That's the way it is! - Wobbuffet for Smash

[TheKnight]

The Wobbuffet for Smash support thread!

Wobbuffet, the Patient Pokémon! Why Wobbuffet you ask? What makes Wobbuffet so special? Don't we already have like a hundred Pokémon fighters anyway? Well, I hope that throughout the length of this post, I can either answer these questions, or at least convince you of why Wobbuffet should be considered for one of those highly sought after spots in the Smash Bros. roster. For the remainder of this thread, I will be heavily piggybacking off of Groose's fantastic Smash 4 thread while adding new ideas of mine to the mix as well.

Wobbuffet made its debut in Pokémon Gold and Silver; two of the most critically acclaimed games in the Pokémon franchise. From there, it became increasingly popular: appearing as a major NPC in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, a platform and item in Smash Bros., and repeatedly appearing as one of the most famous running gags in hundreds of episodes of the Pokémon anime. Additionally, Wobbuffet has been one of competitive play's finest Pokémon since its introduction. It fills a niche, but deceptively dangerous role in the metagame, and was the first non-legendary Pokémon to be banned by the competitive community over at Smogon; the Pokémon metagame's equivalent to Smashboards.

While its popularity does help, what really sets Wobbuffet apart from any other Pokémon--no--any other fighter in the Smash Bros. series, is its ludicrous amount of unique counter-focused moveset potential. Wobbuffet is the Patient Pokémon, preferring to let its opponents do the attacking while it dishes out devastating counter-attacks in return. Initially, this sounds like a negative, as how can a character who only uses counters hold its own on the battlefields of Smash? Well, that's actually where it gets interesting. Along with counter attacks, Wobbuffet is known for its impressive health pool and endurance in the Pokémon games, as well as its ability to trap its opponents. No other character in Smash so far has functioned primarily on a unique system of counter attacks. Here's a rundown of a potential moveset for Wobbuffet (inspired both by Groose's moveset and Wobbuffet's MUGEN moveset by Neat Unsou):

Specials:

Neutral B- Counter. A red aura appears around Wobbuffet, enabling it to instantly counter physical attacks for double the damage. The move can be brief with little knockback, but allows for great punishing of high-powered attacks, while also giving Wobbuffet a relatively reliable way to rack up damage.

Side B- Mirror Coat. A golden aura appears around Wobbuffet, enabling it to counter ranged projectile attacks for double the damage at double the speed. It takes slightly longer to perform than Counter, but nonetheless functions as a reliable way for Wobbuffet to defend against projectiles. As per Groose's idea, perhaps Counter and Mirror Coat could have different timings required for button presses.

Up B- Destiny Bond. I believe Groose explained their concept best, so here's the original text: "Wobbuffet lacks a traditional recovery move, instead possessing a true killer move. After a moderately lengthy pause, Wobbuffet glows black and remains this way very briefly; anyone who hits him during this time is dealt the same knockback they give Wobbuffet. This works regardless of current damage, and makes it very difficult to revenge-kill Wobbuffet. "

Down B- Encore. Wobbuffet poses and causes a spotlight and confetti to rain down upon a foe in front of it. If it lands, the opponent is locked into the move they last used for 5 seconds. If any other move is attempted during the duration of this effect, it will come out as the move the opponent is locked into. For balance's sake, there could be a cooldown for this move displayed near Wobbuffet's icon during a match.

Alternatively, as per Groose's original idea, Wobbuffet could glow white after a lengthy pause, and stay that way briefly. Any opponent that attacks Wobbuffet during this phase will be locked into the same attack they hit Wobbuffet with originally for around 5 seconds.

Final Smash: Call for Family (TCG): Groose's original idea: "Why? Wynaut! Wobbuffet’s pre-evolution swarms the stage in surprising numbers and run around the field causing havoc. They are moderately damaging on their own, and inflict major damage when attacked. This makes opponents seize attacking in fear of harming themselves, giving Wobbuffet considerable time to repair and regroup."

For Ultimate's standards, this FS may not fall in line with how many of the other fighter's FS's were changed. Perhaps Call for Family could launch a cutscene instead, where the opponent is trampled by Wynauts, similarly to Yoshi's FS. This, however, wouldn't be nearly as interesting.

Grabs & Throws:
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For Wobbuffet's grabs and throws, it could employ its ability from the Pokémon games: Shadow Tag. Upon throwing an opponent in any direction, Shadow Tag could activate, preventing the opponent from flying too far with a sort of shadowy forcefield. This could cause opponents to ricochet off of the barrier and fly back in Wobbuffet's direction, allowing Wobbuffet to attempt to hit them with a well-timed Counter attack. Alternatively, this could be applied only to a certain throw, like back throw, to allow Wobbuffet to be able to utilize normal throws for the other three. This is a very loose interpretation of the Shadow Tag ability, but I believe it could work well within the setting of Smash.

Other Attacks & Attributes:
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For the rest of Wobbuffet's arsenal, it would function as any other fighter would by having a jab, tilts, aerials, smash attacks. These attacks would all utilize Wobbuffet's bulbous, blue, blobby body to hit them around. These moves could be somewhat slow or laggy to encourage the usage of Wobbuffet's specials. It would be a fairly heavy fighter with a slower than average run speed and average jump height. To make up for its lack of viable recovery other than its jumps, Wobbuffet could play further into its defensive role by having the largest shield in the game. Grabs could be an effective way to fight a Wobbuffet, as they would go through both its massive shield and its specials.

Alts could include the female lip-stick wearing Wobbuffet along with shiny variants of male and female. There could also be accessories, like the yellow headband (from one episode in the anime) to various other silly guises.

While it's true that Wobbuffet was once quite popular, its popularity in recent years has certainly been waning. Jesse's Wobbuffet was reintroduced into the anime following the Black & White series which is a plus, though Wobbuffet as a whole doesn't have a lot of continued relevance nowadays outside its cameos in the anime. Wobbuffet's an older Pokémon, and it usually seems to be the better move for Smash to add popular Pokémon from the latest games in the series. Its Pokéball was even removed in Smash 4 as an item. To top it off, the very thing that would make Wobbuffet an excellent and unique fighter, would also be the very thing that may hinder its addition as a playable fighter: its ultra defensive moveset.

Despite these hindrances, there is certainly still hope for the blue blob. Wobbuffet's been in both Melee and Brawl as a Pokéball item, and still appears in Ultimate as a spirit. It appeared as a hazard in Melee's PokéFloats and as a trophy, while appearing both as a sticker and trophy in Brawl. Sakurai clearly sees it as an important Pokémon, though perhaps less so in recent years. For what its worth however, Wobbuffet spent nearly a decade as one of the most popular and important Pokémon in existence! That, and it's always been my favorite Pokémon, so I can dream, right? I know it's terribly unlikely, but I'm fine with that. It's about time to bring back the blue blob. Wobbuffet for Smash!

Thanks to Groose for the incredible ideas in the original thread. I thought I'd bring Wobbuffet back around for consideration, even for future Smash games!

The sprite gifs are from MUGEN.

 

[TheKnight]

And if anyone could tell me how to spoiler the moveset, that'd be much appreciated!