NAME : Kumatora
GAME : MOTHER 3 (JP only)
SYSTEM : Nintendo Gameboy Advance
STATUS : Possible
WEAPONS : (Mainly) Gloves
ABILITIES : Vast array of offensive, supportive and healing PSI techniques
A tomboyish princess raised by a tribe of extremely effeminate men, Kumatora is an oddball among oddballs, and joins Lucas´ team in the quest to save their world midway through the game.
Kumatora is one of the main characters of the mythical third installment to the MOTHER franchise (known as Earthbound everywhere else), which came out last year after promises and cancellations that maintained a compact but intensely loyal fanbase waiting for years.
The series isn´t too well-known outside of Japan, which explains the game not being exported anywhere else, but Earthbound is still a memorable RPG experience thanks to its quirkiness and bold originality, traits that got Ness a place in the original Super Smash Bros.
Now that Brawl is dawning, Ness is essentially cemented in the franchise due to his place as veteran and the notable MOTHER fanbase in Japan. The real question is whether they will include a new character from the series, and if so who will it be.
There are a number of possibilities here. Poo, Jeff, Paula, Pokey, Duster, Flint...most MOTHER characters are memorable and considering the series´ status of obscurity, they all are fair game. What makes Kumatora stand out?
- Gender. Kumatora is a female character, which I´ve heard a number of fans asking for due to the overwhelming levels of testosterone in Melee. I personally couldn´t care less for the male-female ratio in the game, but it´s worth to note that Kumatora is one of two notable girls in MOTHER, and the other (Paula) got most of her techniques stolen from by Ness for use in SSB and SSBM.
- Fanbase. Japan´s MOTHER fans adore Kumatora, and she has arguably become the most famous character from her game. Fans are always a good thing to have if you expect to get into Super Smash Bros.; fanbase alone is what took Gardevoir, an unimportant, non-legendary Pokémon with a very minor appearance in the anime series to appear on Sakurai´s poll.
- Recent appearance. She made her entrance into the game with MOTHER 3, the most recent (and very possibly the final) game in the franchise. The most popular Brawl picks from MOTHER, Jeff, Poo and Paula, are all from a game that appeared several years ago, and which Ness already represents. Her status as relatively new (and still loved in Japan) is to be taken into account.
- Advertisement. Remember Marth and Roy, and how they made Fire Emblem get released stateside? Kumatora is a perfect form of advertisement to get people outside of Japan interested in the franchise (either reviving their love for Earthbound out finding out about it for the first time), which could easily warrant a release of MOTHER 3 stateside and possibly encourage the continuation of the series.
One big argument against Kumatora is that, since she heavily relies on PSI, she would be too similar to Ness and possibly end up being a clone. Actually, Kumatora has a plethora of abilities not restricted to PSI as well as an unusual array of armaments, which I will outline here.
- Gloves as main weapons
- Frying pan as a side weapon
- DCMC pamphlet thrown for distraction
- A yo-yo
- A pole
- A prickly ball
- A messenger pigeon
- Bombs, Blast Bombs, Super Bombs
- A dragonfly
- A ball of dung
- Honey Shower, which sics a swarm of bees on the enemy
- Bottled insecticide
- Mole Cricket´s Little Brother, which transports her instantly to the Mole Cricket Hole
- Salt Water Gun
- PK Freeze, which hits the enemy with ice shards
- PK Ground, which causes an unpredictable quake
- PK Starstorm, an extremely powerful technique perfectly suited for a special attack
- Brain Shock, which confuses the enemy
- Counter, which hits back with the enemy´s attack, and PSI Counter, which does the same but with PSI
- Hypnosis, which causes the foe to fall asleep
- Paralysis, which causes the enemy´s muscles to stiffen
- Shield and PSI Shield, which deflects physical and PSI attacks respectively
I am by no means good at movesets. Nevertheless, I´ll try my hand at a Kumatora one.
STATS
Power - ****
Speed - ***
Jump - ****
Weight - **
Size - Same as Ness
A-ATTACKS - Would largely consist of punching with her gloves on for basic A-attacks, as well as an assortment of kicks and maybe a headbutt thrown in there for good measure. Other options are pulling out a frying pan (although that may be too close for comfort to Peach), smacking the enemy with a pole, or assaulting them with a yo-yo.
B-ATTACKS
B - Honey Shower: Kumatora holds a pot of honey (about half her size) above her head, with a visible white aroma emanating from the open jar. The pot of honey remains above her head for as long as you hold B. Kumatora can move while doing this, but at half of normal speed, and cannot perform any other actions (such as jumping or attacking). Gradually, bees will begin to appear on stage and gather around the pot, forming a buzzing cloud of yellow and black around Kumatora´s head. The longer you hold B, the more bees will gather. The move is chargeable; the bees will follow Kumatora when she puts the honey jar away in the form of a large swarm above her head. If Kumatora is KOed, the ´bee counter´ will be reset.
B-Up - PK Freeze: Kumatora holds her hands downward, creating a glow of blue energy that materializes in the form of an ice pillar beneath her, pushing her upward at the same time. If Kumatora is hit during the attack she will stop. When the attack is done, the pillar stands in place for a second and then falls apart in a flurry of ice clusters that do minor damage to enemies below.
--OR--
B-Up - Messenger Pigeon: Kumatora stops in midair, pulling a letter out of her pocket and holding it up, at which point it disappears with a poof. Instantly she resumes falling while a grey pigeon flies into the stage. Kumatora catches its leg and the pigeon pulls her diagonally upward before she lets go and it flies away.
B-Side - PK Ground: Kumatora concentrates and yells the name of the technique as she thrusts her arms forward. A wave that shakes the ground will extend forward from her, causing damage and shaking foes up, until it reaches the edge of the platform.
--OR--
B-Side - Call of the Cricket Mole: The Cricket Mole´s Little Brother jumps out of Kumatora´s pocket, and Kumatora holds onto it with both hands. It then pulls both forward and underground, moving forward under it and resurfacing further to the side. Kumatora will only go underground if standing on a level´s ground platform; if performed on a thin platform or in midair she will simply keep going until she hits something.
B-Down - Insecticide: Kumatora takes out a large can of insecticide and faces the screen, spreading the aerosol in a green cloud all around her, which slowly dissipates. Approaching enemies will become dizzy but will not be damaged. The most important effect of the Insecticide, however, is that it will anger the bees that Kumatora has summoned with Honey Shower, causing them to attack the closest enemy for 5% damage per second. The assault lasts longer depending on how many bees were summoned, the maximum being 8 seconds (40% damage).
Super Smash Special - PK Starstorm: Kumatora faces the screen and focuses, pointing her fingers to her forehead, as the stage darkens. A short moment later she will throw her arms upwards and several giant, glowing yellow stars will crash into the stage from random locations, severely damaging enemies in their trajectory.
Taunt: Kumatora retrieves a large, transparent jar and opens the cap, releasing a dragonfly that lazily drifts across the air and eventually flies out of the stage. If Kumatora uses the Insecticide while the dragonfly is nearby, it will spin in the air a couple times and fall to the ground, presumably dead. This does nothing, but is just an odd tidbit.
So, opinions? I´d really like it if she got in.
