amazonevan19
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2018
- Messages
- 917
DISCLAIMER: This thread contains spoilers for Dragon Quest III. (Yes, spoilers for a 30+ year old game, but hey, might as well be considerate just in case, right?)
I also put all of this information in the form of an easily shareable document! Feel free to pass it around! If you'd like to be added to the list of supporters, let me know!
Background
Baramos is an antagonist from the Dragon Quest series, first appearing in Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation. He shows up as a boss in Dragon Quest IX and XI as well as some spinoffs. He is known as the Demon Lord and the Arch Fiend throughout DQIII’s story and has menaced Aliahan and the broader world since the days of Erdrick’s father, Ortega.
Why Baramos for Smash?
You may be familiar with the Hero from Dragon Quest, the second DLC fighter. Baramos would present a unique opportunity to include a third party villain in the roster. And, as a magic using heavyweight, I feel he would bring a new archetype to Smash and be a great opportunity for Square Enix to bring more Dragon Quest content to the game.
“But wait!” You might say. “Baramos isn’t actually the ultimate villain of DQIII! That’s Zoma! Why not include him?”
And to that I say that DQ villains like Zoma and Malroth, among others, are probably more difficult to translate into Smash due to their overpoweredness in the games. Malroth in particular is one of the most infamous antagonists in gaming for how brutal he is and would be much better as a spirit, a DLC boss, or assist trophy/stage hazard of some sort. For that reason, I also feel that Hargon would be a better pick as a Smash fighter if you wanted to represent Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest Builders 2.
So Baramos, while a difficult fight in his original game, would probably be an easier pick to get the Smash treatment. And, being one of the villains from perhaps the most well-received, well-known, and overall most impactful Dragon Quest game doesn’t hurt either.
With that out of the way, let’s look at what Baramos would have to offer if he came to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!
Outfits
Baramos comes pre-built with a decent number of skins already.
Default would obviously be his standard look.
Two costumes could be based on his original NES Dragon Quest III appearance. On the left is his in-game sprite, the middle is just a modernized version of the classic sprite, and on the right is his appearance in the manual of the game.
This is the sprite for the Soul of Baramos, a fierce monster which stands between you and the final fight with Zoma. It makes for a great skin imo!
Speaking of Zoma, I think an alt which a color scheme similar to him would make sense. Orange garment, pink cape with red inside, blue skin, and a white medal.
This color scheme comes from the Baramonster enemy in the Cloudsgate Citadel bonus dungeon of DQIII.
You could also pull a Joker and have two alts be based on the more zombified appearance of Baramos from Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D.
Finally, if Sakurai really wanted to troll the Smash fanbase, he could take a Baramos color scheme from Piano, a Dragon Ball character who bears some superficial resemblance to Baramos. Do recall that Toriyama is the artist for both DQ and Dragon Ball!
Overall, Baramos already comes with a few alt concepts from the original game, and could get more based on what Sakurai wants to reference through his color schemes.
Moveset
Baramos would be very similar to King K Rool in terms of weight, ground speed, air speed, air acceleration, and falling speed. I honestly don’t see much of a reason to make him drastically different from King K Rool in those regards.
Unlike Hero, who learns a vast array of different spells, Baramos has a limited movepool and as such, does not need a spell menu or any sort of special charge meter like Cloud, Joker, Little Mac, or Terry.
His main gimmick would be that in between each KO that is credited to him, he will regain a set amount of damage (probably 15-20%). This is to reference the fact that in the games, he regains HP in between each turn. This may sound overpowered, and in eight-player smash it most likely would be...if he gets 2-3 KOs at once he can likely heal up all of his damage!
So for that reason I would think it would be prudent to likely downgrade the potency of this mechanic, either over the duration of the battle or in the event of a double or triple KO. So first stock heals 20%, second heals 10%, third heals 5%, etc. Overall, Baramos’ archetype would be a heavyweight which does heavyweight things but also has magic, truly setting him apart from other heavyweights in the game.
Neutral A/Jabs: Baramos slashes like Wolf for the first two jabs, then for the last hit he swings his cape, which reverses the player like Mario’s cape. I think this would be a pretty cool setup option for followup attacks.
