Paraster
Smash Lord
(feel free to ignore Ori and Shovel Knight lol)
The characters of Rivals are varied and interesting, with all of them having some unique gimmick.
"The Fire's Roar"
Heir to the emperor of the Firelands and one of its greatest champions, determined to avenge the assassination of his father.
Represents the element of fire.
Plays closely to Fox, most noticeably in his up special as well as his neutral special being based on Fox's Reflector/"shine." He's fast and strong, but overall serves as a good all-rounder. One of the two characters who could be considered a "mascot" for the game, partially due to him serving well as "the Mario" of Rivals.
Possesses the ability to light opponents on fire, inflicting damage over time--on top of his strong/smash attacks doing increased damage to burning opponents.
"The Puddle Jumper"
A playful trickster who steals from the Water Trading Company to help its underpaid workers--but gets hired by the WTC to fight back against the Air Armada.
Represents the element of water.
Orcane's inspiration was not a canon Smash character, but Super Smash Land's version of Vaporeon. He's fast and tricky, but has trouble actually landing KOs. The other potential mascot for Rivals, to the point where he has actually appeared in indie crossover platform fighters Indie Pogo and Fraymakers.
Can create puddles that can release damaging bubbles, power up certain moves, or be teleported to as a unique sort of up special.
Wrastor
"The Wind's Fury"
An arrogant and unpredictable pilot in the Air Armada who gets wrapped up into a strange conspiracy while on a scouting mission to the Aetherian Forest.
Represents the element of air.
While in personality and aesthetic design Wrastor is very similar to Falco, he feels more like a composite of several air-focused fighters. As you'd expect from his power, mobility, and combo potential in the air, he struggles a bit on the ground (and he's also rather light).
Can summon an air current that increases his horizontal speed while inside it, and he can perform strong/smash attacks in midair.
Kragg
"The Earth's Bastion"
Kragg is a Wall Runner, one who patrols the massive Rock Wall that separates the Aetherian Forest from the rest of the land. One day, he finds a huge breach in the Wall, and sets out to find the cause.
Represents the element of earth.
Kragg is a straight-up heavyweight, sacrificing mobility and combos for weight and raw power. Simple but mighty.
Can summon a stone block to be thrown like an item or broken into smaller projectiles, and his up special summons a huge stone pillar up from the bottom blast zone.
"The Exiled Flame"
The eldest son of Emperor Renburn, Forsburn was the chief diplomat of the Firelands--until the emperor was assassinated and Forsburn blamed. Forced into exile, Forsburn fell in with a clan that wielded not fire, but smoke.
Represents the element of smoke.
Forsburn is a bait-and-punish character with prominent disjoints, unusual strong/smash, and multiple ways to obfuscate his actions.
Can summon smoke clouds to hide behind or absorb for a powerful attack, as well as summon clones of himself to aid in combat and confuse opponents.
"The Sylvan Watcher"
Resident and guardian of the beautiful but dangerous Aetherian Forest, fighting alongside a small carnivorous plant named Lily. Sensing a dangerous corruption, she stumbles upon even stranger threats.
Represents the element of nature.
Maypul's closest to ninja-like rushdown characters--light, but swift and with powerful kill confirms.
Can "mark" opponents, allowing herself to teleport to them or wrap them in place.
Adding any Rivals character would be a great way to add a unique new fighter in a simple way (since they're already geared around platform fighter gameplay; few changes or additions would be necessary!), as well as a way to reflect on the success of Smash itself by showing off something inspired by Smash--on top of honoring the indie community!
Which Rivals character would you like to see? What music/spirits/stage would be brought along?
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