Wyvern
Smash Journeyman
GUILLO
Okay, so it will never happen in a million years. But I can dream, can’t I?
Okay, so it will never happen in a million years. But I can dream, can’t I?
What the heck is a “Guillo”?
Guillo is one of the three party members in Baten Kaitos: Origins, and the best friend of the main character, Sagi (as the four of you who actually played the game already know). She* appears to be some sort of magic-infused android or golem, but her origin is unknown; in fact, she has no memories at all from before the time she was discovered buried in the woods by Sagi. She is fiercely loyal to Sagi and would follow him to the ends of the earth (well, ends of the sky, I guess), but she tends to be tactless and contemptuous of anyone else (especially the third member of the trio, Milliarde).
*Guillo is technically genderless. In fact, it talks with a male and female voice speaking in unison, and is never referred to with any pronouns at all in the game. I use female pronouns out of preference and habit.
How does Guillo fight?
In battle, Guillo tends to act as a mage of sorts. She is the only party member with access to all five elements (fire, ice, lightning, holy, and darkness), as well as the only one with a respectable amount of multi-target attacks (though Milly has a few). Her surreal, otherworldly movements make her attacks both fascinating and terrifying. (Picture Voldo from Soul Calibur, but made of rubber. That’ll give you an idea.)
A showcase of all her special techniques can be seen here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GhzJMkhz_sU
(If I had the proper tools and knowhow, I’d make a more fluid video by combining the moves into Ex-Combos, but this should suffice well enough.)
Why should Guillo be in Brawl?
I’ll be the first to admit that the odds of it actually happening are pretty catastrophically low. Baten Kaitos doesn’t seem to be terribly popular, and even then the cast of the first game are probably more recognizable. However, Baten Kaitos is one of the few GCN RPG series of note, and Kalas from Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean appeared on Sakurai’s character poll.
If, hypothetically speaking, Baten Kaitos were to be a series represented in Brawl, it’s not completely impossible that Guillo could be chosen as the representative. Kalas might be more recognizable, but Guillo is certainly more interesting, and Sakurai likes unique characters.
My Guillo moveset:
Ground attacks
A: The first press causes Guillo to swipe downwards with one claw. The second press follows up with an upwards swipe from the other hand. If A is pressed rapidly, she will whirl both claws around furiously, similar to the way she enters battle (but oriented forwards), for a continuous attack. Pretty average as far as neutral-As go.
>A: Guillo stretches out one arm into a far-reaching punch. It does very low damage, but has very good range and decent knockback. Good for just keeping enemies away from you or setting up for a KO off the side or bottom of the stage.
^A: Guillo does a forward-flip, kicking any enemies behind and above her. Picture Fox’s up-smash, but backwards (and considerably less powerful…but still not bad for a tilt).
vA: A simple spinning leg swipe with low damage and knockback.
Dash attack: While running, Guillo twirls rapidly with her arms outstretched (see the casting animation for Icefan in the above video). Has a wide range and hits multiple times, but very little knockback.
>Smash: Guillo’s hand contorts into a blade-like shape and she thrusts it forward and then jerks upwards. Powerful, but a little bit slow to start. Sends opponents upwards at around a 70 degree angle. SPOILER:
Based on the move used to execute Marno, if you remember that scene.
^Smash: Like Link’s forward-smash, this move can optionally strike twice. For the initial attack, Guillo thrusts both arms out forward and them whips them around behind her in a crescent pattern, ending doubled over backwards with her fists on the ground. Foes in front of or above her are sent straight upwards, but the final, downward part of the attack works as a spike.
If you press A again, she whips around in the opposite direction with her wristblades pointing up, again winding up doubled over with arms all the way to the ground. Enemies behind you are sent upwards, those above you are sent forwards, and the final downward swipe acts as a meteor smash.
vSmash: Guillo quickly falls into a split, kicking nearby enemies straight upwards. This move has the least delay out of her three smashes.
Air Attacks
Nair: Guillo spins horizontally with her arms outstretched, hitting nearby opponents. Very weak.
Fair: Guillo slashes downwards with one arm. Kind of like Shiek’s fair, but without the devastatingly low trajectory. Hits reasonably hard.
