• Welcome to Smashboards, the world's largest Super Smash Brothers community! Over 250,000 Smash Bros. fans from around the world have come to discuss these great games in over 19 million posts!

    You are currently viewing our boards as a visitor. Click here to sign up right now and start on your path in the Smash community!

The Dream of Our Generation: Rhythm Heaven's Marshal for Smash!

Game And Guy

Smash Cadet
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
65
Marshal_Wii.png


WHAT IS RHYTHM HEAVEN?
Rhythm Heaven, also known as Rhythm Paradise and Rhythm World, is a series of rhythm games compromised of various wacky and, sometimes, nonsensical musical minigames. The first game, frequently referred to as Rhythm Tengoku (Heaven in English) was a Japan only release, but proved to be widely popular. All subsequent games have been released worldwide, with a total of Four console games and one arcade game. Rhythm Heaven, despite its first game being on the GBA, did not get into Smash until 4, where it received the Sneaky Spirit enemy in Smash Run, as well as two ported songs that plays on the Miiverse Stage. Since then, it has been discovered that Rhythm Heaven was planned to have a character at some point in time.

WHO IS MARSHAL?
Marshal is one of three characters who appear to greet the player in the Wii game Rhythm Heaven Fever. He, Miss Ribbon, and Cam test the player's rhythm through a couple of games. He reappears once you beat the main game in the credits scene in Fever's version of the minigame Night Walk. On the same note, it is interesting to point out that Marshal resembles two characters from past games, one of which is the Tengoku's Night Walk's Play-Yan, and DS' Glee Club's Chorus Men. It is valid to argue that Marshal is an attempt to flesh out the recurring archetype of the character. Marshal does not reappear in the next game, Megamix.

WHY MARSHAL THEN?
Marshal is the face of the series' most popular game, Fever. While there are many choices and more recurring characters in Rhythm Heaven, Marshal encompasses various traits of the series.

One of the most popular choices for a Rhythm Heaven character is Glee Club's Chorus Men. Largely stemming from the infamous Gematsu leak, the Chorus Men, for all intents and purposes, is very much the same as Marshal, with some folks even confusing Marshal as part of them. In this vain, I think Marshal is a much better choice than the Chorus Men because he is a named character with more presence than characters from a less known minigame. Compared to Ringside, Lockstep, and Karate Man, Glee Club is very much a tier down in general popularity. Marshal, as mentioned, is also obviously a continuation of the Play-Yan archetype, building up from the Chorus Men, so I believe he is much more suited for the role.
Speaking of Karate Man, the second most popular choice for Rhythm Heaven is arguably Karate Joe. He is one of the few characters who have appeared in all games, and his games are arguably one of the most well-known from series. My argument against Karate Joe is how boring of a choice he would be. Rhythm Heaven is a vastly colourful game with a rainbow of settings and characters. Karate Joe is a human character with a bland design, with his minigames, although absured, based on a rather "real" thing: karate. For him to represent the more zany aspects of Rhythm Heaven (like an interview with an enthusiastic wrestler, or a game badminton in the air, or moai singing to each other) makes zero sense. The character is far too generic for the task of representing the franchise.
In the same vein, the other character that has appeared in all games is the Wandering Samurai. He is, arguably, a much more interesting character than Karate Joe due to the bizarre settings and games Samurai has been in (some of which include slicing watermelons, saving a teddy bear, and rolling around on a skateboard), but he has the same problem of being too generic of a design to represent a colourful franchise.
Next, Tibby, the protagonist of the most recent entry to the franchise, 3DS' Rhythm Heaven Megamix. There is one easy reason against Tibby: he, and the entire forced story of Megamix, is very annoying. I cannot understand the support for him when he and all the characters introduced in megamix, were a nuisance to the gameplay. Tibby is, in fact, probably the only Rhythm Heaven character with the most fleshed out personality. But this doesn't mean Tibby is a good character. He is bland and, at times, condescending, but arguably his worst attribute is as a roadblock to playing the game. He doesn't even appear in any playable game, and has shown very little interaction with the actual minigames. He also less recognizable than Marshal and all the other popular choices, due to Megamix' relatively weaker popularity compared to its predecessors.
Lastly, the Rhythm Girl and the Monkey. The Rhythm Girl essentially compromises the red dress-wearing girl featured in the art of Rhythm Heaven Fever, as well as various minigames featuring different girls playing different roles (like the Tap Trial girl and the brunette in Fever). Like the Rhythm Girl, the Monkey is group of characters that have appeared in all four games. I would actually think these two characters are much more proper to represent than those I've mentioned above, but because Rhythm Girl is not actually a single character and another human, and the Monkey being a character in the same vein as Nurses in Pokemon or Toads in Mario, I think Marshal trumps above them.
In essence, Marshal is not just the face of Fever, but also a character that represents several other characters in past games. His simple and non-human design lends to his ability to reprsent one Nintendo's most odd IPs. Marshal's doughy characteristics and his bubbly personality allows him to easily be molded to represent games like the straightforward Karate Man to oddballs like Kitties!

