BluePikmin11
Akko is my dear daughter!
Game Debut: Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (Nintendo DS May 19, 2005)
Dr. Kawashima is a character from the popular series Brain Age. In the Brain Age series, you are assigned in different games by the professor to finish it as quick as possible to stimulate your brain. You might be wondering, how in the world can this character be eligible for Smash? Well, Brain Age is a very popular series, with the first game selling over 19.00 million copies, even winning awards for innovation and quality, similar to the amount of success Animal Crossing and Wii Fit had. The series had sold a total of 34 million units If Sakurai wanted characters from popular casual series, Dr. Kawashima is the answer.
Although he has unfortunately made it as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U, I believe his moveset potential that can derived from education/some of the activities in the Brain Age Games and his franchise being among the top 10 selling Nintendo franchises of all time, I believe that he could be reconsidered if Sakurai were to look for surprise choices again. Here's hoping, because I still think his inclusion would still be awesome as hell!
Dr. Kawashima's Playstyle:
Dr. Kawashima starts as a slow but fast attacker. As you keep attacking your opponents (about 5 times to get 5 EXP points), you gain your level goes up one, just like in the Concentration Training (In which you go up a level depending on the amount of correct answers you get). The maximum level is 5, which turns him into Devilish Kawashima. In which Kawashima is x1.5 better on all stats. Although if you get hit enough times, you go down a level, lowering your overall stats. Although additional things like dodging at the right time allows you to gain an EXP point. Being KOed will automatically lower his stats to level 1. You can also gain EXP through a special move called Concentrate. Dr. Kawashima is a heavy character, it kinda figures for his big head. He is relatively slow in speed, but surprisingly powerful. Mastering Kawashima requires the player to not get hit, in order to gain EXP points for better stats.
Dr. Kawashima Moveset:
Normal Attacks:
Neutral A Combo: Dr. Kawashima makes two punches from left to right, finishing with diagonal uppercut.
First Hit: 2% Second Hit: 3% Third Hit: 4%
Side-A: Dr. Kawashima makes a long straightfoward punch at the opponent. 6%
Dash-A: Dr. Kawashima spins himself to make a relatively fast spin punch, has high knockback. 7%
Up-A: Dr. Kawashima makes numbers come up on his head (only numbers 1-5), depending on the number is the amount of damage the opponent receive. Has a small hitbox, but can be used consecutively.
Down-A: Dr. Kawashima punches with both his hands near the ground. Can be used consecutively. 3%
Aerial Attacks:
N-Air: Dr. Kawashima quickly spins his fists around his head, has good knockback. 6%
F-Air: Dr. Kawashima does a long horizontal straightforward punch. Has a small hitbox and but has great knockback. 8%
B-Air: Dr. Kawashima quickly spin punches backwards at the opponent. Has low knockback. 6%
U-Air: Dr. Kawashima summons the ship from the Brain Age activity Word Attack: Space. It shoots straight forward short ranged straightforward vertical shots. Can be used consecutively, but has a thin hitbox.
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D-Air: Dr. Kawashima summons a book that flips pages to multi-hit the opponent. 9%
Grabs:
Forward Grab: Dr. Kawashima quickly spintosses the opponent. 5%
Back Grab: Dr. Kawashima tosses the opponent, then shooting the opponent with random letters. Similar to Fox's back grab. 8%
Up Grab: Dr. Kawashima spins himself excessively fast along the opponent, then tossing the opponent upward. 9%
Down Grab: Dr. Kawashima traps the opponent in a cup. Dr. Kawashima can keep hitting the cup until the opponent escapes. Inspired from the Brain Age Devil Training Activity, Devilish Cups. Does no damage.
Smash Attacks:
Down Smash: Dr. Kawashima Summons 2 mice icons from both sides that attack a long range, from the Brain Age: Concentration Training activity, Devilish Mice. Similar to SSF2's Black Mage's D-Smash. 14% at full charge
Forward Smash: Dr. Kawashima summons a block-head to kick the opponent. From the Brain Age activity, Sum Totaled: Battle. 16%
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Up Smash: Dr. Kawashima slowly charges to make an uppercut. Has the longest melee range out of all Smash attacks, but has a small hitbox. 18%
Special Moves:
N-Spec: Brain Age Test: When Dr. Kawashima is near an opponent, he is able to confuse the point by using this special move, planting math equations to the brain. When planted by the Brain Test, you have to press certain buttons to escape the Brain Test, like on LVL 1, you only have to press one button on the D-Pad to escape the Brain Test, pressing the wrong button will give the opponent 1% of damage. And on LVL. 5, the Brain Test requires you to press 5 buttons in order to escape the Brain Test. Perhaps you can customize which buttons the opponent has to press, it would be sorta (sorta) like a charge move, when you start using the move, Dr. Kawashima will be immobile, and you must press one direction on the d-pad to make the charge. Then when you release it to the opponent, he will have to follow the exact same directions you pressed earlier.
