Meet Nikki! Doodler extraordinaire!
Nikki? Who's that?
Nikki is the mascot for the "Nikki & Friends" franchise (as referred to in the Nintendo Badge Arcade), which has 3 titles.
She really enjoys doodling and writing to her friends through the Nintendo 3DS applications Swapnote and Swapdoodle. Upon opening up either application, she will send players tips on how to use each one. These notes would unlock tools in each app to provide more options to create notes or doodles through them. Even after players receive all of her notes regarding how to use the applications, she would still send them messages during holidays or noteworthy anniversaries (such as her birthday). In Swapdoodle, players can purchase doodle lessons where she will teach them how to draw certain things. Sometimes, if it's Nintendo related, she may wear a hat in reference to the franchise the subject material is from.
Nikki does have one other title under her belt, the Japanese Club Nintendo exclusive game Nikki's Travel Quiz. Where she and her friends, Cat and Panda, would travel Japan and ask the player questions regarding the regions they visit.
She has also made a few other appearances:
- On the Nintendo News Section of their Japanese and European websites, Nikki has explained how to create a NNID, use amiibo in Super Smash Brothers for Wii U, and promoted the Nintendo Badge Arcade as well.
- In Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone! she taught players how to draw a Goomba using pastels.
- In Super Mario Maker she appeared as a Costume Mario option at the game's launch. Super Mario Maker curiously also has an image of Nikki in it's game files, alongside some beta Splatoon files as well.
- In the Nintendo Badge Arcade, Nikki makes repeated appearances, with new badges created for the game quite often. There are a few sets of badges that crossover with other Nintendo franchises as well. The other two characters who share this trait are Isabelle (Animal Crossing) and Ashley (WarioWare).
Why add her into Smash Brothers? What can she offer?
Smash Brothers is a franchise that prides itself with having a roster of a variety of characters who all have unique traits and hail from very different worlds. Nikki certainly may not be the most popular Nintendo character out of their core franchises, but if they continued to use her throughout the past several years (especially after Swapnote's abrupt discontinuation) it's clear that the company acknowledges some notable fanbase for the character. It may also be worth mentioning that references to a series emblem named "Diary" were found among series emblems present in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. Nikki's name in Japanese means Diary, so it may be a stretch to say this, but it is possible that Pictochat 2 could be a reskin of a planned Swapnote stage. The reason for turning it into Pictochat 2 though, is quite obvious. As Nintendo discontinued the spotpass service for Swapnote in response to notable misuse of it in Japan. At the very least, it was possible that we were supposed to see her in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS in some fashion. Most likely as a trophy.
Relevance is only one factor, though. How would you make her fit in? What would make her a unique character among the roster? Nikki may just be a girl who loves to draw and help people out, but her tools for doing that is what makes her stand out.
The tool of Nikki's trade is a Nintendo 3DS!
This would fit Nikki in as a character who would be filed as the "Hardware representative". Where characters like Mr. Game & Watch, R.O.B., and Duck Hunt stand from a design and character standpoint (Duck Hunt especially in this case). This would give Nikki a fighting-artist archetype, where she creates doodles through her 3DS that come to life through the power of stereoscopic 3D. Something not currently represented in the Smash franchise. As good art generally takes time to make, her strong attacks involving doodles would most likely have a lengthy start-up. Perhaps incorporating a special move that allows her to Sketch out Doodles would help lower the time it would take to attack. Additionally, letting her write and leave notes that float on the battlefield that could stun opponents as they "read" them, may assist fixing this inherent flaw in her design. Making her a power-up fighter with a set-up/trap focus. Sharing small similarities to PAC-MAN or Duck Hunt with stage control.
When it comes to aesthetic design, Nikki is designed to pretty much be another player of a game. She is represented in Swapnote and Swapdoodle by a Mii, like any other player would be. So she would either most likely be ecstatic to be among some of her fictional heroes or be absolutely terrified and have no idea what is going on. This allows for some humorous attack animations where she may appear to be attacking, but is in fact doing something else (i.e. waving hello, tripping, sneezing etc.). Phoenix Wright in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 does something very similar, where all of his attack animations will continue after the point you can cancel them so you can see what he was actually trying to do. But the basis of her design would still be to share her art with the others around her. You can even have her playing other games for taunts or idle animations, or sneak in some references to titles through her drawings in several of her attacks.