HOW WOULD HE EVEN PLAY?
Rhythm Heaven's vast amount of minigames can easily create a fun and wacky character. Marshal could be compromised of moves taken directly from minigames, much like Mr. Game and Watch. But I don't think that is simply enough to make Marshal an interesting character. Rhythm Heaven is a RHYTHM game, after all. I personally came up with a moveset that I think would really make Marshal into a character that is both fun to play and play differently from other existing characters. I think Rhythm Heaven in general is a great game to make a unique newcomer for Smash that isn't just an amalgamation of games.

Special Ability: Flow - Almost all of Marshal's moves have three versions: Miss, Okay, and Superb. Miss moves are weak, Okay moves are stronger, and Superb moves are the strongest. To increase Marshal's Flow he must damage the opponent. He has a five heart bar known as a "Flow Bar" above his portait. Every time he does damage, a Heart fills up, but every time he misses, half a Heart disappears. Miss moves occur at Zero and One Hearts, Okay moves occur at Two and Three Hearts, and Superb moves occur at Four and Five Hearts. Visually, whenever Marshal hits a Miss, he looks disappointed or surprised. For an Okay, he looks content. For a Superb, he looks excited.

Neutral Attack: Space Dance - Can easily be used to charge flow.
Miss - raises an arm and hits the opponent. (And pose!/Turn right!)
Okay - squats down and kicks the opponents. (Let's sit down!)
Superb - quick charge punch with considerable knockback. (Pu-pu-pu-punch!)

Forward Tilt: Love Rap - Can easily be used to charge flow
Miss - a short speech bubble that says "Fo' sure" hits in front.
Okay - a medium long speech bubble that say" "In to you" hits in front.
Superb - a long speech bubble that says "Crazy in to you" hits in front.

Up Tilt: Ninja - Can easily be used to charge flow
Miss - raises a sword above like a poke
Okay - raises a sword above and sways it once
Superb - raises a sword above and sways it twice

Down Tilt: See-saw - can easily be used to charge flow
Miss - jumps up and a see-saw bumps below the opponent
Okay - jumps and a see-saw hits the opponent upwards
Superb - jumps and a see-saw hits the opponent high upwards

Dash Attack: Big Rock Finish
Miss - slides with a guitar and hits the opponent. small hitbox.
Okay - slides with a guitar and hits the opponent. larger hitbox due to music notes
Superb - slides with a guitar and hits the opponent. even larger hitbox to due to music notes

Forward Smash: Lockstep
Miss - does the lockstep pose. has a small hitbox above and at feet.
Okay - a monkey appears in front, and does the lockstep pose. has a small hitbox above and at feet for both.
Superb - two monkey appear in front and does the lockstep pose. has a small hitbox above and at feet for all three.

Up Smash: Clappy Trio
Miss - does a clap above
Okay - does a clap, then a monkey appears above marshal's head and does a clap.
Super - does a clap, then two monkeys consecutively appears above marshal's head and does a clap

Down Smash: Tap Trial
Miss - does a step in front
Okay - does a two step ub front alongside monkey on the other side that does the same
Superb - does a multi-step with monkeys on both sides that does the same

Neutral Aerial: Spaceball
Miss - swings a back from back to side but only partly hits
Okay - swings a bat from back to side and hits both sides
Superb - swings a bat from back to side and in a circular motion

Forward Aerial: Figure Fighter
Miss - gains a glove and jabs (Jab!)
Okay - gains a glove and jabs twice (One, two!)
Superby - gains a glove and jabes thrice, with the last hit having large knockback (Go! Go! Go!)

Back Aerial: Air Rally
Miss - weakly swings vertically
Okay - vertically swings harder. small spike box.
Superb - vertically swings even harder. large spike box.

Up Aerial: Cheer Readers
Miss - holds up an open book above
Okay - holds up an open book and flips it (It's up to you!)
Superb - holds up an open book and flips it multiple times before stretching the book out as a finsher (Okay it's on!)

Down Aerial: Built to Scale
Miss - holds a spring rod below which retracts and springs downwards. can meteor.
Okay - holds a spring rod below which retracts and shoots a small rod downwards. small spike box.
Superb - holds a spring rod below which retracts and shoot a widget (with a rod inside) downwards. largest spike box.