S-Spec: Word Throw: Dr. Kawashima throws a word like a spear. The longer you charge, the bigger the range, the word, and speed. 16% at full.
U-Spec: Word Attack: Dr. Kawashima summons the Word Attack ship yet again, this time being use as a recovery.
he can also shoot the opponent from above and is able to angle the shots. 5% for each shot.
D-Special: Concentrate: Dr. Kawashima makes himself concentrate to gain an EXP point to gain levels (as part of Kawashima's playstyle. Every 5 times you use the move consecutively, you gain one EXP point. This move will be used plenty during the battle when opponents are distracted. This move can also be used as shield damage, similar to how Olimar is shielded during the Whistle move.
Final Smash:
Super Devilish Training: Dr. Kawashima turns into Devil Kawashima, if you are close the opponent, The opponent will be sucked into a black hole sucking words up. Does tons of damage in the end.
Taunts: (Credit goes to
ryuu seika
)
U-Taunt: Curious Chin.
S-Taunt: Speed Dial
D-Taunt: Glasses Tweak.
Any Taunt in Demon Form: Malicious Fingers.
Victory Themes:
1. Dr. Kawashima spins and shows off a "tada" pose.
2. Dr. Kawashima advices the players to train harder.
3. Dr. Kawashima laughs!
Dr. Kawashima starts as a slow but fast attacker. As you keep attacking your opponents (about 5 times to get 5 EXP points), you gain your level goes up one, just like in the Concentration Training (In which you go up a level depending on the amount of correct answers you get). The maximum level is 5, which turns him into Devilish Kawashima. In which Kawashima is x1.5 better on all stats. Although if you get hit enough times, you go down a level, lowering your overall stats. Although additional things like dodging at the right time allows you to gain an EXP point. Being KOed will automatically lower his stats to level 1. You can also gain EXP through a special move called Concentrate. Dr. Kawashima is a heavy character, it kinda figures for his big head. He is relatively slow in speed, but surprisingly powerful. Mastering Kawashima requires the player to not get hit, in order to gain EXP points for better stats.
Dr. Kawashima Moveset:
Normal Attacks:
Neutral A Combo: Dr. Kawashima makes two punches from left to right, finishing with diagonal uppercut.
First Hit: 2% Second Hit: 3% Third Hit: 4%
Side-A: Dr. Kawashima makes a long straightfoward punch at the opponent. 6%
Dash-A: Dr. Kawashima spins himself to make a relatively fast spin punch, has high knockback. 7%
Up-A: Dr. Kawashima makes numbers come up on his head (only numbers 1-5), depending on the number is the amount of damage the opponent receive. Has a small hitbox, but can be used consecutively.
Down-A: Dr. Kawashima punches with both his hands near the ground. Can be used consecutively. 3%
Aerial Attacks:
N-Air: Dr. Kawashima quickly spins his fists around his head, has good knockback. 6%
F-Air: Dr. Kawashima does a long horizontal straightforward punch. Has a small hitbox and but has great knockback. 8%
B-Air: Dr. Kawashima quickly spin punches backwards at the opponent. Has low knockback. 6%
U-Air: Dr. Kawashima summons the ship from the Brain Age activity Word Attack: Space. It shoots straight forward short ranged straightforward vertical shots. Can be used consecutively, but has a thin hitbox.
D-Air: Dr. Kawashima summons a book that flips pages to multi-hit the opponent. 9%
Grabs:
Forward Grab: Dr. Kawashima quickly spintosses the opponent. 5%
Back Grab: Dr. Kawashima tosses the opponent, then shooting the opponent with random letters. Similar to Fox's back grab. 8%
Up Grab: Dr. Kawashima spins himself excessively fast along the opponent, then tossing the opponent upward. 9%
Down Grab: Dr. Kawashima traps the opponent in a cup. Dr. Kawashima can keep hitting the cup until the opponent escapes. Inspired from the Brain Age Devil Training Activity, Devilish Cups. Does no damage.
Smash Attacks:
Down Smash: Dr. Kawashima Summons 2 mice icons from both sides that attack a long range, from the Brain Age: Concentration Training activity, Devilish Mice. Similar to SSF2's Black Mage's D-Smash. 14% at full charge
Forward Smash: Dr. Kawashima summons a block-head to kick the opponent. From the Brain Age activity, Sum Totaled: Battle. 16%
Up Smash: Dr. Kawashima slowly charges to make an uppercut. Has the longest melee range out of all Smash attacks, but has a small hitbox. 18%
Special Moves:
N-Spec: Brain Age Test: When Dr. Kawashima is near an opponent, he is able to confuse the point by using this special move, planting math equations to the brain. When planted by the Brain Test, you have to press certain buttons to escape the Brain Test, like on LVL 1, you only have to press one button on the D-Pad to escape the Brain Test, pressing the wrong button will give the opponent 1% of damage. And on LVL. 5, the Brain Test requires you to press 5 buttons in order to escape the Brain Test. Perhaps you can customize which buttons the opponent has to press, it would be sorta (sorta) like a charge move, when you start using the move, Dr. Kawashima will be immobile, and you must press one direction on the d-pad to make the charge. Then when you release it to the opponent, he will have to follow the exact same directions you pressed earlier.