Side Tilt: One stronger slash attack with more startup than the jabs but a devastating sweetspot.
Up Tilt: An upward punch like King K Rool’s would do here.
Down tilt: Something like Bowser’s down tilt would do here.
Neutral B/Special: Just copy Hero’s neutral B. The more you charge it up, the stronger the fireball you can cast.
Side-B/Side Special: Fuddle: Baramos makes eye contact with the opponent and confuses them similar to Mewtwo’s confusion move.
Up-B/Up Special: Baramos is implied to have wings underneath his cape so having an up-B similar to Pit’s or Ridley’s makes sense to me. Since Baramos is a big boy I wouldn’t think that his jumps and up-B would have a lot of range and would be a weakness of the fighter.
Down-B/Down Special: Inferno: Baramos belches blistering flames on the enemy. In theory it sounds similar to Bowser’s neutral B, but the difference here is that Baramos’ flames are only out for a very limited time before disappearing altogether. Bowser’s fire reduces more gradually, but Baramos’ goes out within 2 seconds. The fire is stronger than Bowser’s upon startup, however.
Forward Smash: Kaboom: Baramos casts the Kaboom spell, which sends a shockwave of explosions out from his cape like this.
Up Smash: Baramos would face up and snap his beak upward. Somewhat similar to Piranha Plant’s down special in theory but would act completely differently as it can’t be extended the more you hold it. Somewhat limited range but a lot of power.
Down Smash: A King K Rool belly flop would do here.
Up Aerial: A King K Rool up air would work here imo.
Forward Aerial: Bazoom: Baramos waves his arms up and the force sends the opponent flying away a great distance. It does not do much base damage but the strength of the move lies in crowd control and is an excellent off-stage option. Due to how strong the move is off-stage it would likely need a very small hurt box or have a small sweetspot. If you sourspot it then it’ll only send the opponent a short distance.
Back Aerial: Again, since Baramos is implied to have wings, I think something like Ridley’s backair would work.
Down Aerial: A vicious stomp attack like Ganondorf’s would work here.
Final Smash: Upon startup, Baramos would catch an opponent by charging forward similar to Joker or King K Rool.
Then either one of two scenarios could play out:
Baramos would likely come with spirits that are more specific to Dragon Quest III, and likely also come with other villains/antagonists throughout the series.
Stock Icon
I am not an artist and I am unable to make one up for myself, but my idea would be to take Baramos’ head like this
Make it face the player more and then change it into Smash’s more minimalistic looks for the stock icons.
Series Icon
The Dragon Quest series icon that Hero has would definitely be what they would use.
Stage
Baramos’ Lair would without a doubt be the best stage to choose from. He could also come with a stage that scrolls through various locations in the world of Dragon Quest III.
Character Portrait (on CSS, etc.)
I think that the default pose/official artwork of Baramos that I posted earlier is more than sufficient for his portrait.
Music
Hero already came with a couple of tracks from Dragon Quest III but I think Baramos could come with more music from the series and III as well, especially including the theme of Ramia, the legendary phoenix you ride to get to Baramos’ Lair.
Symphonic Suite - Heavenly Flight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBK7BZo2FQI
Symphonic Suite - Dungeon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4mU3HuESI0
Symphonic Suite - Around the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy5EcOzMj9M
Dragon Quest didn’t get a whole lot of songs (8, 2 for each Hero skin), so Baramos would likely also not come with a ton of music, either. And we’d likely get MIDI’d, unfortunately.
It is a real shame since the series as a whole has great music, albeit a lot of it not too fitting for Smash battles. But I’d leave it up to Sakurai and the team to pick the songs and make a couple of cool remixes, if possible!
Taunts
Up Taunt: Baramos looks from side to side then stares right at the camera and puts his hand on his chin.
Side taunt: Baramos puts his hand behind his back and pulls out the Sphere of Light or one of the six orbs from the game, looks at it fondly, then puts it away.
Down taunt: Baramos stomps on the ground and sneers at the camera.
Supporters:
1.) amazonevan19
2.) JDCabrera
I also put all of this information in the form of an easily shareable document! Feel free to pass it around! If you'd like to be added to the list of supporters, let me know!
