Miriam Blooms Into Battle!
Miriam already has
several alternate palettes in-game thanks to Todd. The purple, green, red, black, and pink palettes for the main costume colour will be exactly as they are in the original game; I’d prefer it if the sub colour stayed the same. Seeing as the Ex Shovel Armour completely changes her moveset (and might be seen as a joke that’s in bad taste, like Bad Box Art Mega Man), that won’t be directly used here. However, the seventh palette for her normal outfit could reference that, being a lighter blue than normal, along with a darker blue sub colour and yellow belts. Miriam will also have
the Valkyrie Dress, one of the few armours in the game (along with the Ex Shovel Armour) that changes her appearance, as a proper alternate costume.
For the series’ logo, I’ll go with
the rose found in the letter B of the game’s title. It’s a small symbol that relates both to Miriam’s design and her main weapon (the Blue Rose), so it makes the most sense to me.
There are a lot of potential stages that could represent the game, given that it’s a Metroidvania. Arvantville might work, as it’s a location early on in the game. However, I’m concerned that it might be too bland. I think I’ll go with Livre Ex Machina, as it’s a location unlike any that we’ve seen in Smash – a mix between a library and a factory. Hazards could include spinning blades on the ground, as well as bookshelves that move in and out of the foreground. White ones are static, while red, yellow, and blue bookcases move out to form platforms (or in to make those platforms disappear) on regular intervals. If hazards are turned off, the blue bookcases stay out, while the spinning blades are removed. Orlok Dracule is sitting on a balcony, watching the fight, and for some mysterious reason, Alucard can’t be summoned as an assist trophy on this stage. Hm… I wonder why?
Miriam appears on-stage through a portal that reforms into a stained glass window, referencing the fast travel rooms from Bloodstained. The window/portal sinks into the ground as Miriam prepares to fight. Miriam’s idle animations include stretching her hands over her head or putting a fist on her hip while her other hand is at her side.
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Miriam’s main weapon will be
the Blue Rose, one of the stronger swords (not counting Greatswords) in the game and the weapon that Miriam uses in promotional material.
A-->AA-->AAA: two horizontal swings (left to right and right to left), finishing with a stab.
Forward A: Miriam stabs forward with one of the game’s spear weapons. I’m tempted to have it be
the shovel as a reference to Shovel Knight, though
Gungnir could also work.
Up A: Miriam stabs Blue Rose into the air.
Down A: Miriam does a sliding kick along the ground – I know it’s been done before, but it’s a ducking attack move that lets her get through small spaces.
Forward Smash: Force Blast. Once she finishes charging, Miriam jumps up a little bit and slashes diagonally downwards with a yell. This is based on the special technique that can be used with Blue Rose, among other swords, and it has an ice effect.
Up Smash: Miriam uses a whip to attack directly above her, much like Simon’s up smash. She uses a whip as her default weapon in Curse of the Moon, so I thought I should reference it here. (plus I felt like I needed to include a Castlevania shout-out)
Down Smash: Miriam does a sweep kick to knock opponents off their feet.
Neutral Air: Miriam slashes with her blade, with the trail forming a crescent moon in a subtle nod to Zangetsu.
Forward Air: Miriam swings
Eternal Blue, a greatsword that is the most powerful weapon in Bloodstained ROTN.
Back Air: Miriam kicks behind herself.
Up Air: Miriam summons a Bloodbringer familiar, which stays suspended in the air for a few seconds while spinning around. Miriam can only summon one at a time.
Down Air: Miriam fires an Acid Jet to slow her descent.
Dash Attack: Accelerator – Miriam moves faster, and she’s surrounded by a blue aura that does light damage and pushes enemies away.
Wake-Up Attack: a Silver Knight familiar stabs on both sides of Miriam as she gets to her feet.
Climb Attack: Miriam summons a pillar of flame on the ground in front of her, climbing up once it disappears.
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Grab: Miriam summons Craftwork, the giant hand made out of stained glass, to grab the opponent
Pummel: Craftwork squeezes the opponent
Forward Throw: Craftwork scrapes the opponent along the ground before tossing them away
Back Throw: Craftwork flings the opponent over Miriam’s shoulder
Up Throw: Craftwork rockets upward, letting go and letting the momentum carry the opponent higher into the air
Down Throw: Craftwork slams the opponent into the ground; this can bury the opponent
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Up Taunt: Miriam strikes one of the two JoJo poses that she goes into if you hold Up on the D-pad in Bloodstained. If possible, she alternates between the two of them, or it's random.
Side Taunt: Miriam pulls out a plate or bowl of food, makes a comment, and puts it back in her inventory. The food that she pulls out is random, with a few different remarks based on what she brings out. Beef Curry would get the best reaction (it has really high stat boosts, and its description seems the most positive), while Dark Matter would get the worst. (“Is… is this really edible?”)
Down Taunt: Miriam summons a chair and sits on it. This taunt can be held, and she stays sitting for as long as the taunt button is held for.
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B: Cerulean Splash – Miriam uses the first shard that you get in the game, shooting out a ball of water that bounces along the ground twice.
Up B: Invert – Miriam flips upside down for a short amount of time, reversing gravity on her. This is automatically undone after a certain amount of time, though unlike in Bloodstained, she can’t walk on ceilings. (that seems like it would become outright broken in custom stages if that was the case)
Side B: Reflector Ray – Miriam travels along a ray of light. Her destination is shown by a beam that shoots from her hand, and the distance that the beam travels will increase if it bounces off of a wall, floor, or ceiling. The only part that does damage is when she appears, with a flash of light surrounding herself, at the end.
Down B: Welcome Company – summons three Poltergeists (living paintings) to surround Miriam, acting as a protective barrier. Each Poltergeist can tank one projectile for her, and the paintings will deal light damage without causing flinching if they hit someone, though they’ll break on contact. (this encourages the enemy to use physical attacks while they’re up, discouraging a campy playstyle) Miriam can move while they’re active. She can’t summon more until they’ve all vanished, and there’s a cooldown after they’ve left – trying to summon them will get a similar reaction to Miriam being out of MP in the original game.
Final Smash: for Miriam’s Final Smash, I’m going to go with Insatiable. Not everyone would have seen this, since it’s a shard that you get by beating the boss from the Backer Pack DLC, so
I’ll include a link to the shard in action. Miriam tosses a wine glass to the ground, shouting “Unacceptable!”, and pillars of purple flame burst from it, traveling along the floor (or up walls, if you're on a stage with walls). The flames are tall, thin, and cover a lot of ground. The speed will be closer to
the version that the DLC boss uses in the fight against him where you earn the shard, though it won’t go nearly as far as it did in that case. (maybe half of that distance)
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Miriam’s first victory pose would be a shard appearing and getting absorbed into her body, like what happens after she beats most bosses. For her second victory pose, she plays the piano along with the victory theme, ending with a dramatic flourish. For her third victory pose, she brandishes her whip before turning with her back to the screen, like her animation after beating a boss in Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon.
For Miriam’s victory theme, I’m thinking of using
the Game Over theme from Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. The level clear theme from Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon sounds similar to it, and it’s a short clip. (besides, Metal Gear also uses game over music for its victory theme in Smash) I guess it’s like Game Over for her opponents.
When Kirby copies Miriam, he gets her hair, complete with the horn-like headgear. Kirby uses Cerulean Splash, which works exactly the same as it does with Miriam.
