AceAttorney9000
Smash Lord
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2019
- Messages
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Who is Vivian?
Vivian is a character from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the second installment in the Paper Mario sub-series. The game sees Mario embark on a mission to collect the seven Crystal Stars to open up the titular Thousand-Year Door, while also doing battle with the X-Nauts. Vivian initially starts off as an enemy, specifically as one of the Shadow Sirens with her sisters Beldam and Marilyn, but after Mario befriends her, she defects from the Shadow Sirens and joins you as one of your partners.
I'll do you one better. WHY is Vivian... a good pick for Smash?
My reasoning for why Vivian should be a playable character in Smash are very similar to the general reasoning why Geno from Super Mario RPG should be playable in Smash...
- Among Mario's partners in The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian stands out as one of the more unique characters. No other character in Mario's party remotely looks like her, as well as no other characters in the game in general other than her sisters.
- Her combat abilities in the game, mostly revolving around inflicting status effects on enemies, as well as the general mechanics of The Thousand-Year Door's battle system, would make for a unique moveset.
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is considered by many fans (myself included) to be not only one of the better Mario spin-off games, but also the absolute peak of the Paper Mario series so far. Much like Geno, Vivians inclusion would be representing a beloved fan favorite game in the Mario series.
- While the arguments for her are similar to those of Geno's, one thing Geno has that Vivian lacks is a massive fan following, one that has supported their character since at least the days of Brawl. While not without her fans, Vivian has no such fan following of the same magnitude as Geno's.
- With Nintendo's treatment of the Paper Mario series as of late (seemingly ignoring the fans' cries for another fully-fledged RPG Paper Mario game and instead continuing with the Sticker Star/Color Splash style of gameplay), it's entirely possible that Vivian, as well as any character from the first three Paper Mario games, is entirely out of the running for Smash simply because Nintendo views those games as an old shame of sorts.
Vivian is considered to be one of the better partners (at least in regards to offense) in The Thousand-Year Door, mainly due to her combat schtick of inflicting status effects with her attacks (even her initial basic attack, Shade Fist, inflicts the Burn status on a single enemy). In addition to this, her moveset could also involve summoning the other partners in The Thousand-Year Door for attacks and recovery.
- Fiery Jinx
- Vivian snaps her fingers a total of three times, each generating a fiery explosion. Like Wii Fit Trainer's Deep Breathing, the attack is accompanied by a light blue circle shrinking down to a smaller red one, and timing the button presses accurately will result in bigger explosions that inflict more damage.
- +Shell Toss
- Koops appears, retracts into his shell, and shoots forward for a sizable distance before returning to Vivian. The move can not only damage opponents, but also grab any items in the way and bring them back to Vivian.
- +Flutter Jump
- Vivian summons the Yoshi Kid and the two flutter-jump forward. The move has good horizontal recover, but poor vertical recovery.
- +Veil
- Vivian retreats into her shadow, disappearing into the ground and rendering her invulnerable to attacks for 4 seconds. However, Vivian is still vulnerable during the move's beginning and ending animations, both of which take 2 seconds and 1 second, respectively.
- Final Smash - Supernova
- The Crystal Star will fly in front of Vivian. If it hits any of the opponents, they will be transported to a stage in front of an audience, and Vivian will use the Crystal Star to perform Supernova, one of the Special Moves in The Thousand-Year Door.
Music
If Vivian were to get into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC character who comes with music and spirits, she would provide an opportunity to bring in more music from not only the Paper Mario games, but also from its sister series, the Mario & Luigi games.
- Battle Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Event Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Hooktail Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Shadow Sirens Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Magnus von Grapple Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Super Koopa Bros. (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Rawk Hawk Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Macho Grubba Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Doopliss Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Cortez Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Smorgs Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Grodus Battle (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)
- Battle Fanfare (Paper Mario)
- Jr. Troopa Battle (Paper Mario)
- Master Battle (Paper Mario)
- Attack of the Koopa Bros. (Paper Mario)
- Keeping Pace (Paper Mario)
- King of the Koopas (Paper Mario)
- Fracktail / Wracktail Battle (Super Paper Mario)
- Francis Battle (Super Paper Mario)
- Brobot Battle (Super Paper Mario)
- King Croacus Battle (Super Paper Mario)
- Battle Time (Super Paper Mario)
- Bonechill Battle (Super Paper Mario)
- Come On! (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
- Come On, Again! (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
- Rookie and Popple (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
- The Final Stage (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
- The Last Cackletta (Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga)
- Battle (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time)
- Boss Battle (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time)
- Final Battle (Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time)
Spirits
Like with music, Vivian would be a good opportunity to bring in more spirits of characters from both the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games, with both games providing no shortage of unique characters.
- Goombario
- Kooper
- Bombette
- Parakarry
- Lady Bow
- Watt
- Sushie
- Lakilester
- Kolorado
- Koopa Bros.
- Tubba Blubba
- General Guy
- Twink
- Star Spirits
- Merlon
- Goombella
- Koops
- Flurrie
- Yoshi Kid
- Bobbery
- Ms. Mowz
- X-Naut
- Lord Crump
- Hooktail
- Beldam
- Marilyn
- Rawk Hawk
- Doopliss
- Cortez
- Grodus
- Shadow Queen (Real Form)
- Crystal Stars
- Tippi
- Pixls
- Tiptron
- Count Bleck
- Nastasia
- O'Chunks
- Mimi
- Bonechill
- Shadoo
- End Boss
- Cackletta
- Tolstar
- Dragohoho
- Popple
- Rookie
- Trunkle
- Jellyfish Sisters
- Queen Bean
- Harhall
- Jojora
- Cackletta (Spirit Form)
- Elder Princess Shroob
- Kylie Koopa
- Stuffwell
- Toadsworth the Younger
- Yoob
- Shrowser
Miscellaneous Trivia
- In the original Japanese release and most European releases of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Vivian is depicted as a transgender male character who identifies as female, with other characters' dialogue referring to her with male pronouns. In the American and German releases of the game, due to issues with the age ratings, this aspect of Vivian is removed completely, with the dialogue altered so that Vivian is only ever referred to with female pronouns.
- Vivian makes cameo appearances in Super Paper Mario, via a painting of Mario's previous partners in the Mario Bros. house, and as a Catch Card that can be obtained by completing the Dual of 100 in Sammer's Kingdom. The game also contains unused sprite data for Vivian and the rest of Mario's partners from both the original game and The Thousand-Year Door, implying that they were all originally going to appear at some point before being scrapped.
- Vivian appears in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Ultimate as a sticker and spirit, respectively.
- Vivian's sticker in Brawl can be equipped to any fighter, and has the effect of increasing the power of energy attacks.
- Vivian's spirit in Ultimate is an Advanced-class Shield-type primary spirit, with the effect of reducing your weight. Her Spirit Battle is against an invisible Mr. Game & Watch on the Battlefield form of Luigi's Mansion.
What about you guys? Do you support Vivian for Smash?
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