S-Spec: Word Throw: Dr. Kawashima throws a word like a spear. The longer you charge, the bigger the range, the word, and speed. 16% at full.
U-Spec: Word Attack: Dr. Kawashima summons the Word Attack ship yet again, this time being use as a recovery.
he can also shoot the opponent from above and is able to angle the shots. 5% for each shot.
D-Special: Concentrate: Dr. Kawashima makes himself concentrate to gain an EXP point to gain levels (as part of Kawashima's playstyle. Every 5 times you use the move consecutively, you gain one EXP point. This move will be used plenty during the battle when opponents are distracted. This move can also be used as shield damage, similar to how Olimar is shielded during the Whistle move.
Final Smash:
Super Devilish Training: Dr. Kawashima turns into Devil Kawashima, if you are close the opponent, The opponent will be sucked into a black hole sucking words up. Does tons of damage in the end.
Taunts: (Credit goes to
ryuu seika
)U-Taunt: Curious Chin.
S-Taunt: Speed Dial
D-Taunt: Glasses Tweak.
Any Taunt in Demon Form: Malicious Fingers.
Victory Themes:
1. Dr. Kawashima spins and shows off a "tada" pose.
2. Dr. Kawashima advices the players to train harder.
3. Dr. Kawashima laughs!
Why I feel confident of Kawashima's potential inclusion:
One: If he went as far as to researching Concentration Training at the time of roster planning in early 2016. I feel at the time of picking unconventional characters from popular Nintendo franchises like Wii Fit Trainer back in Smash 4, Sakurai strongly considered Dr. Kawashima as a potential fighter and recognized the distinct potential he offered as a character with the brain-training activities serving as inspiration. But because of him being just a floating head, the feasibility of him being a fighter was hard to dance around Sakurai’s mind.
But with the last Brain Age release, Concentration Training, Dr. Kawashima was given a set of hands and was also given a devilish characterization. These new things makes imagining him as a fighter much easier. Sakurai likely only had a general idea of his character based on Brain Age 1/2, and likely never considered Concentration Training’s new characterization on Kawashima, despite the May 2012 project proposal and the JP release of the 3DS Brain Age game being nearby each other. The question though is whether or not Sakurai would go THAT far into reconsidering Kawashima. Considering Sakurai went as far as choosing characters such as Wii Fit Trainer and Villager, I feel Sakurai re-exploring the idea of Dr. Kawashima is possible, with Sakurai reaching further to find surprising fighters with striking individuality for each Smash iteration. Otherwise, he might just become an Assist Trophy again.
Second: Whether or not Ryuta Kawashima would approve of the idea of him being playable in Smash. This is more or less an issue since he had an actual AT appearance in Smash, but the context of how he was added is still unknown. There are two possibilities though. One being that Sakurai approached the real life Kawashima himself for an AT addition. Or the more likely scenario, Sakurai added him without needing permission. I feel the real life Kawashima would be too busy to care whether he appeared in a fighting game or not and spend more time researching the brain as a neurologist.
In the case Sakurai would need extra permission, I think that is less of an issue. If Sakurai had to ask Kawashima himself if he wanted his floating head form to be playable, he would be ok with it. One because I feel he would think it is a fun idea. Two, him being in a fighting game is not going to cause a major controversy that will put Ryuta Kawashima's real life at risk and bother with his neurological studies. Unless there is a personal, moral gripe Doctor Kawashima has against the thought of his floating head form being a fighter (Which I doubt, especially when the person himself is a neuroscientist), I think Kawashima would likely love the idea.
I personally researched the real life Kawashima recently to get an idea of who he is. Based on the lectures I watched, his perspective towards video games in articles, and how he talks about brain training integration in entertainment, I feel people thinking that Ryuta would pass off the idea to be very reaching personally. He is not the kind of person who has strict ideals. If Sakurai approached Kawashima to ask him to appear in a party fighting game, he would see the idea as crazy and brilliant.
Kawashima getting in as a playable fighter will ultimately depend on how far Sakurai will go to find surprising fighters with crazy moveset potential and individuality. Dr. Kawashima will likely be one of the surprising candidates re-considered, but the degree of how far Sakurai will go to to find Concentration Training and discover his fighter feasibility is an uncertainty, but not an impossible feat to overcome.
What a Kawashima Kirby would look like:
Kawashima's Intellectual Supporters:
1.
BluePikmin11
2.
Capybara Gaming
3.
ryuu seika
4.
AwesomeAussie27
5.
Wario Wario Wario
6.
smashkirby
Signature Icon:
(Support thread is still a work-in-progress)
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