AzelfandQuilava
Smash Rookie
"Mein gott. This is wunderbar!"
So I did a post for this guy a few months ago, but it was garbage so I tried it again (this is still garbage, but its polished garbage). HERE GOES!
So let's get the "relevancy" ******** out of the way first:
Call of Duty as a franchise is still one of the best selling video games series of all time, its somehow still up there alongside Nintendo's biggest sellers like Mario and Pokemon. In addition, the series used to have a fairly strong Nintendo community, with most of the main series titles being ported to the Wii and also having spin-off games for the DS. The last game that saw a Nintendo release was Black Ops 2 on the Wii U (back in 2012... how time flies) and since then the franchise has vanished from Nintendo's consoles for a variety of reasons. Although the main one would probably be due to the increasing hardware limitations combined with the game's engine being a pain in the back.
The Zombies gamemode has been a staple feature of the franchise ever since World at War back in 2009, what started as a last-minute addition became one of the series' most beloved and iconic things. Originally made by Treyarch Studios, this simple wave-survival mode's popularity resulted in the other development studios doing their own takes on it (to varying degrees of success and reception), every title since Black Ops 2 has had a unique twist and experience to offer. Ranging from Treyarch's own Aether storyline which is stupidly extensive and way too detailed for me to summarize in a timely manner (all that's important to ya'll is that its where Richtofen comes from) to the likes of Infinity Ward's more cartoon-ish and campy take on the mode.
Long story short: Call of Duty is popular as heck, and by extension the Zombies mode is popular as heck as well. Its also sold a lot of stuff. You'd be surprised how many suckers like me are willing to throw their money for the base game plus all the downloadable maps and the like (go look up the sales figures for "Zombies Chronicles" if you want a rough idea) and yeah I know that choosing a character from a "side mode" would make for a massive "Literally Who?" rage-fest but f*ck it I'm going for it.
So who the heck is this Richtofen fellow and why should I care?
Allow me to introduce Doctor Edward Richtofen to you (prepare for more walls of text, sorry).
Richtofen first appeared in World at War's third Map Pack, as one of the first named characters of the gamemode he was initially portrayed as this creepy German doctor with an obsession for violence. Alongside the other three stereotypical characters (a gun-ho American named Dempsey, a cynical vodka-drinking Russian called Nikolai and a overly fanatical Japanese Officer named Takeo) Richtofen became one of the first actual "icons" of the mode. Hidden messages and recordings found in the later maps revealed him to be part of the cause for the Zombie outbreaks, and even further on it is revealed that he's been trying to gain control over the undead and take over the world (ya know, your usual evil guy stuff). As the story progressed Richtofen and the other three eventually were toned down and given more comedic personalities. Richtofen went from being a creepy doctor... to a creepy doctor who's so flamboyant and over the top its actually hard not to find it silly.
(This one's the evil one, or "Ultimis" Richtofen)
Anyway, fast forward even more down the line and because of... "story reasons" we're introduced to another version of Richtofen, a younger one from a different dimension. This one's not so evil (although his sense of humor is just as dark), doesn't want Zombies to take over the world and does just as much crazy stuff as his evil self to try and undo it all. He's also just as flamboyant as his evil counterpart, bless him.
(This one's the not so evil one, call him "Primis" Richtofen)
Now, I didn't exactly mention it well before, but the Zombies story has a had a lot of crazy and wacky stuff happen throughout it all. There's been time-travel, a heck tonne of weird sci-fi weaponry (like the iconic Ray Gun), jumping between different dimensions, sodas that give the drinker new powers, space rocks containing a chemical that causes people to reanimate in the first place, a race of evil squad monster things that want to cause all the bad stuff to happen, a dimension in which the Battle of Stalingrad never ended because Germany somehow managed to resurrect a bunch of ancient dragons to fight for them, a Hobo God, giant Spiders, JFK and Fidel Castro fighting Zombies in the pentagon, a stupid amount of playable celebrity characters (does Buffy the Zombie Slayer sound cool?) and more.... Oh and by the way, did I mention the Giant Robots?
So I think I'd be justified in saying that its a series that could be reasonably toned down and would have a lot of unique elements it could bring to Smash Bros. I guess if Solid Snake can be toned down and included then I'd say a Call of Duty character has the same potential, especially the one who's surrounded by wacky stuff.
So okay, I've rambled and given the worst possible summary of Richtofen as a character, now what? How about a potential moveset and other various details/mechanics for him?
The Moveset and other in-game traits:
Richtofen I feel should function as a floaty but ranged character with a little bit of area denial that allows him to keep opponents away from him while he drains them down. His actual close-up fighting would be weaker than average to balance this out so the player actually has to focus on keeping away from enemies for as long as possible before finally going in for the KO.
His default stance would consist of him wielding the Elemental Staff of Lightning and the majority of his standard attacks should revolve him using it as a melee weapon (with his bonesaw being used for smash attacks).
Neutral Special - "Ray Gun Blast!"
Richtofen pulls out his trusty Ray Gun and fires three shots from it before putting it away again. The first shot will not cause knockback however the second one will briefly stop the target in their tracks while the third one will launch them back a little bit. If the button is held down then Richtofen will continue firing in periodic bursts, however overuse of this attack will eventually cause the weapon to overheat and immobilize Richtofen as he attempts to solve the issue.
Side Special - The Staff of Lightning
Richtofen fires a bolt of lightning from the Staff. Any foe hit by the bolt will be briefly stunned and then launched back. The effect can chain to any other foe nearby (so if you fired it and it hit someone on the ground but there was another enemy right above them then both of them would be launched back).
Up Special - Baby Whelp
Richtofen is lifted upwards by the ever so adorable Baby Whelp from Gorod Krovi before letting go. This functions similarly to Snake's Up Special, with the difference being that Richtofen's version is less vertical and more horizontal, also it cannot be canceled it.
Down Special - Wrath Fire
Richtofen tosses a Wrath Fire bottle in front of him. The bottle will explode into blue flames upon contact with an enemy or the ground, the explosion deals knockback and the flames will linger for a few moments (but not deal any form of knock-back or stunning) before going out. Simply tapping the button will have Richtofen throw the bottle a short distance in front of him, holding down the attack button will delay the throw and launch it higher.
Final Smash - "Primis Prevails!"
Richtofen calls upon the rest of Primis to use all four of the Elemental Staffs. Basically this f*cking instant KO's any poor sod who was caught in the blast but its really cinematic so... cool right?
Final Thoughts and other fun stuff:
So that's about it for all the main stuff. Hopefully you've all gotten the gist of what I was going for. I doubt this will ever actually happen in my lifetime (or at all lol) but hey, at least its been writing this post. Okay, now for some extra ramblings and ideas before I sign off.
Costumes:
- Base appearance should be his Origins outfit
- Various recolors of the Origins outfit
- Primis Crusader attire
- Ultimis Richtofen as an Echo Fighter. Moves are still the same but with different visuals (uses the Wunderwaffe DG-2 instead of the Lightning Staff) and sounds.
Item Ideas:
- Nikolai Belinski as an assist trophy. Nikolai would follow the player around and throw Wrath Fires at attacking enemies, could be knocked off the stage like most other assist fighters.
- Mystery Box. When interacted with it will give the player a random item, can be used twice before disappearing.
Music Tracks (just a bunch of random ones from the franchise):
Alright, that's the end of the post. Congrats if you somehow made it through the whole thing, sorry for any bad spelling or anything like that. Please feel free to poke holes in my argument as you wish.
"Thank you und goodbye."
