Anna: Fire Emblem’s Other Fiery Redhead
There have been many breakdowns of Anna’s character and the reasoning that would go into her inclusion in the Smash Bros. Roster. Whether to reinforce classic RPG roles with the inclusion of her as the Fire Emblem brigade’s dedicated merchant with a rogue twist, to provide a new personality to contrast against the calm & stoic determinators that make up the group currently, to have a totally different role represented versus the ever mandatory lords introduced to Smash, or even simpler reasons such as to introduce another strong female character to the mix or represent all of Fire Emblem with a character that has ties to every game in the franchise, Anna has an answer for all inquiries. With the opportunity we’ve been given thanks to the Fighter Ballot, Anna now receives a second chance for either notoriety or an inclusion into the roster. As such, it is my aim to make a move set that plays up the complete Anna experience versus one role she’s had through the years.
My previous attempt at creating a move set for our loveable redhead was more skewed to playing up her role as a trickster in her Awakening role. This move set on the other hand aims to pay respects to her general role in the series as its premier merchant for premium goods. Additionally, I have taken the opportunity to add light hints of her rouge like qualities in several of her attack animations as well as add a min/maxing set of complimentary specials to emulate the idea of juggling inventory as a merchant would in their daily affairs. As always, since I aim to give a goal of her gameplay via examples from other fighting game characters, one could see this Anna as being inspired by Villager’s Pocket special, Faust’s “What Could This Be?” item toss special, the mechanics determining Hsien-Ko’s dizzy items on her own item toss special in Vampire Saviour/Darkstalkers 3,
Appearance: Anna dons her memorable Awakening trickster attire with a short blade/dagger that she holds predominantly in a reverse grip. This stance is to convey that while she is proficient with a sword, her usage of it is inherently different from every FE character to date with her specialty being in thievery or rogue like uses of a blade (i.e. executions and opportunist strikes) versus the noble fencing styles practiced by Lords and nobility in the franchise. Along with this, Anna is always seen clutching a large sack of varying size over her shoulder with her non-dominant hand. The stance here implies that whatever is in that sack (or maybe even the sack itself), she is willing to defend to the bitter end. Anna isn’t all about business over pleasure however as she has seen to customize her blade’s hilt with a small tassel that has a bear toy dangling off the end.
Walking animation: Anna walks with a skip in her step, eternally amused at the situation at hand all with a tight grip on her blade (a dagger or short sword) and even tighter grip on a sack of various loot she always has on herself.
Running animation: Anna slings her “fat bag o’ loot” over her shoulder and darts off with her body low to the ground. As a front line merchant, getting into and out of the thick of battle while protecting her wares and (more importantly) her profits is a honed skill.
Running speed: Somewhere between Greninja at the fastest and Marth at the slowest.
Wall Jump: Yes
Wall Cling: No
Tether: No
Reflector: No
Fall Speed: Medium
Weight Class: Medium Heavy
Jump heights: Average
Normal Attacks
Jab: Using a dagger like blade in a reverse grip, Anna performs two horizontal swings similar to Pit then finishes with a straight stab to the midsection.
F-Tilt: Anna pulls out a Spear and stabs this straight forward like a pool stick. This can be angled.
D-Tilt: Anna performs a similar poke to the above with a Brave Lance that pokes the ground in front of her twice. Said move can also force a trip on an opponent.
U-Tilt: Anna pulls out a magic stave which she waves over herself in an arc from behind herself forward casting magic that launches opponents on contact.
F-Smash: Anna swings her bag of profit™ forward smashing opponents with the sound of coins rattling heard loud and clear.
D-Smash: Anna spins and swings her bag of profit™ in front of and behind herself in a manner similar to a
hammer throw.
U-Smash: Anna rotates her blade like a propeller above her head. This attack has a suction effect, hits three times and launches upward on the third hit. It has an animation similar to
Dante’s Prop Shredder attack in the Devil May Cry series.
N-Air: Anna, using a Light tome, emits a large 360 pulse of light that jolts opponents multiple times.
F-Air: Anna, using a Fire tome, creates a small explosion in front of herself.
B-Air: Anna using a Lightning tome summons a bolt of electricity that coils behind herself and strikes in an upward arc.
U-Air: Anna using a Wind tome generates a small tornado that juggles the opponent before lightly launching them upward.
D-Air: Anna swings her bag of profit™ downward to club an opponent with. This move can meteor smash.
Dash Attack: Anna swings her sack forward swatting opponents in her way.
Specials
Neutral Special: Storage
Anna opens her sack and has it swallow up enemy projectiles. As more objects are contained, the bag increases in size with each increase creating a heavier and more powerful bag that she can use for attacks involving the use of the sack. The size increase also influences her Forward Special move seen below. This comes with the tradeoff of making her a tad slower in her movements across the stage.
