Hey all, wanted to share my vision of a moveset for what I am calling "RPG Paper Mario". I know, I'm a dirty old-school fan who played the N64 and GCN games growing up and I consider the newer games a different genre and essentially different series, which just happens to share the same name as the older ones. If you haven't played the original two Paper Mario games, all I can say is you're not living your life to its fullest potential.
With that out of the way, I wanted to incorporate
every single partner Mario has had in the Paper Mario RPGs, since they are really the life and personality of the games. So here goes:
Standard Attacks
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Neutral A - Mario swings his hammer down
Jab A- Ms. Mowz appears in front of Mario and repeatedly slaps fighters
Forward Tilt A- Mario swings his hammer sideways
Up Tilt A- Mario swings his hammer up
Down Tilt A- Mario swings his hammer down (again)
Dash Attack - Mario does a spin dash from PM64
Forward Smash - Mario raises his hammer and brings it down. While charging, the hammer changes to Super Hammer and then Ultra Hammer.
Down Smash - Mario jumps on the shell of
Kooper or
Koops (it randomly changes), which slides quickly in front of and behind Mario a short distance.
Up Smash - Vivian rises from the shadows and performs a Shade Fist upwards; similar to Isabelle's up smash.
Neutral Air - Mario makes the stylish midair jumping pose from TTYD; functions similar to regular Mario's neutral air.
Forward Air - Mario holds
Watt in front of him who performs a shocking burst
Back Air - Bow appears behind Mario and performs a rapid smack
Up Air - Mario raises his hands upwards to attack, like the pose he often makes
Down Air - Mario stomps on a fighter and bounces up, similar to Greninja's down air.
Grabs and Pummels
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Grab - Mario grabs an enemy
Pummel - similar to Peach's Toad,
Goombario or
Goombella (it's random) pops out and makes short jumps from the ground to attack
Forward Throw - Goombario/Goombella bonk the fighter forwards
Back Throw - Goombario/Goombella bonk the fighter backwards
Up Throw - Goombario/Goombella bonk the fighter upwards
Down Throw - Goombario/Goombella performs a full-on Headbonk
Special Attacks
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Neutral Special - Sushie charges a water squirt or
Flurrie charges a Gale Force (it's random); functions like Squirtle's water gun or Mario's FLUDD.
Side Special - Lakilester throws a spiny or
Yoshi Kid throws an egg (it's random); similar to Yoshi's egg throw
Up Special - Parakarry lifts Mario similar to the Winged Pikmin
Down Special - Bombette or
Bobbery (it's random) begins walking forward a short distance then explodes (like mecha-koopa but not as far)
Final Smash - All of Mario's partners from both games gather to attack your opponent in turn, and then Mario finishes it off with a hammer spin attack
Other Animations
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Shield - Mario ducks down like when you choose to defend
Shield+B - Vivian grabs Mario and both sink into the ground, similar to what Inkling can do to refill ink.
Shield Dodge - Mario turns sideways, which makes him appear paper-thin
Forward/Back Roll - Mario spins around as he 'rolls' left or right
Up Taunt - Mario makes the animation where he lifts his hands in the air and says "Yeah!"
Side Taunt - Mario holds the brim of his hat like he does after finishing a battle
Down Taunt - A random partner appears next to Mario and makes a brief pose
Conclusion
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My favorite thing about this moveset is that each partner character can appear in multiple ways, such as during an attack, a taunt, or Mario's Final Smash. It kind of has a flavor of Villager/Isabelle but instead of spawning various objects, Mario's partner characters appear instead. The random element of which partner visually appears could be inspired from the way regular Mario's Super Jump Punch shows Cappy or not. I opted not to reference the Star Spirits or the Crystal Stars or even most of the badgees, focusing instead on the partners and what they can bring to the table.
Of course this will never happen, since Nintendo is trying to forget the original Paper Mario games and if Paper Mario did get into Smash today, he would probably throw stickers and confetti and do a bunch of papercraft gimmicky things.
Anyway that's all bye