Dair: Guillo stomps down with one of her high heels. Has meteor properties, but doesn’t hit as hard as, say, Ganon’s dair.
Bair: Guillo kicks backwards without turning her head. A pretty average attack.
Uair: Guillo spins her whole body into an upwards kick. Both feet hit separately, similar to the two hits of Fox’s uair. Reasonably powerful, but better suited for a juggling move rather than a finisher.
Throws
Grab: Guillo stretches out both arms for a long-range grab.
Dash-grab: Guillo doesn’t stretch out her arms for this one, so it has a shorter total range, but the delay after the move isn’t as bad if you miss.
Attack: Guillo holds the target by the throat with one hand. She attacks with underhand jabs to the stomach.
Forward throw: Guillo places her free hand right on the opponent’s midsection. It glows briefly, and then fires a blast of energy, sending the target flying. Slightly above-average knockback.
Back throw: Guillo throws the target backwards over her head, leaning way back in the process. Less knockback than the forward throw.
Up throw: Guillo tosses the victim upwards a little, bends backwards into a handstand, and then kicks violently upward as the target comes down. In spite of the move’s appearance, it can’t be DIed out of or anything. It sends them abnormally high at low percentages, but scales poorly with damage.
Down throw: Guillo throws the victim down into the ground and stomps on them twice with her heel, wrenching her heel around a little after the second hit. It has very little knockback, but does a lot of damage for a throw.
Special Attacks
B: Elemental Blast (I’m open to name suggestions; I can’t figure out what to call it)
This move is actually a combo of up to three projectile attacks, strung together similarly to Marth’s sword dance. It’s based on Guillo’s standard attacks in Baten Kaitos: Origins.
The first attack is quite weak…maybe a little less knockback than an average boomerang hit. The second attack is considerably stronger; I’m thinking somewhere between a point-blank strike from Link’s boomerang and one of Samus’s smash missiles. The third and final blast is very dangerous, perhaps around the level of a fully-charged Shadow Ball...maybe a little lower depending on how easy it is to combo into.
The first attack always has the “normal” element, but you control the elements of the other two. Each element has slightly different properties:
---Neutral-B is fire. Fire sends the target at a 45 degree trajectory, and acts as the baseline for damage and speed.
---Up-B is lightning. Lightning travels a little faster than fire and does a bit more damage, but has equal knockback force. It also sends enemies a bit higher up, at around a 70 degree angle.
---Down-B is ice. Ice travels a little slower than fire and does less damage, but has a bit more impact. It also has a very low trajectory, knocking foes back at 20-30 degrees. Good for harassing enemies who are trying to recover or keeping them in range of the third projectile at high percentages.
---Back-B is darkness. Its stats are the same as fire, but it knocks enemies straight up.
---Forward-B is light. Light is the fastest element by a wide margin, but it is also by far the weakest…it does considerably less damage than any other element, and only a fraction of the knockback.
Furthermore, between the button press and the actual launch of the projectile, you can give it a slight upward or downward angle by holding the control stick in that direction.
Guillo can delay the projectiles for about as long as Link can delay his second forward smash, but she can’t shoot them out quite that fast. The minimum delay between the second and third shot is longer than the delay between the first and second.
As for the animation, I'm thinking of the first shot firing from an outstretched palm (Weak Attack A without the wacky finger stretching) , the second being delivered by one of her spinning kicks (Medium/Strong Attack B, maybe?), and the final blast coming from the double twisted arm pose (Strong Attack A).
Up-B: Wickedwing Revels
Guillo pauses briefly in midair as she sprouts demonic wings and then starts flying in the desired direction. She moves in a straight line by default, but you can curve the path of the flight with the control stick. When the move ends, the wings are shot off horizontally in the direction Guillo is facing, regardless of what direction she was moving in before. They can travel through the stage and have limited homing abilities (less than Samus’s missiles, since they don’t slow down). Being struck while Guillo while she’s flying does minimal damage, but the launched pair of wings hit reasonably hard. In terms of its worth as a recovery move, it can go slightly further than the Firefox, but is easier to get knocked out of if you aren't careful. The launched wings can also provide some cover if you don't manage to sweetspot it.