Forward B: Clearance!
Anna reaches into her sack and tosses the first object she gets her hands on forward. These items can either be weapons from the primary weapon triangles (swords, spears, or axes), tomes that activate on contact with the floor or an opponent, or vulneraries. The strength of these objects varies and items dropped on the floor (with the exception of tomes; they must be caught) can be used by an opponent three times as standard items before being “broken”. As the RNGesus she is however (along with her lineage’s roles as the keepers of the lore of all Fire Emblem events), she is also privy to a few items that would probably shock others. Of these items, Lyn’s Sol Katti, Alondite, the brother sword of Ike’s Ragnell, Hector’s Axe, The Sword of Seals and other such in series legendary weapons have a small chance of being chucked forward. These are uncatchable and disappear after finishing their toss arcs but are also some of the most powerful things in her possession. You have a small percent chance of tossing something like these out at opponents, but holding the special button after inputting the move has Anna fumble through the contents of her sack before throwing something, slightly increasing the chances of getting said legendary weapons.
When the sack is fuller, you can throw up to three objects forward on one use. Throwing one object decreases the size of the bag by one level while throwing all three items completely “empties” the sack. Emptying the sack allows space for more projectiles to be put in storage with her neutral special, reduces her weight allowing her to move faster and increases her jump height/duration to normal.
Downward B: Counter (Alt: “Attending to Foreign Business”/”Lucky Day!”)
Anna assumes a defensive stance. When she is struck, instead of performing a counter attack, Anna nimbly slips out of the path of the attack and reappears a set distance away. This reappearance can be determined by a direction input on the control stick. Otherwise, Anna simply dashes behind the opponent, recovers quickly, and is free to do any action afterwards.
Upward B: Warp Staff
Anna casts a small field of magic that teleports anything within itself to a position she determines. Think of Fire Emblem characters’ entrances to the field in Smash Bros. when you imagine this move. When used normally, this move teleports her to another designated position, however, she can also force the spell to teleport opponents and even items elsewhere by moving the magic circle along the stage in a manner similar to Greninja’s Shadow Sneak (holding the special button after the input and moving the circle forward along the ground with left or right inputs).
Dodges
Spot Dodge: Anna does a spinning hop in place watching her feet in a manner similar to Sonic. Exerting caution in tricky situations is always a priority.
Air Dodge: Anna acrobatically leans back and over her sack using the weight of the sack as ballast as she descends to the ground.
Grabs
Grab: Anna throws the sack over their heads which triggers a quick animation of a cartoon dust cloud leading to the opponent being in Anna’s sack up to the shoulders.
Pummel: Anna tightens a rope around the mouth of the sack attempting to subdue them further.
Forward throw: Anna grabs the sack and flashes the opponent out forward in front of herself.
Back throw: Anna flashes her sack behind herself in a single motion. The sack ejects its contents behind herself.
Up throw: Anna flash kicks the sack having it expel them upward.
Down Throw: Anna lowers the bag to rest horizontally on the floor and stomps on it. The bag then ejects the captured opponent forward low to the ground.
Final Smash: Family Business
Anna pulls her sisters out from the sack (revealed to be a mini Outrealm Gate) who then charge forward with an even larger sack. If anything is caught in this sweeping snatch, the sisters all converge where the bag was (now filled with opponents) and cast various potent magic from various tomes, beat it with weaponry ranging from the rickshaw to the legendary, or just flat out stomp the bag flat before our playable Anna leaps onto the bag expelling its contents out in the direction the sack’s opening is pointing.
Other Animations
Knockdown: Anna lies on the ground face down, her sword stuck in the ground with a firm grip still on the nose of her sack.
Wake Up Attack: Anna performs a set of sweeping kicks while defending her sack with spread arms before readjusting into her standing stance.
Broken Shield: Anna teeters in place hand on her forehead as treasure chests with wings fly about her head.
Up Taunt: Anna performs the “Anna” pressing her right pointer finger to her lower cheek while stating “Prices aren’t the only thing I can cut!”
Side Taunt: Anna pulls out a legendary weapon wielded by a previous lord and performs the pre-critical animation for each.
Marth: Twirls the classic Falchion upward before it glows.
Ike: Points the full length Alondite outward at an opponent’s eye level before grinning.
Lyn: Pulls out the Sol Katti and poses with it back turned for a second.
Hector: Spins the Ax over her head before slamming it down mimicking Hector’s crit animation startup.
[etc.]
Before returning it to the sack.
Down Taunt: Anna sits on top of her bag of loot in a manner similar to her key art from Awakening while musing to the camera saying “Thanks for your patronage!”
Colors and Alts:
TBD
Alt Costume: Merchant Anna
Dressed in her more business oriented garb, Anna takes to the field of negotiation with an eye for new ventures and greater loot.
Cazdon
Frostwraith
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