Man... there's so many good ideas in this thread. I'm re-reading page-by-page from 1 to here. But I'm just so torn.
The pet care mechanics coming up are really cool, but I doubt we'll get that much UI around the Damage Meter. But that's the beauty of Digimon games, right? Having all those elements & mechanics to keep up after would be perfect homage to the fighter. But it's simply too much to see on the screen at the exact same time.
I hate saying that because I want to agree, but I have little confidence in the idea. The most complicated characters in this regard are between
&
. Those characters have HUB elements around their Damage Meter or constantly switch between tomes/levin & monado arts. You have to keep track of the bars & resources they have from usage and or duration including cooldowns. And only one thing is shown at a time despite having multiple resources. That's where I can't continue to agree with Agumon's HUB elements as an idea from the vPet games. However, the vPet mechanics could be a toggle of some sort, maybe? Only show one piece of element / mechanic at a time. Yet, that's hard to decide for, honestly. It's just a lot of source material put into the character who already has SO MUCH they can work with.
And if you don't use half of it, Agumon's entirety of a video game identity would be a tragic waste of potential to the whole franchise of Digital Monsters. That's what I think is the hardest part about this character's inclusion in Smash. If you only add Greymon, or MetalGreymon, or WarGreymon, or whoever else like a Tamer paired mechanic by itself, then it already feels like the total depth of interest is cut by more than half for it's entire shtick. Not including the full line of Child/Rookie → Champion → Ultimate and or Mega would be seen as a utter waste & a missed opportunity. If we don't even use mechanics like pet caring straight for the vPet games or World games, then it's an utter waste.
That's the hardest thing to admit for Agumon. Like, I want this character so bad. I've wanted previous characters like Sceptile & Spyro the Dragon to be in Smash. But Agumon has it the hardest for me not because it's impossible to include a Digimon, but because there's WAY TOO MUCH riding on source material to take from the games. When developers design characters to be in Smash, they usually do a good job of representing the fighter from their respective franchise(?). It's not that hard to represent the character's inclusion if you compare Sceptile or Spyro. Agumon though... it's so much harder to impress the majority.
But that also comes with problems. Not enough source material included for a fighter's move-set is seen as a wasted opportunity but if you opt for genuinely trying to include as much as you can, it'd be too much development. That's the hardest part to accept, IMO. A lot of time & a lot of resources to spare, only 1 character slot.
Anywho, other things like multiple digivolutions would be cool. Having an inferior digivolution process as a result of improper mechanics to punish the player seems fun, but only for that hot second you think about it. Taking advantage of that in competitive play? Hell no. I wouldn't support anything other than a primary digi-line they decide for Agumon's inclusion of Digivolution.
Graizen
OH MY GOD THAT ICON IS SICK! (scaled the image size to be small enough for being next to the Damage Meter.)
View attachment 221915
And yes I also am in the group of people that recognizes this more closely to Tamers season than Digimon as a whole, but this series symbol would be absolutely mint.
So... yeah. Still in the rough draft phase of thinking about the video.