Reimu for Smash
from the Touhou Project series
First Appearance: Touhou Project ~ Highly Responsive to Prayers
Properties
Reimu would be a lightweight fighter with floaty properties to reference her precise movements in the Touhou series. She would have a weight of 76 and a falling speed of 1.3. Her running speed would be 1.79 making her fairly average in terms of grounded mobility. Reimu instead will specialize in entirely airfighting having poor grounded attacks but powerful aerial options.
Special Mechanics: Yin-Yang Orbs
Reimu will have her Yin-Yang Orbs always positioned behind her constantly spinning. They will spin around her while she is using her Homing Amulets but when dormant, they will act as an ever present hitbox that will flinch opponents and deal minimal damage if they get close behind her.
Reimu can however use her side's special Yin-Yang Orbs to throw them which will set them in place somewhere on the stage. If she has one Yin-Yang Orb behind her, the damage will be reduced and so will the distance they send foes back. No Yin-Yang Orbs behind her leave her vulnerable to being attacked from behind.
The orbs will not protect her from attack hitboxes however, only other players hurt boxes. Reimu is a very frail character and using all of her Yin-Yang Orbs to put pressure on her opponents will leave her vulnerable as well.
Regular Attacks
Jab: A side kick followed by another kick from her other leg with another button press. If pressed a third time, Reimu will fire out a quick burst of amulets.
Forward Tilt: A sluggish sideways swing with her gohei. Reimu’s most powerful grounded attack with the capability to KO at higher percentages but trades off with its endlag and punishability.
Up Tilt: An overhead swing with her gohei.
Down Tilt: A quick sliding kick that moves Reimu forward. It’s a low profile attack but it won’t prevent her from being hit by most attacks. However, she may graze underneath a projectile taking damage but not being knocked back from it.
Dash Attack: Reimu rushes forward spinning her gohei letting around a small ring of amulets.
Aerials
Neutral Air: A singular sex kick mid-air. A very quick attack that can lead right into her other aerial attacks.
Forward Air: Reimu outstretches her hand and fires off an amulet at mid range. This attack can be used in rapid succession after being fired. This attack is good for zoning properties but due to its range not being too far, it can be used in regular combos as well.
Back Air: Reimu whips behind her gohei behind her back. It is her weakest aerial option but has a decent range.
Up Air: An upward kick followed by a multi-hitting corkscrew spin. Reimu’s most powerful aerial attack which can be used to rack up high amounts of damage and finish combos.
Down Air (Barrier Smash): Reimu waves her barrier magic beneath her at an angle. The attack is slow but it can spike and has a sweet spot at the very end of its animation. If the sweet spot hits the opponent, they will turn the other direction.
Smash Attacks
For Reimu’s smash attacks, she’ll be aided by Yukari Yakumo who together form the Boundary Duo. While not directly inspired from any attack animations, their pairing has been a common occurrence in the Touhou series such as Imperishable Night and Antimony of Common Flowers. The smash attacks will all involve Yukari’s ability to manipulate boundaries and open up portals known as gaps. Parallels to her smash attacks can be drawn to Bayonetta.
Forward Smash: A gap opens up directly in front of Reimu. Yukari can appear inside of it then shoot out a flurry of purple projectiles in front of Reimu from her spell card Danmaku Bounded Field.
Up Smash: A gap opens up in front of Reimu on the ground that begins to glow. Yukari then shoots out while spinning before diving back in.
Down Smash: A gap opens up above Reimu at an angle. Yukari fires off a red bubble projectile from her spell card Xanadu of Straight and Curve.
Grab/Throws
Grab: Reimu casts barrier magic that brings the opponent closer to her where she will hold them with her leg on their knee.
Pummel: Reimu will repeatedly kick the opponent.
Forward Throw: Reimu summons a flurry of amulets sending them away.
Back Throw: Reimu angrily hurls the opponent over their shoulder and tosses them behind her.
Up Throw: Reimu grabs her opponent with both arms and hurls them up.
Down Throw: Reimu sets her opponent on the ground and steps on them sending them very slightly upwards.
