Time to Mix Drinks and Take Stocks!: Jill Stingray Support Thread

[amageish]

Made from 2 parts grenadine and 1 part pipedream, it's Jill from VA-11 HALL-A for Smash!

Who is this?

Jill Stingray is the main character of VA-11 HALL-A, which is a 2016 bartending simulator from Venezuelan indie development team Sukeban Games. In it, the player takes the role of Jill and "mixes drinks and changes lives" - or, more honestly, serves beverages and sometimes lends a helping hand and/or sarcastic jabs to the patrons. The game garnered critical acclaim and a solid following, especially in Japan, for its relatable characters, strong world-building, and unique gameplay. A sequel N1RV ANN-A is in the works, originally slated for a 2020 release.

What's her Nintendo connection?

VA-11 HALL-A got a Nintendo Switch port in 2019! The use of HD rumble arguably makes it one of the greatest ways to experience the game as well.

Can she fight?

Well.

Um.....

She could probably hurt your feelings? I mean, she's someone who actively rejects petting the dog.

I'd say she's pretty hardcore.

Okay, so, I imagine she would function as a boozy alchemist (or, in accordance of the ESRB, a a soda jerky alchemist). My kit for her would kind of mimmick Shulk, with her being able to modify her moves following the categories of drinks that .she can mix in VA-11 HALL-A: Sour, Spicy, Sweet, Bitter, and Bubbly.

What would her stage be like?

Jill's stage would be her titcular workplace, the bar VA-11 HALL-A. Various patrons come in and exit in the background throughout, with same causing tables to break and chaos to inflict the ground floor as they enter and exit. As we haven't exactly seen the full bar from a third-person perspective outside of, like, the boxart, we'd have a lot of room for creativity here.

What would her spirit board be like?

Jill's spirit board would be a set based on her friends!

Spoiler: Spirit Ideas

Dana Zane: Jill's boss would be our legend spirit! She possesses Sheik.
Anna: The mysterious girl with medium awareness possesses Zelda.
Rad Shiba and Nacho: Everyone's favourite dogs take the form of a bunch of tiny Solid Snakes and Duck Hunts, given how they are both dogs and walking Metal Gear references.
Sei P. Asagiri and Stella: The bodyguard and heiress act as one spirit, possessing a white-armor Samus and a red-dress peach, respectively.
Dorothy Haze: The loyal friend and hard worker possesses a red/black-dress Daisy, as I feel like Daisy reflects her excited theatrical energy.
Alma: The genius hacker possesses a blonde Robin, with Dr Kawashima turning up to support her.
Streaming-Chan: The internet icon posses a baseball-hatted Inkling and is defended by an army of Miis.
Kira Miki: The idol possesses Rosalina and Luma, with the Squid Sisters turning up as support.
Iris: The protagonist of Game Jam Game Sales Pitch and the soon-to-be N1RV ANN-A protagonist posses Jill herself.

They could potentially also have characters from 2064: Read Only Memories share in this spirit board, given how the games cross over so much...

What would her music be like?

VA-11 HALL-A has a lot of very good songs! It has a unique approach to music where you get to fill up the jukebox every shift and decide what songs you listen to yourself, meaning that what songs each person considers iconic to the game can be kind of chosen by the players themselves. That said, here's my subjective pick of 12 songs.

Spoiler: Music Selection

Welcome to Valhalla
A City that Never Sleeps
Every Day is Night
Commencing Simulation
March of the White Knights
Good for Health, Bad for Education
All Systems Go
Your Love is a Drug (Vocal Version)
Believe in Me Who Believes in You

Granted, I also like it when Smash has slower songs, which the MineCraft selection goes against...

What's her crossover history like?

Surprisingly in-depth! Most famously, it has numerous in-game crossovers with fellow cyberpunk game 2064: Read Only Memories, with characters appearing in one another's games. VA-11 HALL-A has also had a couple of events with mobile game Girls Frontline, which have seemingly provided canon explanations for some of the mysteries in the original game, which I find hilarious. Two of the dogs, Rad Shiba and Nacho, have appeared in the indie game Russian Subway Dogs. There is a VA-11 HALL-A t-shirt in Travis Strikes Again, which I think is an especially cool shirt as it looks like an ad for the bar and not the game itself.