Grab: Packing Pests - put arms vertically and clamps them
Pummel: Love Lab - shakes the opponent vigorously

Forward Throw: Packing Pests
Miss - slaps opponent angled horizontally downwards
Okay - slaps opponent angled horizontally downwards then slaps a spider
Superb - Slaps opponent angled horizontally downwards then slaps two spiders

Back Throw: Munchy Monk
Miss - puts on palm and launches backwards
Okay - puts on palm and launches backwards then launches a pea
Superb - puts on palm and launches backwards then launches three peas

Up Throw: Love Lab
Miss - Throws upwards with one hand
Okay - Throws upwards with one hand then throws up a heart
Superb - Throws upwards with one hand then throws up two hearts

Down Throw - Screw Bot Factor
Miss - throws down opponent using a metal claw
Okay - drills down opponent for a short time using a metal claw (Let's go)
Superb - drills down opponent for a longer time using a metal claw (Oh yeah)

Floor Attack (Front): Spaceball - swings a bat forward
Floor Attack (Backward): Spaceball - swings a bat backwards
Edge Attack: Spaceball - swings a bat while getting up

Neutral Special: Glee Club
Miss - he sings out loud, causing a small explosion with weak damage.
Okay - by pressing b longer, a monkey appears on his head and sings that causes a larger explosion with higher damage
Superb - by pressing b even longer, a monkey appears on the head of the other other monkey and sings, cuasing an even larger explosion with even higher damage

Side Special: Super Samurai Slice
Miss - rides a skateboard that goes right while doing a slash
Okay - rides a skateboard that goes right while doing two slashes
Superb - rides skateboard that goes right while holding a katana that causes electric damage in around him

Up Special: Night Walk
Miss - a block appears below and bounces him upwards
Okay - a block appears below and bounces him higher upwards, while a heart projectile flies up with him
Superb - a block appears below and bounces even higher upwards, while stars trail below him and the a heart follows him up.

Down Special: Karate Man
Miss - punches a pot projectile
Okay - kicks a barrel containing a bomb
Superb - holding b releases punches and kicks that send a flurry of pots and barrels. releasing b, Marshal performs an uppercut

Final Smash: Perfect Remix! - Flashes opponents with a camera. Send them to a series of minigames: Karate Man who kickes them to Sneaky Spirits, where an arrow sends them to Ringside where the finish move is "Pose for the Fans!"
FINAL STUFF AND SUPPORTERS!
Marshal or not, Rhythm Heaven deserves a spot in Smash. Let's hope that we finally get the recognition it deserves!
 
Last edited:

NessSaysOkay

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Messages
99
Boy its been a while. ('m gonna post this piece in various other RH threads, sorry) Hope is at an all time low and I'm not like super hopeful but... we can't give up completely can we? I mean Arms was "presumed dead" and then... yeah. There are 2 ways to look at its inclusion, one of which hurts us, but one helps. It's inclusion right after Byleth makes me very much think we'll get at least 1 more first party fighter, quite possibly 2 maybe even 3 (especially since its been ages since anything leaked for smash, though I can't see less then at least 2 third party fighters) but if Arms was added purely for promotion then... we might be a bit screwed. Yes Megamix was only 2 years before Arms but... Arms is on the switch is the big deal to me. However... Arms has another aspect. In interviews Sakurai said Arms was considered for the base roster but didn't make the cut due to timing. As for DLC he said the Arms team requested it. Revisiting old ideas... requests... must I say more? Requests might not be as obvious but if Tsunku is asking us to make our voices heard for a new Rhythm Heaven then... he'd ask... right? Not to mention he literally retweeted a Rhythm Heaven in Smash animation right before asking one of those times. Honestly, when I actually sit down and think about everything... it seems very much plausible... but that optimism quickly fades. There's plenty against it of course, I won't talk about that here since I'm sure you all are aware. All we can do is hope. Lastly I'd like to make a double plug of sorts. While I do not own this account entirely, the owner (Jomspoons, the guy who made the Karate Joe thread) gave me tweetdeck access a while ago. The account kinda died but I've decided to revive it, check it out maybe? https://twitter.com/RH4Smash you may notice the most recent retweet is from my personal. RH in smash history documentary maybe? It'd likely be at least 25 minutes, frankly could be an hour but I'll try to be reasonable. Keep your rhythm up!
 

IceBlueLugia

Smash Rookie
Joined
Oct 2, 2020
Messages
1
Well, it didnt happen, though I can’t say I’m disappointed really, this was a step up from the last 2 fighters imo. This moveset is fantastic, honestly I’d be fine with any Rhythm Heaven character being playable lol. The mechanics for him are just so cool
 
Top Bottom