As an avid Pokemon fan, I must say that I like the set-up of the pokemon for the PT. I'm not the most hardcore pokemon guy, but I know enough see why they made the choices they did:
- For one thing, they kept the signature moves for each pokemon which is very important to pokemon history. Flamethrower for charizard, water gun for squirtle, and razorleaf for ivysaur. Standard element types for each respective pokemon, which dates back to blue and red versions.
- Also, notice that each pokemon has a new generation attack: Charizard with rock smash, Ivysaur with bullet seed, and squirtle with waterfall. This incorporates the old with the new.
- Final smashes: Fire blast, hydro pump, and solarbeam were (though maybe not now...) considered to be the strongest of each respective element attack. Putting them all together in a final smash I think is epic, and with the "super effective" tag, c'mon, it couldn't be any sweeter. But what about the, "You should never have more than 1 pokemon on the field at a time (excluding 2on2 battles)". Well let me tell ya something, this isn't a pokemon battle, this is Brawl, so all 3 are coming at you with their strongest attacks.
- Which leads me to my next point: Each of the signature moves and final smash moves are originally learnt by the respective pokemon.
Now, with regards to your suggestions Rhubarbo:
Charizard
- I agree with you last comment: Dig doesn't make much sense. Controlling him underground??? Too many variables to take into place (like what about fall through platforms???) but mainly, how the heck are people at nintendo suppose to code for that one??? Stick with flamethrower - it was his attack in SS64 and melee (from the poke ball) and it is like Fireballs to mario.
- Fireblast as a Side B doesn't make much sense in my mind either. Fireblast is one of the strongest fire attacks there is, and to be able to spam it as a side B??? I mean, in the pokemon game, you only get 5 blasts. If you spammed it and it got larger and larger, it'd probably be a broken way to edgeguard.
- Rock smash (logically speaking) was put in to show Charizard's brute strength. I mean, he IS destroying a boulder with his head, WHILE aiming it at someone.
- Fly I do agree with, but instead of a diagonal downward attack, I agree with other people in that it should change to a glide.
Ivysaur
- Vine whip - another signature move
- Leech seed - having a move that heals you while you attack is broken. Ness/Lucas can heal, but at the sacrifice of being left wide open. If Ivysaur had this move, they'd have to take something away from him (like his range). Razor leaf is best IMO, it's another signature move that is very strongin the pokemon game and brawl.
- neutral solar beam - again, being able to SPAM the strongest grass attack seems a bit much. Also seeing that, in the pokemon game, it takes 2 turns to use it, being able to spam it wouldn't match up (though I can see it being chargeable much like R.O.B's neutral B). I think having bullet seed was very a smart choice, and unpredictable as well.
Squirtle
- you kept him the same - but water gun over hydro pump - because hydro pump (if you remember from melee that blastoise used from a poke ball) pushed you WAY off the map, and if spammed, well, broken really.
- Also, squirtle doesn't learn bubblebeam, but it does learn bubble. It would be cool if squirtle shot bubbles out that did minimal damage but also caused a short stun to the opponent (ie. Slowing down their speed, for all you pokemon fans).
With regards to final smashes, if each pokemon had their own final smash then it would eventually come to the realization of all brawl players that one of their final smashes would be better than the rest. Meaning, that every time you get the smash ball, you would switch to the best one and use it. It's the same reason why Zelda and Sheik both have the same final smash too (samus and zss have different ones because you can't readily change back and forth between them). Therefore, they needed to think of a new way to give them a fair final smash, and I think it was done superbly.
In all, these moves not only seem to make sense from a pokemon perspective but when applied to the rules of smash bros, seems to be incorporated quite well. I mean, they can't incorporate any status effects (toxic, swords dance, etc.) so they had to pick attacks, and they chose a variety of moves that play on their strengths.
Finally, as sort of an easter egg, the fact that the move "withdraw" in the pokemon game in fact increases the defence of the pokemon, and in brawl, makes squirtle invulnerable to damage just put a huge grin on my face. The fact that nintendo went into THAT much detail to make that relation, shows how much Nintendo loves each and every one of its characters.
Please note that these are just my opinions as a pokemon fanatic, and I in no way shape or form meant to offend anyone.