Aditionally, it has had a lot of bar collabs in Japan, where various bars sell VA-11 HALL-A themed drinks and play the music. While this isn't a game collab, it does reflect its popularity as an IP in Japan. Themed cafe/restaurant crossovers are much more common in Japan, but they are usually done with Japanese IPs for... obvious reasons.

Point being that Sukeban Games is certainly willing to work with other companies as collabators.

Did you make this thread mostly to discuss the possibility of her getting a Mii costume and music, like what fellow indie games Undertale and Cuphead both got?

I mean, partly, yes. I do think it's much more likely she turns up as a Mii Costume. I also just like thinking about random hypotheticals though...

Stingray Supporters!
amageish
SvartWolf
BlueMonk
lady_sky skipper ​

 

[SvartWolf]

Uh... why the hell not? i guess.
Is always nice to see support for the little guys that like mixing different substances for making something new with them (atelier, plague knight)

Still i guess i'm rambling, better give me a Bad touch.... make it big.

 

[amageish]

Uh... why the hell not? i guess.
Is always nice to see support for the little guys that like mixing different substances for making something new with them (atelier, plague knight)

Still i guess i'm rambling, better give me a Bad touch.... make it big.

I won't pretend this isn't a weird thread, but I've been thinking/joking about it for a while now and the newfound trend of indie Mii costumes + music made me feel like it was worth making haha.

Yeah, having any sort of character based on the mixing of potions and/or beverages would be an interesting new gimmick for the roster to have. I hadn't thought about Atelier getting a rep before, but that would be awesome if it happened - I've only played Sophie's game myself, but I know it's an expansive cult classic franchise.

Eh, what's the point of a bartender-focused thread if it didn't involve some rambling? Anyway, order up.

 

[BlueMonk]

I'm all for it, she could probably never get in as a fighter but even getting a mii costume would be great. Just getting va-11 hall-a music in smash would be amazing.

 

[amageish]

I'm all for it, she could probably never get in as a fighter but even getting a mii costume would be great. Just getting va-11 hall-a music in smash would be amazing.

Agreed! What song would you be hoping for a remix of the most?

 

[BlueMonk]

Agreed! What song would you be hoping for a remix of the most?

Well the one that would probably get remixed is Every Day is Night... that's always struck me as the main theme. Personally though I'm partial to "Good for Health, Bad for Education"

Thinking about it though, it'd be a little weird to hear any of the ost made into a smash remix, since it's got such a distinctive feel to it. I can't imagine any of these tracks being made into an upbeat remix for fighting with, but I'd love to see how it could work.

 

[amageish]

Well the one that would probably get remixed is Every Day is Night... that's always struck me as the main theme. Personally though I'm partial to "Good for Health, Bad for Education"

Interesting! I always put "Welcome to Valhalla" in my jukebox as number one, so that's the one that strikes me as the "main theme," but the OST is presented in such a way that the musical experience is obviously very subjective... Maybe a medley would be the best way to represent it, though that'd also be a lot more work.

"Good for Health, Bad for Education" is a solid track - probably one of the more gritty ones that could transform into a battle song, IMO. That or "March of the White Knights" would be workable, I think...

I also feel like I need shout out "Shine Spark" as that would be very funny to hear in Smash. I like vocal songs...

Thinking about it though, it'd be a little weird to hear any of the ost made into a smash remix, since it's got such a distinctive feel to it. I can't imagine any of these tracks being made into an upbeat remix for fighting with, but I'd love to see how it could work.

Yeah, I'm imagining I'd be a more chill remix (or be one of the two mentioned above). You don't want it to not feel like a VA-11 HALL-A track. I agree that I love to see what they'd choose though.

 

[lady_sky skipper]

I'd love to have Jill in as an indie rep for Smash Ultimate. Of course Dana could fit in as well as she used to be a wrestler. Heck, just about any sort of representation would be cool. Sad to say that Dorothy would be stuck in a Mai Shiranui situation less due to her outfit than her job. Which sucks because she was one of the best characters in the game.

 

[amageish]

I'd love to have Jill in as an indie rep for Smash Ultimate. Of course Dana could fit in as well as she used to be a wrestler. Heck, just about any sort of representation would be cool. Sad to say that Dorothy would be stuck in a Mai Shiranui situation less due to her outfit than her job. Which sucks because she was one of the best characters in the game.