Forward-B: Raging Firewheel
Guillo faces towards the camera (or away from it, depending on which way you’re facing) and spreads out her arms and legs in an X pattern. Then, a circle of fire appears around her, such that her limbs look like spokes, and she quickly starts rolling forward. After a fixed distance, the move ends with an explosion. Those hit while the wheel is moving become trapped inside and take continuous damage until the final explosion, which sends them flying in a random direction. If used in the air, you get a decent horizontal boost of speed when you start moving. The wheel can’t be steered or cancelled (except by the below), though it doesn’t last all that long. It counts as your up-B if it you’re airborne when it ends.
Down-B: Twin Ice Auger “Come forth!”
Guillo quickly thrusts one arm into the ground, followed by the other. As she does, two large shards of ice burst from the ground. The first one doesn’t have much knockback, but the second one hits quite hard. Typically, at low percentages, being hit by the first shard will knock you into the second. The shards take up a lot of space and the second appears past the first, so the range is pretty good. The attack starts quickly, but is very punishable if you miss. The knockback trajectory is low for the weaker first shard, but mostly upwards for the second, more powerful strike. If you try to use the move in the air, Guillo shoots straight downwards to the ground and then performs it. The ice can’t come out of thin air, so if you try to do it while standing right on an edge, Guillo is pushed backwards a little before the ice shoots up. If the second ice shard would be off an edge, it just comes out closer to the first one instead.
This move also has a special combo with Raging Firewheel. If you try to use it while the wheel is moving, Firewheel will be instantly canceled and a slightly different version of Twin Ice Auger is performed: she simultaneously conjures one iceblast on either side of her, each with the strength of the second hit of the ordinary move ("Circuit of Fire and Ice" was always my favorite combo in the early game…). Handy for both faking out your opponents and for stopping yourself from careening off of the stage. The actual ending explosion for the Firewheel is still generally more powerful if you think you can land it, though.
Final Smash: Celestial Catastrophe “Look to the skies!”
In the game, Celestial Catastrophe was a simple combo for the level three magic Heavenlapse, but here I’m treating it as a combination of Heavenlapse and Guillo’s true ultimate magic, Aphelion Dustwake.
Guillo floats up into the air, faces the screen, and bows down. In the sky, a large rift opens, centered on her position. It’s likely to cover a large portion of the stage if she’s positioned properly. Then, all five types of elemental energy begin raining down. If you get hit by any of the falling orbs, you get trapped in the storm, taking continuous damage and being gradually brought upwards (kind of like being trapped in an Unown swarm). After 5 or so seconds of this, a massive frozen meteor descends from the rift (so large that its diameter is almost as big as the hole it comes out of), falls to the ground, and shatters with massive force.
Other
Movement animations: Guillo leans way forward during her dash, similar to Sheik. In the air, she tucks her knees up and holds her arms out and forward slightly.
Shield: When Guillo blocks, she contorts her arms into large oval shapes to protect herself, like when she's attacked in BK:O.
Shield break: Guillo slants over sideways and shakes unevenly.
Taunt: Guillo's claws whirl around wildly for a few seconds (again, like her battle entry pose). As it ends, she simply calls out, "More!"
Victory pose 1: Guillo does a slow backwards somersault. "Another foe vanquished."
Victory pose 2: Guillo appears to giggle girlishly, like in the game. "Why didn't they fight back?"
Victory pose 3: Guillo points straight at the camera, eyes blazing red. "Just be glad I decided not to eat you!"
Stats and Playstyle
Guillo's jump height and ground speed are both average. She's rather floaty, however, so her horizontal movement in the air is a little faster than most. She's reasonably light to represent her low physical defense, however, so she's not too difficult to KO upwards. In terms of power, Guillo has some hard-hitting moves, but most of them have upward trajectories. As a result, she can be deadly to lighter characters, but can have difficulty landing knockouts on heavier opponents. In these situations, she instead relies on pestering the enemy with projectiles and using juggling techniques to build up a lot of damage before going for the kill.
So, any questions? Suggestions? Ridicule? Comments from someone who actually played the game?