Special Attacks
Neutral Special (Homing Amulets): Ripped right from her home games, Reimu will rapidly fire a series of her amulets. These amulets take the form of white and red cards. When the special button is held, Reimu will float in place and fire a series of these cards and they will reach a long distance. The interesting property about these cards is that they will not deal any launch damage and will purely hit for minimal chip damage.
While Reimu is shooting her amulets, she can actually slowly move in any eight directions. This stance will end if she is hit by any attack that would cause her to flinch and she will be sent into freefall. This balances out the Homing Amulet’s flying properties to prevent her from constantly using it to recover over her other recovery options
Being in her flying stance for over 10 seconds will also put her into freefall as well. The flying stance will also be dropped should the special button be let go but she will not be sent into freefall in this situation. She will not be able to use Homing Amulets again until touching the ground however.
True to their name, the amulets will slightly home in on the opponent but this will only matter should the opponent already be close in the amulets’ trajectory. If her Yin-Yang Orbs are by her side, they will also fire additional projectiles that will rack up damage faster.
Side Special (Yin-Yang Orbs): While Reimu will have her Yin-Yang orbs behind her constantly protecting her, she can opt to fire her Yin-Yang Orbs off as projectiles. When a Yin-Yang Orb is fired, it will enlarge and it can be angled in front of her depending on the directional tilt of the control stick. The orb will then move in a straight line and if it hits any solid object, it will bounce in a different direction. If it hits a player, it will also bounce away from them while dealing strong damage that can launch them far and even be used to KO them at mid percentages.
The Yin-Yang Orbs have an interesting property where they will even bounce along the blastline of the stage. This means that unlike other projectiles that will simply leave the battle’s presence, the Yin-Yang Orbs stay on the stage as long as Reimu wants them to or until she is KO’d. Reimu can collect them back to strengthen her neutral special and up her rear defenses by simply touching them.
However, if Reimu attacks a Yin-Yang Orb, they will instead bounce off of her in the opposite direction and move slightly faster while also becoming stronger. She can keep hitting back her orbs a total of five times for each one before they max out their strength limit. These orbs can put pressure for the opponent players and a skilled Reimu player can combo into them if they understand their trajectory.
Up Special (Boundary Leap/Persuasion Needle): Yukari comes to Reimu’s aid once more for her up special. Yukari will open up a gap that Reimu will fly into. Acting like a teleporting recovery, Reimu will disappear and reappear elsewhere above her. The trajectory of where Reimu will reappear can be angled via the directional tilt of the control stick.
When Reimu exits the gap, she will have the option to attack immediately after repeating. If the up special is used again during her reappearing animation, she will fire a sharp projectile known as a Persuasion Needle. It is one of her spell cards and the needle is an extremely powerful weapon that can KO opponents at percentages as low as 40% off-stage.
The projectile will only be able to be fired in front of her or below her depending on the direction of the control stick right after performing the special attack. If no direction is inputed, it will default to being shot in front of her.
Down Special (Yokai Barrier): Reimu will surround herself in a clear barrier with light reflecting on it to indicate its appearance. Her hands will be outstretched towards both sides trying to keep it up. Similarly to Ness’ and Lucas’ PK Magnet, the attack will absorb any energy based projectiles although unlike theirs, it will not heal her. Instead, Reimu will fire back the projectile upon the next usage of Yokai Barrier.
While there is no direct origin for this move specifically, it is based on her duty as a shrine maiden to guard the Great Hakurei Barrier that borders Gensokyo and the outer world. It can also be seen as a reference to the screen cleared upon destroying an enemy’s spell card.
Final Smash: Fantasy Seal
Using her ultimate spell card, Reimu will fly up into the air to the center-top of the stage and conjure a multitude of spherical purple projectiles and glowing red amulet cards surrounding her before firing them at the players on stage. The amulets will specifically home in on players while the glowing orbs will be indiscriminate and move in slower circular patterns.
The unique property about this Final Smash is that the projectiles won’t launch any players at all. In fact, their sole purpose is to rack up the percentage against Reimu’s enemies. However, at the end of the primary attack, Reimu will summon a circle of glowing unavoidable projectiles of many different colours.
This attack cannot be shielded through or dodged and will guarantee a hit on all the opposing players. If it KOs or not will be based on their percentage, the amount of damage they accumulated from the Final Smash and their distance from the blast line.