Movesets
Jab could be 2 horizontal swipes and then a thrust with a 3DS stylus, ftilt: a sneeze, has little endlag but if you don't move you can see her shiver for a second, dtilt: Nikki crouches and takes a picture of something on the ground, the picture flash does damage, and utilt: Nikki throws confetti into the air.
Smash attacks could involve Panda and Cat, like for instance dsmash can have both of them come out of the ground on either side of Nikki as she strikes a pose with both her hands in the air.
Specials are where she'll truly shine though. Neutral special could simply be called AR Draw. When you press B, Nikki will take out her 3DS and a thought bubble would appear above her head and cycle through the different things she can draw. Upon pressing B again, the bubble disappears and Nikki will do a short animation of her drawing on the 3DS. Pressing B a 3rd time will summon whatever the drawing was through the AR camera on her 3DS into the fight. I've also thought of a few things she could summon.
A rain cloud: Nikki summons it just above and in front of her head. it slowly rises and lets a stream of raindrops fall that do damage but no hitstun. After about 5 seconds it releases a single bolt of lightning that does slight knockback and disappears.
A cannon: essentially the cannon enemy Shotzo from Kirby. summoned right in front of Nikki, it shoots a slow moving cannonball straight forward that does minimal knockback. It does this 5 times in succession before disappearing unless it's hit enough times.
A flying swapdoodle note: summoned above and in front, floats slowly forwards then upwards quickly in an arc. Slight knockback and damage, probably the first summon of the special.
Side special could be Nikki throwing a paper airplane in an arc. She holds it so long as B is held and can aim it up to a certain angle to change the trajectory.
Up special can be Nikki getting into a drawn rocket, complete with little window. It explodes at the same distance each time and Nikki freefalls afterwards.
Down Special could be a Swapnote landmine where she drops a letter on the ground and either Panda or Cat pop out of it if it's stepped on.
I'd like to see her as being a harassing summoner type character that works with setups and traps to maximise damage.
Smash attacks could involve Panda and Cat, like for instance dsmash can have both of them come out of the ground on either side of Nikki as she strikes a pose with both her hands in the air.
Specials are where she'll truly shine though. Neutral special could simply be called AR Draw. When you press B, Nikki will take out her 3DS and a thought bubble would appear above her head and cycle through the different things she can draw. Upon pressing B again, the bubble disappears and Nikki will do a short animation of her drawing on the 3DS. Pressing B a 3rd time will summon whatever the drawing was through the AR camera on her 3DS into the fight. I've also thought of a few things she could summon.
A rain cloud: Nikki summons it just above and in front of her head. it slowly rises and lets a stream of raindrops fall that do damage but no hitstun. After about 5 seconds it releases a single bolt of lightning that does slight knockback and disappears.
A cannon: essentially the cannon enemy Shotzo from Kirby. summoned right in front of Nikki, it shoots a slow moving cannonball straight forward that does minimal knockback. It does this 5 times in succession before disappearing unless it's hit enough times.
A flying swapdoodle note: summoned above and in front, floats slowly forwards then upwards quickly in an arc. Slight knockback and damage, probably the first summon of the special.
Side special could be Nikki throwing a paper airplane in an arc. She holds it so long as B is held and can aim it up to a certain angle to change the trajectory.
Up special can be Nikki getting into a drawn rocket, complete with little window. It explodes at the same distance each time and Nikki freefalls afterwards.
Down Special could be a Swapnote landmine where she drops a letter on the ground and either Panda or Cat pop out of it if it's stepped on.
I'd like to see her as being a harassing summoner type character that works with setups and traps to maximise damage.
If you have any ideas, please share! I'd be happy to put them up here.
Nikki's Doodle Pals
AEMehr
Luminario
Yomi's Biggest Fan
Ghirahilda
Guybrush20X6
AwesomeAussie27
smashkirby
Kirbeh
Caravan of Noobs
smash puffle
S SEGAGameBoy
@kool2419
@SquashiniKun
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That's pretty much it for now. I think she'd be a fun and unique addition to the cast, and that's not just because I like this character.
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