Dana would be very logical! It'd be interesting to see a second take on a wrestler character who isn't a heavy...

I should probably update the OP to make this a bit more serious (as much as I love the "She could probably hurt your feelings" joke), as I do think Jill could work as a mixology character... if they were somehow able to convince the ESRB to not up the rating for containing someone throwing (or, worse yet, consuming) alcohol as a weapon. I don't know what the rules for representing booze in games are in Japan, but this could be a problem for worldwide content ratings... I doubt they could pull an SNES-era Harvest Moon and label everything juice (Coffee Talk crossover?)...

Anyway, I imagine Dorothy could at least be a spirit or have a stage cameo. They've had plenty of characters with sexual content in their backstories before; they just wouldn't be able to have her speak about her life in the trailer haha... I do wonder how they'd do a trailer - for either a Deluxe Mii Costume or for a playable character...

 

[amageish]

OP has been updated! I now have basic spirits/stage/music ideas... Let me know what y'all think!

 

[amageish]

Could it be? A NEW Indie Pogo fighter will be formally revealed soon! Tune into https://t.co/CXyYkodwC5 on December 24th at 11:00 AM EST to catch the trailer's premiere. Don't miss it! pic.twitter.com/8kZpfv9LCA

— Lowe Bros. Studios (@LoweBros) December 18, 2020

Stingray may not have much of a chance for Smash, but this... this could theoretically happen!

Similarly, Fraymakers is another indie crossover Smash-alike where Jill is possible by the powers of being a popular-enough indie title... Their KickStarter ended yesterday and they'll be doing a Ballot-esque thing among the backers.

Hopefully her boozy association won't cause any problems from her crossing over in things!

 

[Pillow]

So I made a moveset for Jill!

Spoiler

Julianne Stringray aka "Jill"

General Playstyle
Her gameplay is somewhat inspired by Invoker from DoTA. She's a very versatile all-rounder with a slight zoning emphasis that has the tools to deal with any situation, but needs to plan ahead and have good matchup knowledge to fully abuse her versatility. The best way to describe her would be a mix of Olimar and Shulk.

Stats
Weight - 96 (Same as Pit)
Air Speed - 1155 (Same as Cloud)
Fall Speed - 1800 (Same as Wolf)
Fast Fall - 1800 (Same as Wolf)
Dash - 1936 (Same as Mario)
Run Speed - 1534 (Same as Link)

Specials
Down + B (Mixology)
Pressing the move has Jill pull out a bar counter in front of her. Pressing shield will cancel her out of this move. Jill has 3 ingredients she can mix together (Adelhyde, Flanergide, Karmotrine each denoted by a specific symbol and color being red, green, and blue respectively). While this move is active, pressing A mixes in Adelhyde, B mixes in Flanergide, and X mixes in Karmotrine (different controllers would each have a slightly different default setup but it shouldn't be hard to map buttons to any controller). She can make up to 10 different drinks with various combinations of 3, and store up to 3 of them at once. Adelhyde drinks are sweet and tend to focus on self buffing, Flanergide drinks are spicy and tend have an emphasis on physical attacks / grappling, Karmotrine drinks are strong and tend to have a focus on zoning.

Drink List

Spoiler

A + A + A (Blue Fairy)
This drink will explode into a cloud of sparkly blue smoke upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone hit by the cloud will have greatly increased jump height but receive more damage and knockback from all sources. This effect lasts for 10 seconds or until the person under the effect is KO'd. The jump bonus functions similarly to Shulk's jump monado art.

A + A + B (Sugar Rush)
This drink will explode into a cloud of sparkly pink smoke upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone hit by the cloud will have greatly increased speed but receive more damage and knockback from all sources. This effect lasts for 10 seconds or until the person under the effect is KO'd. The speed bonus functions similarly to Shulk's speed monado art.

A + A + X (Moonblast)
This drink will explode into a small burst of sparkling energy upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. This drink travels through the air much faster and further than other drinks (think white pikmin vs normal pikmin). Doesn't do much damage but is an effective zoning tool.