Background
Baramos is an antagonist from the Dragon Quest series, first appearing in Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation. He shows up as a boss in Dragon Quest IX and XI as well as some spinoffs. He is known as the Demon Lord and the Arch Fiend throughout DQIII’s story and has menaced Aliahan and the broader world since the days of Erdrick’s father, Ortega.
Why Baramos for Smash?
You may be familiar with the Hero from Dragon Quest, the second DLC fighter. Baramos would present a unique opportunity to include a third party villain in the roster. And, as a magic using heavyweight, I feel he would bring a new archetype to Smash and be a great opportunity for Square Enix to bring more Dragon Quest content to the game.
“But wait!” You might say. “Baramos isn’t actually the ultimate villain of DQIII! That’s Zoma! Why not include him?”
And to that I say that DQ villains like Zoma and Malroth, among others, are probably more difficult to translate into Smash due to their overpoweredness in the games. Malroth in particular is one of the most infamous antagonists in gaming for how brutal he is and would be much better as a spirit, a DLC boss, or assist trophy/stage hazard of some sort. For that reason, I also feel that Hargon would be a better pick as a Smash fighter if you wanted to represent Dragon Quest II and Dragon Quest Builders 2.
So Baramos, while a difficult fight in his original game, would probably be an easier pick to get the Smash treatment. And, being one of the villains from perhaps the most well-received, well-known, and overall most impactful Dragon Quest game doesn’t hurt either.
With that out of the way, let’s look at what Baramos would have to offer if he came to the roster of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate!
Outfits
Baramos comes pre-built with a decent number of skins already.
Default would obviously be his standard look.
Two costumes could be based on his original NES Dragon Quest III appearance. On the left is his in-game sprite, the middle is just a modernized version of the classic sprite, and on the right is his appearance in the manual of the game.
This is the sprite for the Soul of Baramos, a fierce monster which stands between you and the final fight with Zoma. It makes for a great skin imo!
Speaking of Zoma, I think an alt which a color scheme similar to him would make sense. Orange garment, pink cape with red inside, blue skin, and a white medal.
This color scheme comes from the Baramonster enemy in the Cloudsgate Citadel bonus dungeon of DQIII.
You could also pull a Joker and have two alts be based on the more zombified appearance of Baramos from Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry’s Wonderland 3D.
Finally, if Sakurai really wanted to troll the Smash fanbase, he could take a Baramos color scheme from Piano, a Dragon Ball character who bears some superficial resemblance to Baramos. Do recall that Toriyama is the artist for both DQ and Dragon Ball!
Overall, Baramos already comes with a few alt concepts from the original game, and could get more based on what Sakurai wants to reference through his color schemes.
Moveset
Baramos would be very similar to King K Rool in terms of weight, ground speed, air speed, air acceleration, and falling speed. I honestly don’t see much of a reason to make him drastically different from King K Rool in those regards.
Unlike Hero, who learns a vast array of different spells, Baramos has a limited movepool and as such, does not need a spell menu or any sort of special charge meter like Cloud, Joker, Little Mac, or Terry.
His main gimmick would be that in between each KO that is credited to him, he will regain a set amount of damage (probably 15-20%). This is to reference the fact that in the games, he regains HP in between each turn. This may sound overpowered, and in eight-player smash it most likely would be...if he gets 2-3 KOs at once he can likely heal up all of his damage!
So for that reason I would think it would be prudent to likely downgrade the potency of this mechanic, either over the duration of the battle or in the event of a double or triple KO. So first stock heals 20%, second heals 10%, third heals 5%, etc. Overall, Baramos’ archetype would be a heavyweight which does heavyweight things but also has magic, truly setting him apart from other heavyweights in the game.
Neutral A/Jabs: Baramos slashes like Wolf for the first two jabs, then for the last hit he swings his cape, which reverses the player like Mario’s cape. I think this would be a pretty cool setup option for followup attacks.
Side Tilt: One stronger slash attack with more startup than the jabs but a devastating sweetspot.
Up Tilt: An upward punch like King K Rool’s would do here.
Down tilt: Something like Bowser’s down tilt would do here.
Neutral B/Special: Just copy Hero’s neutral B. The more you charge it up, the stronger the fireball you can cast.
