Alternative Roy Moveset Inspired by Swampasaur
This is an alternative moveset for Roy that was inspired by @Swampasaur’s thoughts on Roy. This incarnation is a blending of Roy’s techniques as a Mercenary in Fire Emblem Awakening and his abilities from Super Smash Bros Melee and Fire Emblem: Binding Blade.
Appearance: Roy’s default costume is his DLC costume from Fire Emblem Awakening, based on the Mercenary class, which will have four colours. Likewise, his traditional armour from Melee and FE6 is an alternate costume much like Wario with his Warioware costume and his traditional purple and yellow overalls costume.
Gimmicks/Defining Feature: Much like in Melee, Roy’s defining gameplay feature is the positioning of his sword’s hitbox, being stronger at the base of the blade. This is intended to make him part of a ‘trio,’ where Marth focus on spacing with the tip of his sword, Lucina able to swap from between close range and spacing without power variation while Roy’s playstyle revolves around getting up close to the opponent to deal more damage. However, his new appearance sees him wielding his blade from Fire Emblem Awakening and his trademark weapon from Melee and FE6, the Sword of Seals, thus making him comparable to a stance-based character like Gen from Street Fighter.
To compare the two swords, Roy’s Blade plays similarly to Melee, with many attacks outside of Specials lacking a fire effect, and is slightly weaker in power, but allows Roy greater mobility. With the use of a revamped Down Special, Roy is able to swap out the Blade for his iconic Sword of Seals, which allows Roy to use fire outside of his Specials, allowing for greater range, damage and launching power. (Explained in attacks) The Sword of Seals is however limited by a small gauge represented by a flaming sword, similar to how Scorpion plays in Injustice. When the gauge runs out (represented by the sword flames dying out), Roy goes into overheat, where he begins to take gradual damage to himself and is launched even further by oncoming attacks.
Attacks
Idle Animation: Based on the Merc idle animation from Awakening when using the Blade; When holding the Sword of Seals, he adopts his idle animation from Melee.
Jab A: Roy swings the sword once horizontally. Follows into a second swing in Blade form. A follow-on with the SoS creates a small explosion in front of Roy, much like Robin’s Elfire jab finish.
Forward Tilt: Roy lunges forward with the tip forward in style of his attack animation from FE6 and Project M. The SoS creates a small explosion in front of Roy, adding a spacing option.
Up Tilt: Roy swipes his sword in an overhead arc, much like his up-tilt in Melee. Equipping the SoS adds a fire effect and boost in power.
Down Tilt: Roy quickly jabs the sword out while in a crouching position, launching the opponent into the air, setting up for Roy’s combos in the air. Much like the U-Tilt, the SoS adds a fire and extra power boost to the attack.
Neutral Aerial: Roy swings his sword in a vertical spin, similar to the Critical Hit animation of the Mercenary class in Awakening.
Forward Aerial: A quick swipe of the sword, near identical to its Melee incarnation.
Back Aerial: A backwards swipe, very fast. Similar to Melee incarnation.
Up Aerial: Roy elegantly swings his sword in an arc. Knocks the opponent further into the air to set up further combos.
Down Aerial: A fast and powerful swipe from above, serving as Meteor Smash should the opponent touch the base hitbox. Has greatly reduced lag from Melee.
Smash Attacks
Side Smash: Roy readies his sword for a powerful spin attack, based on a Merc’s finisher animation from Awakening. Sword of Seals adds a greater fire effect to the attack, with a slight power boost.
Up Smash: Roy jabs his sword into the air and it catches alight to deal fire damage. The Sword of Seals version sees a small explosion above the tip, dealing extra damage to an opponent caught in the initial hit.
Down Smash: Roy swings his sword in a crouching spin, any opponent caught in the first hit will fall into the second hit from behind, much like Captain Falcon’s Down Smash. The Sword of Seals version sees Roy create an explosion in front and behind him, much like the Mii Gunners’ Down Smash.
Specials:
Neutral Special (Blade): Flare Blade: Roy charges up his sword as it cloaks itself in fire. Eventually, he will start to glow white and eventually bring down his sword in a powerful explosion, dealing massive amounts of damage and knockback, but damaging Roy by around 15%. Faster than Ike’s Eruption, but not as powerful.
Neutral Special (Sword of Seals) Flare Burst: Roy charges up the Sword of Seals like normal, but when the Roy reaches full power, he unleashes a directed pillar of fire that deals strong fire damage upon contact. This doesn’t have the same recoil that Flare Blade has, so Roy escapes unscathed. It drains the meter very quickly, so it should be used with caution.
Side Special (Blade): Sol Rush: Roy quickly rushes forward, and should he hit the opponent, he will deal minor fire damage around 15% damage, but low knockback. Not ideal for a K.O move, but it’s main use is to restore Roy’s health by 7% on a successful hit.
Side Special (Sword of Seals): Double-Edge Dance: Roy’s Side Special from Melee, and remains functionally the same as the Dancing Blade Special - The attack changes based on the control and button input. It is reversible mid-combo like it is in Project M, allowing for feints, and the down-directional inputs will now send a small wave of fire forwards along the ground.
Up Special (Blade): Blazer: Roy quickly rises upwards while the Blade is coated in flames, similar to its incarnation in Melee. The arc that Roy rises upwards can be angled, tilting the Control Stick to the direction Roy is facing will see him gain more horizontal range at the cost of vertical recovery.
Down Special: Class Change: Roy sheaths his Blade and draws the Sword of Seals, changing the properties of his attacks.
Final Smash: Critical Flare: Inspired by Roy’s Project M Final Smash, initiated as he rushes towards the opponent at blinding speed like Marth and Lucina. Should he collide with a character, Roy will attack with a flurry of fiery strikes with the Sword of Seals, finishing with a powerful explosion. Should he miss, he will most likely self-destruct when he goes offscreen.