B + B + B (Suplex)
This drink will explode into a burst of stars 3 seconds after striking a surface, or upon contact with an opponent or shield. This move travels through the air much slower than Jill's other drinks. This move is a command grab projectile similar to Steve's Minecart. A large star will carry an opponent forward some distance. They can mash out of this move, and will have a more difficult time mashing out the higher their % is.

B + B + A (Gut Punch)
This drink will travel a much shorter distance than other drinks (think purple pikmin vs other pikmin). Upon contact with a surface, opponent, or shield it will explode dealing heavy shield damage, damage, and knockback. This move will kill at medium %'s but is punishable and somewhat difficult to land.

B + B + X (Marsblast)
This drink will explode into a burst of fire 3 seconds after striking a surface, or upon contact with an opponent or shield. This move travels through the air much slower than Jill's other drinks (think purple pikmin vs regular pikmin) before trapping them in a fire effect similar to PK fire or Holy Water. Punishable and slow, but useful for setting up for kills.

X + X + X (Mercuryblast)
This drink will explode into an icy cloud upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone struck by the explosion will be briefly frozen and take moderate damage and be knocked a short distance away relative to their distance from the center of the explosion. The damage and knockback is similar to the Mii Gunner's grenade launcher move.

X + X + A (Brandtini)
This drink will explode into a cloud of yellowish smoke upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone hit by the cloud will take less damage and knockback from all sources, but also deal less damage and knockback. This effect lasts for 10 seconds or until the person under the effect is KO'd. The jump bonus functions similarly to Shulk's shield monado art.

X + X + B (Cobalt Velvet)
This drink will explode and immediately sink onto any surface it lands on becoming a small red sparkle on the stage. Only upon contact with an opponent or the player will it explode again. This move is a trap similar to C4 or Isabelle Lloyd, but cannot be reactivated manually so it's most similar to Snake's land mine from Brawl.

A + B + X (Zen Star)
This drink will explode into fireworks upon contact with any surface, opponent or shield dealing moderate damage and knockback. After 3 seconds it will explode again at the same location it did initially dealing heavy damage and knockback.

Shield + B (Cycle)
Pressing the special button while shielded will rotate the current drink Jill has lined up without breaking her shield. It functions identically to Olimar down + B without any of extra functions the whistle has.

Neutral B (Drink Up)
This move functions identically to Snake's grenades, except instead of grenades they use Jill's next stored drink. Holding B will have Jill hold the bottle in her hand, pressing shield after holding will have her drop it on the ground beneath her feet, tapping B will have her lob the drink, will smashing B in a direction will have her throw it forward horizontally.

Side + B (Empty Bottle)
This move will throw an empty bottle forwards which looks identical to Jill's neutral B before the drink shatters with the sound of broken glass. Unlike the neutral B, this move does not actually consume one of Jill's drinks. It will deal very minor damage and hitstun, and is mostly used as a fakeout move.

Up + B (On the House)
Holding this move will have Jill charge it by shaking her drink mixer. Releasing it will have Jill open the cap of the mixer releasing its contents downwards and launching her upwards based on how long this move was charged. Think of this like a chargeable version of Greninja's Up B, the liquid inside the drink mixer can also push opponents but it will not damage them.

Tilts
Jab - A simple one, two straight punch with each arm, similar to Snake's but without the roundhouse kick finish
Dtilt - Jill spins a bottle in front of her before catching it (similar to Palutena's dtilt)
Ftilt - A fast swing with a bottle dealing light damage
Utilt - Jill tosses her drink mixer up which spins for a moment before she catches it (similar to Joker's Utilt)
Dash attack - Jill continues her forward momentum with a sliding kick similar to the dtilt of other characters like Cloud and the Belmonts

Aerials
Nair - Jill swings her bottle in a circle (similar to MinMin's Nair)
Fair - Jill drops her bottle in front of her (similar to G&W's bomb fair)
Bair - Jill swings her bottle behind her (Similar to 's bair but with much less range)
Dair - Jill swings her bottle in an arc beneath her (Similar to Lucina's dair but is faster, does not spike and has less range)
Uair - Jill uncaps a bottle and a burst of liquid shoots from it traveling upwards, functions similarly to G&W uair but not multhit

Smash Attacks
Fsmash - Jill swings her bottle forward like a club (similar to Banjo's fsmash)
Dsmash - Jill throws a bottle down in front of her which breaks dealing moderate damage and launching foes away at an angle
Usmash - Jill does an overhead swing with her bottle

Grab/Pummel
Jill's grab range and speed is pretty average.

