Been away for a week, so just catching up now.
With King thrown out as a suggestion for assist, I was inspired to try and modify my other big fighter submission suggestion:
Job #270: Horatio (Endless Space)
Yes, I'm still peddling my beautiful clone boy, but this time as an assist...
with a twist.
Brief History of Horatio for those unfamiliar:
Horatio was a young trillionaire, once ridiculed for the shape of his head. But with said giant head came an incredible intellect(and an unhealthy dose of narcassism too) and he soon realised that the planet full of bores he lived on were simply beneath him, taking off into space in search of bigger and better things.
He became obsessed with his reoccurring dream in which hundreds of himself appeared, a perfect utopia, and upon the throne sat he, himself. The true Horatio. The very vision of beauty and perfection.
After researching ancient technology, he stumbled across the Dungeon of the Endless, and using a crashed prison freighter to his advantage formed a team that consisted of himself, a bounty hunter, a petty thief and a mass murderer...for ten minutes before betraying them and getting said petty thief killed, and using the bounty hunter and mass murderer (whom had a massive personal grudge with one another due to their shared past) as bait for the many monsters that resided in the dungeons. Whilst the creatures were distracted fighting and feasting on his 'allies', Horatio managed to find his way into the walls and discovered ancient cloning technology that he quickly gathered up onto his own ship and escaped the planet.
From here he would go on to become the founder of Horatio, a planet he named after himself. Using the clone technology he began to fill the planet with a civilisation of Horatio clones, all of whom were reprogrammed bit by bit to worship him, Horatio, as their ruler.
Early clones were imperfect by being too perfect, and Horatio had to assasinate the first three clones he created, all of whom wanted the top spot. Horatio the fourth however seemed to be exactly what his envision was...although there are rumours that this particular Horatio murdered and replaced the original Horatio and is now the true ruler.
Soon Planet Horatio was filled with beautiful, perfect (and most importantly) subserviant clones...but Horatio had bigger ambitions than merely this and took to conquering the universe...inviting other races to form alliances, but ultimately splicing their DNA and turning them too into more Horatio.
Horatio as an assist - Now for the interesting part!
When summoned, Horatio will appear on stage with a flourish, lifting his hands up in a swiping motion. Clone tanks will appear underneath player fighters, capturing them. This is unavoidable. It is destiny.
After a brief few seconds, the players will re-emerge as...Horatio.
Gorgeous. Beautiful. Perfect Horatio. Identical in looks(outside some player character outfits to avoid too much confusion(example; a Horatio born from Sonic will be blue, a Beat Horatio will keep Beat's sunglasses and headphones, Blue Dragon Horatio will have his cape look like dragon wings, etc), and elegance.
During this time players will gain a whole new moveset, which includes Horatio weaponry(long range lasers) and the ability to summon fellow clones, making the game even more Horatio filled!
After 30 seconds this assist effect will wear off and everyone's DNA will change back to their original characters. This is a long time, but it comes with some major gameplay tweaks:
Pros:
- Levels the playing field. Everyone is now Horatio.
- All health bars are reset, meaning the summoner if low on health can use this to regain some health that'll carry over when the effect wears off.
- Cannot be avoided. You cannot escape Horatio.
- As Horatio cannot fly without one of his beautiful warships, if used at a certain time such as when the opponent is off stage, can be used for an easy kill or victory.
- Everyone remains Horatio even if respawned for the 30 seconds designated time.
- Horatio firearms can cause a lot of knockback and high damage...partially because Horatio aren't the most durable fighters. Use to your advantage!
Cons:
- Even the summoner is turned into Horatio, which truly levels the playing field.
- Horatio is not a brutal fighter, emphasising more on elegance and his cloning. As such you may find the sudden shift to Horatio unhelpful if you're more used to big strong characters.
- Much like his ships in Endless Space, Horatio is beautiful...but fragile. Built for elegance. As such he is quite light, has less health than the real fighters and takes a lot of damage from items and other assist characters!
- Can only be summoned once per match. Make sure to use it at the optimal moment!
Neutral:
- Has own victory screen if the match concludes during Horatio time
- Summoning Horatio clones can cause confusion as to which the fighter is...but that can also backfire on the player as their fighter becomes one in a crowd of charging Horatio!
- Has own taunts
- Cannot be played without being summoned first, and of course cannot summon assists of their own.
- Has own All-Star move: Summons a fleet of Horatio warships which carpet bomb the stage. Fighters All Star bar carries over from when they're non Horatio.
As much of a narcissist as Horatio is, he would not simply roll over and accept the idea that everyone would not wish to experience what it's like to be the most perfect individual in the universe...including the player.
