Firstly, I apologise for missing the voting period again; my notifications are a little spotty.
Job #07
Before getting into his specials, a quick note on Holmes' fighting style,
bartitsu. It's a real-world fighting style that's rather... odd, combining elements of boxing, savate, jujitsu and cane fighting, and first got described in the Holmes mythos in
The Adventure of the Empty House as the martial art he used to survive Moriarty's attack on him in the Reichenbach Falls. Hence, Holmes' general fighting style takes inspiration - while his normal look would be in his iconic coat and hat ensemble, he'd fight with punches, kicks, and cane swipes. (I'll get into a certain technique in his specials.)
Neutral Special: Dr. Watson
Holmes kindly asks his friend and biographer John Watson to join him, at which point Watson steps forth from the background with his gun drawn, pointed forward. You can delay the attack by charging it, but it doesn't affect the projectile's attack power. However, when fired, it acts as an incredibly fast (albeit small) projectile - think a little like Joker's special over in
Smash. The difference is that Holmes is actually actionable during the move's charge - allowing him to continue to move around freely or even attack while Watson is readying himself. Of course, he loses access to his other special moves while in this state - and Watson can be attacked, making him lose focus and stagger backward.
While Holmes himself has used a gun on two occasions (
The Sign of Four and
The Hound of the Baskervilles), Watson has used a gun in two more - in
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches, and to pistol-whip Colonel Moran in
The Adventure of the Empty House. I also felt that including Watson in his moveset would be a great way to showcase their relationship.
Side Special: Handkerchief Toss
Holmes reaches into his pocket and pulls out an embroidered handkerchief which he tosses forward. It's a small and light projectile, which travels in a light arc, but doesn't cover much distance - around a dash length at most - nor does it deal much damage, only a couple of %. The actual use of the attack is mostly to set up given situations and apply close-up pressure - because on hit, the handkerchief momentarily stuns an opponent for about 20 frames, leaving them open to punishes and potential combos. After being tossed, however, you'll need to wait about five seconds to toss another.
This is based on a common element of bartitsu, the tossing of one's hat to disorient an opponent and leave them open to a potential strike. While the tossing of one's hat was far more common in the actual art, my suggestion of a handkerchief takes inspiration from the 2009
Sherlock Holmes film specifically.
Up Special: Riding Crop
Not dissimilar to Darkvortex's and Northsouthmap's suggestions, Holmes pulls out a riding crop and swings it in an upward direction - allowing him to catch items tossed at him while it's active, or reflect projectiles hit by it. In addition, he can use this riding crop to hang from a ledge before pulling himself upward, giving him a few additional mindgames when edgeguarding (but, while hanging, he doesn't have access to ledge invincibility.) The caveat is, of course, the attack's lack of range - it's quite limited as a recovery tool because of this, meaning Holmes is by far at his best with his feet firmly on the ground.
Holmes has used a riding crop (or at least his cane) on several occasions as a weapon, but most prominently, he uses a riding crop to disarm John Clay in
The Red-Headed League. This is thought to be a sort of extension of Holmes' bartitsu-based fighting style.
Down Special: Master of Disguise
A counter of sorts wherein Holmes swishes his coat around him and suddenly appears in one of three disguises - either a Sailor, a Priest, or an Old Woman (in order, which loops on use - Sailor > Priest > Old Woman > Sailor, etc.) If attacked in this state, Holmes attacks in return, with slightly different effects depending on the disguise he's currently in.
- In his Sailor guise (inspired by The Sign of Four), Holmes pulls out his pistol and fires it into the opponent's chest. This has the highest damage, and is inspired by his and Watson's use of pistols to kill the Andaman Islander toward the end of this story.
- In his Priest guise (inspired by The Adventure of the Final Problem), Holmes (holding a holiday suitcase) tosses the suitcase into the opponent. This has the highest knockback, and is inspired by the use of the priest disguise while aboard a train in order to avoid the clutches of Moriarty.
- In his Old Woman guise (inspired by The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone), Holmes steps backward and allows a wax figure of himself to topple onto the opponent. This has the highest stun, and is inspired by Holmes' use of a similar wax figure to throw off a would-be gunman in this story.
Once the attack ends, Holmes tosses away the disguise as a set of rags behind him to reveal his ordinary outfit beneath.
Super Domain Finale: Off to Scotland Yard
Holmes calls upon a somewhat... begrudging ally in the form of Inspector Lestrade, who charges forward with a pair of handcuffs in his hand and while spouting his absolute certainty that he's onto something. If Lestrade hits an opponent, he handcuffs them and holds them in place. At that point, a flurry of urchins appear to build up a large jail cell around the prisoner, being the Baker Street Irregulars - though they apparently mess up, as the walls collapse inward and deal massive damage. As Lestrade attempts to scold the Irregulars, they scarper away.
While I think this is a little "two-Flickies"-core, I also think this would probably work rather well. Bear in mind, Holmes is a detective, and with him having solved his fair share of crimes, the ultimate goal of solving a crime is to bring the criminal to justice. Hence, having Holmes' opponent get arrested and effectively thrown into jail works well - plus, the inclusion of one of the most reoccuring characters in the Holmes mythos works rather well here too!
Overall, Holmes' moveset is intended to be cerebral and reactionary - not specifically suited to setting the tone of interactions, but well-suited to putting the pieces in place to respond to situations in a way that's advantageous for him. He might not have the outright physical prowess of some characters, but makes up for this with an admittedly unorthodox, but nonetheless effective, style of combat.
Job #08: I'm going to suggest
History Mode, which essentially has a similar concept to
Smash's All Star Mode - in which you fight one of every character in the roster in the chronological order of when they were originally created. Characters with similar chronological placements - such as, say, related to Greek mythology, originating from Victorian-era literature, and so forth - are often fought simultaneously.