Pummel - Jill smacks her opponent with a bottle
Fthrow - Jill simply shoves her opponent forward
Uthrow - Jill uncaps her bottle and shoots opponent with liquid pushing them upward
Bthrow - Jill uncaps her bottle and shoots opponent with liquid pushing them backward
Dthrow - Jill tosses her opponent to the ground then smacks them with her bottle launching them upward

 

[amageish]

So I made a moveset for Jill!

Spoiler

Julianne Stringray aka "Jill"

General Playstyle
Her gameplay is somewhat inspired by Invoker from DoTA. She's a very versatile all-rounder with a slight zoning emphasis that has the tools to deal with any situation, but needs to plan ahead and have good matchup knowledge to fully abuse her versatility. The best way to describe her would be a mix of Olimar and Shulk.

Stats
Weight - 96 (Same as Pit)
Air Speed - 1155 (Same as Cloud)
Fall Speed - 1800 (Same as Wolf)
Fast Fall - 1800 (Same as Wolf)
Dash - 1936 (Same as Mario)
Run Speed - 1534 (Same as Link)

Specials
Down + B (Mixology)
Pressing the move has Jill pull out a bar counter in front of her. Pressing shield will cancel her out of this move. Jill has 3 ingredients she can mix together (Adelhyde, Flanergide, Karmotrine each denoted by a specific symbol and color being red, green, and blue respectively). While this move is active, pressing A mixes in Adelhyde, B mixes in Flanergide, and X mixes in Karmotrine (different controllers would each have a slightly different default setup but it shouldn't be hard to map buttons to any controller). She can make up to 10 different drinks with various combinations of 3, and store up to 3 of them at once. Adelhyde drinks are sweet and tend to focus on self buffing, Flanergide drinks are spicy and tend have an emphasis on physical attacks / grappling, Karmotrine drinks are strong and tend to have a focus on zoning.

Drink List

Spoiler

A + A + A (Blue Fairy)
This drink will explode into a cloud of sparkly blue smoke upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone hit by the cloud will have greatly increased jump height but receive more damage and knockback from all sources. This effect lasts for 10 seconds or until the person under the effect is KO'd. The jump bonus functions similarly to Shulk's jump monado art.

A + A + B (Sugar Rush)
This drink will explode into a cloud of sparkly pink smoke upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone hit by the cloud will have greatly increased speed but receive more damage and knockback from all sources. This effect lasts for 10 seconds or until the person under the effect is KO'd. The speed bonus functions similarly to Shulk's speed monado art.

A + A + X (Moonblast)
This drink will explode into a small burst of sparkling energy upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. This drink travels through the air much faster and further than other drinks (think white pikmin vs normal pikmin). Doesn't do much damage but is an effective zoning tool.

B + B + B (Suplex)
This drink will explode into a burst of stars 3 seconds after striking a surface, or upon contact with an opponent or shield. This move travels through the air much slower than Jill's other drinks. This move is a command grab projectile similar to Steve's Minecart. A large star will carry an opponent forward some distance. They can mash out of this move, and will have a more difficult time mashing out the higher their % is.

B + B + A (Gut Punch)
This drink will travel a much shorter distance than other drinks (think purple pikmin vs other pikmin). Upon contact with a surface, opponent, or shield it will explode dealing heavy shield damage, damage, and knockback. This move will kill at medium %'s but is punishable and somewhat difficult to land.

B + B + X (Marsblast)
This drink will explode into a burst of fire 3 seconds after striking a surface, or upon contact with an opponent or shield. This move travels through the air much slower than Jill's other drinks (think purple pikmin vs regular pikmin) before trapping them in a fire effect similar to PK fire or Holy Water. Punishable and slow, but useful for setting up for kills.

X + X + X (Mercuryblast)
This drink will explode into an icy cloud upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone struck by the explosion will be briefly frozen and take moderate damage and be knocked a short distance away relative to their distance from the center of the explosion. The damage and knockback is similar to the Mii Gunner's grenade launcher move.

