Okay everyone, after this recent Direct and the reveal of Sans, I've been pondering with a newfound interest for Quote in Smash. Now that he has somewhat of a chance, this has given me a couple of hours of thinking and mindlessly typing out my thoughts on Notepad to bring you this.
Quote/Curly Brace moveset, a notepad autism original. Excuse me if I have no idea how forum colors or post limits work. I can't believe I created an account to present this.
If Sans can get in, so can Quote. This is only if he doesn't end up as a Mii costume/Spirit/Assist Trophy/Mega Man clone.
Cave Story doesn't appear popular enough, but it seems to be known for being one of the first indie games to make it big.
Quote and Curly are echoes. I want to cover the specials and their passive ability first. Assume that everything that Quote has also applies to Curly unless stated otherwise. Also, reading the Neutral Special might be confusing until you read the Down Special.
- Level Up/Energy Crystals. This is a fighter ability.
In Cave Story, Quote can defeat enemies which drop Energy Crystals. These are like experience points, which can level up his weapon up to a max of 3.
In Smash, Quote can damage enemies with his weapon for them to drop Energy Crystals, which have the same function as above similar to Hero's MP.
Just like the games, if Quote is damaged he can lose Energy Crystals and downgrade his equipped weapon, but he gains them faster than he loses them.
For an exception to Smash, he can gradually gain Energy Crystals on his own for all weapons, but only if he hasn't collected an Energy Crystal in 30 seconds or more.
Also, the higher the opponent's percentage, the more Energy Crystals they drop.
- Neutral Special: Fire Weapon
Fires a shot from the currently equipped weapon. Travels horizontally in the direction you're facing. The type of weapon you fire is based on the Down Special.
Polar Star and Machine Gun are signature weapons, the default they start with. Being their signature weapons they should be the fastest out of their arsenal.
Unlike the other weapons, they cannot make the opponent flinch in the same way that Fox's lasers cannot unless they're Level 3.
Polar Star: recharge 1 ammo per 2s, 25 ammo max
Polar Star is weaker than the Machine Gun and functions exactly like the original game, but a Level 3 Polar Star has a charge shot effect that can fire possibly one of the most powerful projectiles in the game.
At Level 3, Quote can charge a shot by holding B. Even if it's fully charged, he won't fire unless you let go. Unlike the games, this charging period halves his movement speed even on the Booster, but he can still jump.
A half shot is obv half the charge and costs 5 ammo, while a full shot costs 10 ammo. Both pierce through enemies, but grow weaker for every enemy they pierce.
A half shot could be a multi-hit, while a full shot is a KO move that rivals Samus' full Charge Shot.
If you let go early or are interrupted by an attack he will fire a regular shot if his charge < 50%, or a half shot if 50% <= his charge < 100%.
Machine Gun: recharge 1 ammo per 1.5s, 25 ammo max
The Machine Gun is faster and has slightly more power than the Polar Star.
A Level 3 Machine Gun has a recoil effect which can be extremely useful and possibly very annoying for your opponent. You can hold the B button to make Curly fire rapidly in exchange for weaker shots.
Curly takes slight knockback in the opposite direction you're firing for a max of 3 seconds of holding, allowing her to retreat and attack at the same time as long as she has ammo.
This also works in the air but only if you're already holding B so she won't perform Down Special or Up Special. If you fire downward for example she can hover and vice versa.
Missile Launcher: recharge 1 ammo per 2s, 10 ammo max
Fires powerful missiles that travel slow at first, but accelerate as they continue to fly.
Movement speed is halved, and Quote cannot fire missiles while flying on the Booster. Doing so will cause him to deactivate the Booster and lose all jumps.
Quote fires X amount of missiles where X is the current level of the weapon.
Fireball: recharge 1 ammo per 2s, 10 ammo max
Shoots a fireball that acts the same way as Pikachu's Thunder Jolt, but way slower, and it releases a small flame pillar that persists for X seconds where X is the current level of the weapon.
Bubbline: recharge 1 ammo per 1.5s, 15 ammo max
Shoots a flurry of bubbles that are initially packed in a small cloud similar to Piranha Plant's Side B. The ammo for this one can drain FAST.
The bubbles slowly flow in the direction that you flick with the Control Stick and unlike the other weapons they can even go diagonally and through walls.
They will only pop if they come into contact with an enemy. Possible gimping tool.
- Side Special: Blade Spirit
I really didn't know what to do for this one, and this means that Curly also obtains King's Blade so I'm kinda straying out of canon but whatever.
Unlike the other weapons, this one is already Level 3 in that swinging the sword summons King's Spirit, which deals sword damage in its path before disappearing. The initial sword swing also has a hitbox, similar to D3's Gordo Toss.
- Down Special: Weapon Switch
Quote has a level and Energy Gauge meter next to his portrait in battle.
He can switch between a set of weapons which affect his Neutral Special. This should be a quick move and can be done in the air, but not instantaneous and should play a sound effect so your opponent can react.
The weapons he can switch from are: Polar Star (Quote)/Machine Gun (Curly), Missile Launcher, and Fireball (Quote)/Bubbline (Curly).
Each weapon has their personal level and amount of Energy Crystals stored, like the original game.
- Up Special: Booster v2.0
Quote enables the Booster which temporarily enhances his movement. For roughly one second, he can hold jump to rise up, while holding jump and a horizontal direction allows him to hover similar to Peach/Daisy's Float.
He can still act wearing the booster, but when it reaches the one second limit he can no longer jump until he reaches the ground.
All smashes cost 2 ammo per shot, so Forward Smash would cost 4 ammo for example.
- Up Smash
Fires a single shot of the currently equipped weapon into the air with the single shot's damage being doubled than if it were used in a Neutral Special..
If Missile Launcher is equipped, this shoots a powerful missile into the air that works in the same way as Snake's Up Smash, but it travels faster and if it doesn't hit a target it goes sky high, and it might take a while before gravity forces it to get down. Try to remember where you fire it, maybe you could do throw setups into a landing Up Smash missile. Just be careful, because it can still hurt you.
- Forward Smash
Fires two shots of the currently equipped weapon into the ground a la Samus's Down Smash. Same damage multiplier as Up Smash.
If Missile Launcher is equipped, Quote will fire only one missile before it explodes and deals self-damage.
- Down Smash
Basically like Forward Smash, but one shot each for forward and back. Same damage multiplier as Up Smash.
If Missile Launcher is equipped, Quote will fire only one missile before it explodes and deals self-damage.
His aerials can be like a typical swordie's. He can use King's Blade for those but I would prefer them to involve ONLY King's Blade and for them to be really slow, since being melee is not what Quote is about.
Up taunt: Brandishes King's Blade like Ganon does in one of his taunts, but with a determined look.
Side taunt: Pulls out a Life Capsule, but shrugs in disappointment knowing that you can't use those in this game.
Down taunt: Looks at his currently equipped weapon and sweeps off the blood and dust from his enemies with his fingers
Victory theme: Life Capsule Get theme, Item Get theme
KO sound: Explosion death sound, you know the one when Quote straight up dies
Star KO sound: Maybe a slowed down broken robot sound? Like the sound that ROB makes when he gets Star KO'd, I suppose.
Quote is built to focus on power while Curly has more emphasis on spread and mobility. Both are rewarded by button mashing for that sweet, sweet damage like you want for every Cave Story boss. They play in the same way you played Cave Story, pretty much.
Quote has more powerful options in Fireball and maxed out Polar Star, while Curly has more technical options in Bubbline and her Machine Gun.
Maybe Curly could also be immune to drowning to pay homage to that time at the Core. Tell me what you all think. I'm so tired so I'm going to bed.
