatile and powerful than the Falcon punch. This isn’t right. In order to return this move to glory, any or all of these ideas would do the trick….
<ol>
<li>Make Captain Falcon unflinching during the time between when he starts the attack and right when the punch is released. This will allow Falcon to fly into danger, take a few hits, and put the pressure on the enemy. You could even edge guard with this move.</li>
<li>Allow Falcon to wall kick after he’s started the Falcon Punch (if in the air) so he can reverse direction. After all, aren’t his legs free while preparing the punch anyway? And if you time the wall kick too late, Falcon will punch against the wall to propel himself into a super jump in the opposite direction.</li>
<li>The Punch can strip all the jumps away from the opponent upon contact. This means that if he happens to punch a Kirby off the stage (even at low damage), the only thing Kirby can do to save himself is Up+B. That ought to get you to fear the greatest punch known to man.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Falcon Kick</strong>. This move looks like a kick, but it doesn’t act like one. Lets fix that…
<ol>
<li> The kick should drag enemies along for the length of the kick and fling them off right at the end. This would allow Falcon to drag a player from one side of the stage out and off the other side. If he hits you in the air, he’ll drag your back to the ground or even off the side of the stage to both of your dooms. Because of this new property, the strength of the attack can remain low, or even be lowered. Now, this move isn’t about killing, it’s about pushing the enemy around.</li>
<li>Because I don’t recommend adding strength to Falcon’s B moves, I would like to make them more versatile. Perhaps, Falcon should be able to shorten the kick. Many times, even when successfully hitting the enemy, they have a chance to recover and even attack Falcon because his kick runs too long and has too much lag at the end. I don’t recommend taking the lag out, but allowing Falcon the ability to cut off some of the distance would really help him. And if Falcon still gets a free jump after kicking in the air, then perhaps he should only be able to shorting the kick after making contact with an enemy. Now the move is dynamic.</li>
<li>Add some priority. Like Fox’s up+B the Falcon kick is a pointed attack engulfed in flames. Fox has a unique amount of priority with his up+B. Though it doesn’t have a lot of range, it’s speed somehow allows Fox to out prioritize what appear to be even the cleanest of hits. Somehow Fox makes it out of impossible situations. Why not the Falcon Kick too?</li>
<li>Allow the kick to be canceled into a ledge grab. Fox can do it with the illusion and his up+B. It’s only fair right?</li>
<li>The Falcon Kick is fast, but it’s not that fast especially compared to Fox’s illusion. What if Falcon could add speed to the kick by getting a running start first? Sounds cool to me.</li>
</ol>
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/falconw300h217.jpg" title="falconw300h217.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/falconw300h217.jpg" alt="falconw300h217.jpg" /></a></p>
<strong>Raptor Boost</strong>. (Forward B) This move is pretty well made. By using it, Falcon rears back to potentially avoid oncoming attacks. This creates a natural dodge. When dashing forward, Captain Falcon dodges projectiles. This is a subtle touch that has a wonderful execution. Because Falcon doesn’t have any projectiles, he’s more vulnerable to them. By being able to dodge projectiles Falcon can dash head long into a dangerous situation and come out unharmed and swinging hard. On the ground this punch send enemies upwards in flames for a nice set up for his air attacks. But in the air, this attack becomes a joke. Instead of sending enemies up, if Falcon is air born, the punch is directed down. After punching the enemy, Falcon falls out of the air helpless. If he’s off the stage, doom is certain. So what does Falcon gain for doing such a risky maneuver? The enemy is spiked downward right? Not quite. The enemy is sent down in a meteor spiral which means he can break it with a jump or a well timed up+B. Basically, with great risk and careful aim, you don’t get anything good. Lets fix it.
<ol>
<li>Make the move Spike. If Falcon is going to practically kill himself to pull this move off, then don’t give the enemy such an easy way to return to the stage.</li>
<li>Make the move grab on to edge. If Falcon has the coordination to dash through the air and punch someone, then surely he can grab on to a ledge. This would also make a cool way for him to get rid of enemies foolishly hanging on to the ledge for too long.</li>
<li>I don’t like the idea of Falcon being a helpless sitting duck when he manages to make contact with this move. If his misses that’s another issue. If you miss on the ground you deserve to flop on your stomach. If you miss in the air, you deserve to deserve to fall. But if you make contact in the air, Falcon should flip over and rebound in a short of jumping animation. This would allow Falcon to pursue opponents off the sages, send them down and out of the way while giving Falcon a chance to rebound towards the stage. I can imagine Falcon taking out 3 players off the stage with this move alone in a feat of the most graceful acrobatics.</li>
</ol>
<strong>Falcon Dive</strong>. (up B) This move is slow, it isn’t very strong, has a considerable amount of lag, and it has a fatal flaw built into it. If Falcon uses this move to return to the stage, a player can simply jump into harms ways, take the hit, fly back and tech on the side of the stage. When this happens, Falcon can’t do another up+B for another few seconds leaving him wide open for a fatal blow. If this wasn’t bad enough, because Falcon flips around before grabbing the edge, he can’t grab the edge quickly making him a a big and easy target to hit. As long as this move remains Falcon’s primary method of returning to the stage, he’s as good as dead. You know the drill…
<ol>
<li> When Falcon manages to grab an opponent, he should be able to Dive again much sooner. He doesn’t need to show off his manliness as much as he does.</li>
<li>Instead of launching enemies in the same direction he’s facing, Falcon should be able to point the enemy where he wants to shoot them off (either left or right). What sense does it make to send the opponents back towards the stage?e This will allow Falcon to easily turn the tables to those who foolishly miss their edge guards.</li>
<li>Falcon should be able to grab anything and shoot it back. This would in effect act as a primitive reflector. He would be able to grab anything physical. Even barrels and crates! If you try chucking one of those off the edge at Falcon, you might be seeing it again… real soon.</li>
</ol>
These suggested adjustments hardly add obvious power to Captain Falcon. They merely give him the ability to play in an all new way. The way his moves are in Melee, there is little incentive to use many of his B moves except when recovering (of course). If you don’t believe me <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eoSCiXFAPA" target="_blank">check out his video </a>and count all the times he uses B moves on the stage. The answer is 1. In many ways Falcon was balanced by his lack of options when recovering. His A air moves are perhaps over powered. All of his air attacks can combo into his knee which is stronger than the Falcon Punch. This is too much power for someone who is so fast and nimble in the air. It’s all about balance. Falcon’s A air moves need to be toned down and balanced like his ground A moves. Air moves are, after all, the most versatile moves in Melee because they can be Land Edge canceled. If they take out L canceling, then Falcon’s air moves don’t need to change as much.
<p align="center"><a href="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg" title="ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg"><img src="http://smashboards.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg" alt="ssbm-nd-falcon4.jpg" /></a></p>
This is a lot of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeHhrsrn6Q8&mode=related&search=" target="_blank">chew on</a>, so chew away on these last two <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsAiBgIaBxw&mode=related&search=" target="_blank">bites of awesome</a> until I do the next character tomorrow.