Side-B/Side Special: Fuddle: Baramos makes eye contact with the opponent and confuses them similar to Mewtwo’s confusion move.
Up-B/Up Special: Baramos is implied to have wings underneath his cape so having an up-B similar to Pit’s or Ridley’s makes sense to me. Since Baramos is a big boy I wouldn’t think that his jumps and up-B would have a lot of range and would be a weakness of the fighter.
Down-B/Down Special: Inferno: Baramos belches blistering flames on the enemy. In theory it sounds similar to Bowser’s neutral B, but the difference here is that Baramos’ flames are only out for a very limited time before disappearing altogether. Bowser’s fire reduces more gradually, but Baramos’ goes out within 2 seconds. The fire is stronger than Bowser’s upon startup, however.
Forward Smash: Kaboom: Baramos casts the Kaboom spell, which sends a shockwave of explosions out from his cape like this.
Up Smash: Baramos would face up and snap his beak upward. Somewhat similar to Piranha Plant’s down special in theory but would act completely differently as it can’t be extended the more you hold it. Somewhat limited range but a lot of power.
Down Smash: A King K Rool belly flop would do here.
Up Aerial: A King K Rool up air would work here imo.
Forward Aerial: Bazoom: Baramos waves his arms up and the force sends the opponent flying away a great distance. It does not do much base damage but the strength of the move lies in crowd control and is an excellent off-stage option. Due to how strong the move is off-stage it would likely need a very small hurt box or have a small sweetspot. If you sourspot it then it’ll only send the opponent a short distance.
Back Aerial: Again, since Baramos is implied to have wings, I think something like Ridley’s backair would work.
Down Aerial: A vicious stomp attack like Ganondorf’s would work here.
Final Smash: Upon startup, Baramos would catch an opponent by charging forward similar to Joker or King K Rool.
Then either one of two scenarios could play out:
- You are then taken to a cinematic within Baramos' Lair which shows Baramos sitting on his throne in front of a party of heroes. He then belches out a disastrously strong Inferno which sizzles his adversary(ies)!
- The cinematic shows Erdrick and whoever else gets caught in the final smash riding on the legendary phoenix Ramia. Then, Baramos appears and blasts them out of the sky in a similar manner to Ridley destroying Samus’ gunship in his final smash. If Erdrick or the Hero is already in battle, then he would be replaced by a party member from Dragon Quest III who is from one of the other vocations.
Baramos would likely come with spirits that are more specific to Dragon Quest III, and likely also come with other villains/antagonists throughout the series.
Stock Icon
I am not an artist and I am unable to make one up for myself, but my idea would be to take Baramos’ head like this
Make it face the player more and then change it into Smash’s more minimalistic looks for the stock icons.
Series Icon
The Dragon Quest series icon that Hero has would definitely be what they would use.
Stage
Baramos’ Lair would without a doubt be the best stage to choose from. He could also come with a stage that scrolls through various locations in the world of Dragon Quest III.
Character Portrait (on CSS, etc.)
I think that the default pose/official artwork of Baramos that I posted earlier is more than sufficient for his portrait.
Music
Hero already came with a couple of tracks from Dragon Quest III but I think Baramos could come with more music from the series and III as well, especially including the theme of Ramia, the legendary phoenix you ride to get to Baramos’ Lair.
Symphonic Suite - Heavenly Flight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBK7BZo2FQI
Symphonic Suite - Dungeon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4mU3HuESI0
Symphonic Suite - Around the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy5EcOzMj9M
Dragon Quest didn’t get a whole lot of songs (8, 2 for each Hero skin), so Baramos would likely also not come with a ton of music, either. And we’d likely get MIDI’d, unfortunately.
It is a real shame since the series as a whole has great music, albeit a lot of it not too fitting for Smash battles. But I’d leave it up to Sakurai and the team to pick the songs and make a couple of cool remixes, if possible!Taunts
Up Taunt: Baramos looks from side to side then stares right at the camera and puts his hand on his chin.
Side taunt: Baramos puts his hand behind his back and pulls out the Sphere of Light or one of the six orbs from the game, looks at it fondly, then puts it away.
Down taunt: Baramos stomps on the ground and sneers at the camera.
Supporters:
1.) amazonevan19
2.) JDCabrera
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