Character: Medusa
First Appearance: Kid Icarus (1986)
Recent Appearance: Kid Icarus Uprising (2012)
Key Character Traits
· Medusa’s design is monstrous since her various elements, including snakes, staff, magic, and sharp nails would give her an arsenal of attacks
· Because she can detach various body parts, she becomes a more gruesome villain, especially for a female
· Because Medusa packs more muscles, she would be heavier with jumping power as equal to Bowser or Dedede in total height, but does double jump like other fighters.
Character Play-style
Key Traits
· Unlike Palutena, which she is lightweight and uses more defensive and ranged moves, Medusa would be heavier with more offensive play-style closer to melee with some ranged attacks and stage control
· For staffs, Palutena uses it as her main weapon, Medusa can treat it as her secondary weapon since she packs a bigger punch with her body parts and fists
· Since she can summon minions, she would have elements of stage control, but her opponents can use them against her
· Detaching body parts allow Medusa to have some moves that are ambush-like, bringing in a risky-rewarding element to the character
Cannon aspects from main series, list and analyze each element one by one
Key Traits
· Claws – can be suited to a melee attack. Could be multi-tap standard attack with wide vertical slash as a finisher. Could also be used for a side attack, albeit with slightly longer horizontal reach.
· Staff – Focuses more as an offensive item with some degree of stage control. She can physically use it as a quick long range melee attacks suited either in the air and/or ground for charged up smash attacks. It can also be used to summon certain minions that are most likely small enough for balance purposes. It can also be used for a few post-grab attacks, with one that involves down-thrusting her staff against the laid opponent for high damage with low knockback
· Teleportation – Can be used as an evasion-based recovery, but it can be retooled as an offensive type at a cost of having a shorter range and longer delay compared to Palutena’s recovery. For offensive types, it could have a small explosion, based on her previous location, which damages opponents with weak-medium knockback. Another variant of teleportation would be to travel 1.5 times the distance with a poison mist, instead of an explosion, to give a small damage build to opponents that last 2 seconds, giving 1% damage every 1/5 of a second.
· Floating Eyeball – Can be used as an ambush-type special attack, which her eyeballs can burst out and attack the opponents with weak knockback and shoot small projectiles. Can be charged to give a longer distance and slightly more powerful projectiles.
· Eye Shooting – While can be delegated to a special with the floating eyeballs, it can also be treated as one standard attack in the air, shooting weak shots with little knockback
· Dark Mines – Can be treated as another variant of the eye-ball special attack, but the eyes travel less distance. The mines deals medium-level damage with weak knockback.
· Uppercut – Although an upper-cut move can often be applied as a standard attack or a special for various fighters, it can be treated as one of the moves when Medusa successfully grabs an opponent when pressing up. There would be slight starting and end lag to make an illusion as a strong attack.
· Poison Gas – Can be used as a quick damage builder, but must be well-timed when opponents are close. Although I have explained one variant of teleportation that uses poison, another could be used as a different special which she blows poison at her opponents by creating one small cloud equal to her height. The poison gas from her breath may have less range than the teleportation variant, but deals more damage in a shorter amount of time of 1 second, 2% damage for every 1/6 of a second, plus small bonus when used directly at the opponents.
· Minions – Medusa has plenty of minions to for combat, and the most suitable ones would be small enough size for balance purposes. Minion summoning can be treated as a special attack, but requires great planning and timing since opponents can use them against her from successful attacks. The minions would be released for a short time and disappear afterwards.
o Nettler – one-eyed creatures that pack a bunch of weight. They plop down to give a minor shockwave, dealing low damage with medium-low knock back. However, if opponent is underneath the Nettler, it will be sent upwards with medium damage and medium-high knock-back. If hit/reflected and sent to Medusa, the caster will fly horizontally with medium damage with medium knockback.
o Zik and Zak – two of the snake like creatures will travel a small distance before doing a shock attack. As long as the two are not hit, the electric line would be produced, dealing 1% damage every 1/10 of a second lasting for 1 second to a caught opponent, sending them up with medium-low knockback afterwards. If one of the snakes get hit, they both do a short-ranged shock attack, instead of an electric line, dealing 2% damage every 1/7 of a second for 1 second with medium knockback afterwards.
o Tempura Wizard – the only minion that cannot be sent back (however, reflect moves work), but has the most delay for opponents to evade. It will appear like a ramen bowl, but after ½ of a second, the Tempura Wizard’s head pops out and attempts to bite. If opponent gets bitten, will take medium damage with medium-high knock-back horizontally.
· Cyclops Head Form – People often clamor this as a final smash since it represents her powerful form. There are at least two different ways to treat Medusa’s Cyclops Head: A powerful instant-attack or a free-moving form. For Medusa’s Cyclops head to be treated as an instant attack, there are various interpretations to how to treat it like one. One form of instant attack would be to petrify opponents based on Medusa’s direction, much like stoning foes on her sight, followed by a series of powerful bites from her snake hair to send opponents flying with high knockback, nearly taking them off the screen. The same final smash could happen with Medusa facing the screen but the radius would be more limited based on the visual sign of the shock-wave. If the final smash would be free-form then she can move in any direction, but her facing direction would be the one delivering attacks. In her free-form final smash, she can use her eye to petrify an opponent, with slightly longer range, compared to her eye gaze special, as well as extending petrification state to 2 seconds. When Medusa’s head collides with an opponent, the victim will be given medium damage with medium-high knockback, but the petrified opponent will suffer from an increased damage and knockback.
Other aspects, same rule as cannon
Key Traits
· Greek Mythology – Medusa is based on a creature called Gorgon who also have the same name, The aesthetic design represented from Kid Icarus series matches with common perception of the mythology
· Snake hair – A primary element for many interpretations of Medusa. Her snakes can be used for various normal attacks as well as grabbing since the snakes can stretch quite far. One possible use of a normal attack is upward charge, which her snake hair can give a few weak bites, following with one strong bite with medium-high knockback. There will be significant end-lag between two phases to allow escape and surprise, making the move a double-edged sword.
· Petrification – A common element used in stories involving various interpretations of Medusa. It can be treated as a special move best suited at close range. It can be charged up for a stronger effect against opponents. When successfully used on the opponent, it will remain paralyzed for a short time period, from 0.5 to 1 second, depending on charging time.
· Detached head – For some stories, the powers of certain versions of Medusa will still be active even when without a body. It can serve a great deal of ideas for unique attacks. One possible idea is to make it a unique recovery move by throwing her head in upward direction, decent vertical range but with little to no horizontal movement. With the tossed head, the body will fall down to act as powerful weight against fighters below. However, once the head reaches midair, the body teleports back to her head and becomes helpless.
General/Miscellaneous
Key Traits
· Her Staff and arms can provide an additional number of attacks, mostly delegated to standard attacks in air and ground along with post-throw
Potential Mechanics
Key Traits
· While her moves involving the staff, arms, and snake hair can be fleshed out further, she becomes a more unique character when using elements that involve summoning, magic, and body-detachment.
· If Medusa’s head is thrown from her body for a recovery, her head can be moved slightly faster to ensure she recovers despite her falling down faster from her heavy weight when attached with the body.
· Medusa’s petrification moves against opponents, if applied successfully, would allow her to deal more damage and knock-back compared to opponents at their normal state.
· It can also be possible to use petrification move even when the eyes are far apart from Medusa’s head, but has to be done quickly before the eyes retreat to their sockets.
I envision Medusa as a Heavy character with a few moves with killing potential, but great ability to rack up damages through poison and spacing moves.