X + X + A (Brandtini)
This drink will explode into a cloud of yellowish smoke upon contact with any surface, opponent, or shield. Anyone hit by the cloud will take less damage and knockback from all sources, but also deal less damage and knockback. This effect lasts for 10 seconds or until the person under the effect is KO'd. The jump bonus functions similarly to Shulk's shield monado art.

X + X + B (Cobalt Velvet)
This drink will explode and immediately sink onto any surface it lands on becoming a small red sparkle on the stage. Only upon contact with an opponent or the player will it explode again. This move is a trap similar to C4 or Isabelle Lloyd, but cannot be reactivated manually so it's most similar to Snake's land mine from Brawl.

A + B + X (Zen Star)
This drink will explode into fireworks upon contact with any surface, opponent or shield dealing moderate damage and knockback. After 3 seconds it will explode again at the same location it did initially dealing heavy damage and knockback.

Shield + B (Cycle)
Pressing the special button while shielded will rotate the current drink Jill has lined up without breaking her shield. It functions identically to Olimar down + B without any of extra functions the whistle has.

Neutral B (Drink Up)
This move functions identically to Snake's grenades, except instead of grenades they use Jill's next stored drink. Holding B will have Jill hold the bottle in her hand, pressing shield after holding will have her drop it on the ground beneath her feet, tapping B will have her lob the drink, will smashing B in a direction will have her throw it forward horizontally.

Side + B (Empty Bottle)
This move will throw an empty bottle forwards which looks identical to Jill's neutral B before the drink shatters with the sound of broken glass. Unlike the neutral B, this move does not actually consume one of Jill's drinks. It will deal very minor damage and hitstun, and is mostly used as a fakeout move.

Up + B (On the House)
Holding this move will have Jill charge it by shaking her drink mixer. Releasing it will have Jill open the cap of the mixer releasing its contents downwards and launching her upwards based on how long this move was charged. Think of this like a chargeable version of Greninja's Up B, the liquid inside the drink mixer can also push opponents but it will not damage them.

Tilts
Jab - A simple one, two straight punch with each arm, similar to Snake's but without the roundhouse kick finish
Dtilt - Jill spins a bottle in front of her before catching it (similar to Palutena's dtilt)
Ftilt - A fast swing with a bottle dealing light damage
Utilt - Jill tosses her drink mixer up which spins for a moment before she catches it (similar to Joker's Utilt)
Dash attack - Jill continues her forward momentum with a sliding kick similar to the dtilt of other characters like Cloud and the Belmonts

Aerials
Nair - Jill swings her bottle in a circle (similar to MinMin's Nair)
Fair - Jill drops her bottle in front of her (similar to G&W's bomb fair)
Bair - Jill swings her bottle behind her (Similar to 's bair but with much less range)
Dair - Jill swings her bottle in an arc beneath her (Similar to Lucina's dair but is faster, does not spike and has less range)
Uair - Jill uncaps a bottle and a burst of liquid shoots from it traveling upwards, functions similarly to G&W uair but not multhit

Smash Attacks
Fsmash - Jill swings her bottle forward like a club (similar to Banjo's fsmash)
Dsmash - Jill throws a bottle down in front of her which breaks dealing moderate damage and launching foes away at an angle
Usmash - Jill does an overhead swing with her bottle

Grab/Pummel
Jill's grab range and speed is pretty average.

Pummel - Jill smacks her opponent with a bottle
Fthrow - Jill simply shoves her opponent forward
Uthrow - Jill uncaps her bottle and shoots opponent with liquid pushing them upward
Bthrow - Jill uncaps her bottle and shoots opponent with liquid pushing them backward
Dthrow - Jill tosses her opponent to the ground then smacks them with her bottle launching them upward

I forgot to reply to this! Whoops!

This is a really cool approach to her kit! I like the idea of her having a bunch of unique drinks to make and the combo imput approach for them is a really good way of doing it. I like the idea of storing drinks and being able to use them in unique ways...

Even if she doesn't have much of a shot for Smash, if this was her kit in something like Fraymakers... I'd be totally down for that!

 

[SharkLord]

Alright, you know what time it is
https://smashboards.com/threads/cha...ead-day-40-jill-stingray-va-11-hall-a.513316/