Some people reason that Wolf doesn't have what it takes to make it. I guess it’s time to question that reasoning…
Who’s still not convinced that Wolf will be in Brawl? Now, I’m not saying he will, and I’m not saying he won’t, but in the end, Wolf just deserves the spot. Despite his only viable threat being the overpopulation of the Star Fox franchise, if that wasn’t the case, he would out-prioritize a vast majority of potential newcomers.
Well, here come’s my personal opinion, but I’m getting sick of people who feel it’s entirely necessary to shoot down a character’s chances of making it in Brawl -- and
very good characters at that. Wolf is no exception, as well as countless other characters who I genuinely (and secretly) support – such as Ridley, King K. Rool, Skull Kid, Bowser Jr, and even Dark Samus. Yeah, on the surface these characters may not look like much, but together, they all have one thing in common that Brawl severely
NEEDS: more villainous characters.
Enough with the protagonists please, we already managed to create a Melee roster chock-full of them, how about some diversity this time around? Bowser, Ganondorf, and Mewtwo just weren’t enough to satisfy those cold-hearted players such as myself, and I am desperately hoping Brawl will tip the scales a little bit more this time around. I honestly don’t care how much more important a character may be than the potential villains I have listed above, because this game needs to appeal to a much larger audience. A narrow focus just won’t cut it, and Wolf O’Donnell is only just one of the few that will help to correct this imbalance.
There is something about the dark side of a character that fascinates and intrigues me, because a villain has a background that is already much deeper than his hero counterpart. There resides an embodiment of chaos -- something corrupted, something wrong within each of them that makes them unique and distinctly interesting, which can’t be said about all of the “normal” characters who lack such already-present depth. A majority of the supporters of those villains I listed above have recognized this attribute as well -- they recognize the fact that a story’s antagonists are just as important, if not more, than the protagonists themselves.
A hero wouldn’t have a purpose if it weren’t for the villains, and they are equally bound to each other in that sense. After all, there wouldn’t even be a story in most games if it weren’t for the antagonists who are causing all the trouble, right? Thus, it only seems fair to give equal representation when it comes to playable characters in Brawl. I swear, if the game ships without including at least a few of those above characters at PC’s, then it has already set itself up for pre-emptive failure.
Lastly, you would be a fool to assume that a villainous character automatically equals Subspace boss. What an absolute waste. That’s what Petey Piranhas and Rayquazas are for. If you feel this way, then I suggest that quit being so mentally confined for everyone’s sake, including your own.
Now, lets take the fight to Wolf’s home turf – the Star Fox franchise -- and discuss the intricacies of his representation in Brawl.
As we all know, and as I said above, Wolf’s only viable threat would be the overpopulation of the Star Fox franchise. As there can only be 3 Star Fox representatives, and with Fox confirmed, that leaves Krystal, Wolf, and Falco currently fighting for the remaining 2 spots. It’s currently up in air as to who exactly will claim those spots in the end, but as it stands, Wolf seems to be fighting against all odds.
At this point, I’m here to prove to you something quite profound. While in actuality, the fight for the remaining spot appears to be between Falco and Wolf, theoretically, the fight should truly between Falco and Krystal. This is not a baseless claim either, because I’ve come up with a sequence of importance which categorizes certain characters across multiple Brawl franchises.
Above all, it depends on the size of the franchise, but I feel it applies to almost
every franchise. There is most certainly a sequence of importance for a character’s inclusion, and it goes as follows:
1) Main character
2) Supporting character
3) Villain
4) Extra character
5) Extra character
6) Extra character
7) …
As you can see, it depends on the size of the character’s franchise, because as it grows larger, there allows more characters, but it still goes in this order. Ignoring the extra characters though, we notice the first three characters, labelled the “
Rule of 3”. This is a theoretical “order of importance” for a character franchise.
It just so happens that the Star Fox franchise allows only 3 characters, meaning the Rule of 3 applies to full effect. You can view this reoccurring pattern with almost all of the others.
Zelda Franchise
1) Link
2) Zelda
3) Ganondorf
Kirby Franchise
1) Kirby
2) Metaknight
3) King Dedede
Mario Franchise
1) Mario
2) Luigi
3) Bowser
4) Peach
Donkey Kong Franchise
1) Donkey Kong
2) Diddy Kong
3) King K. Rool (presumably, which would prove this theory even further)
There are several more examples that I have not listed, and even more that have yet to be confirmed. If this pattern were to remain true, then this is what the Star Fox franchise would look like for Brawl:
Star Fox Franchise
1) Fox
2) Krystal
OR Falco
3) Wolf
Whether it’s Krystal who makes it or Falco, this theory guarantee’s a spot for Wolf either way. He is the only viable character who could fill the villain spot for the Star Fox franchise, and rightly so.
You might ask, well why do we absolutely
need a villain for Star Fox? The answer is in those tons of paragraphs I wrote above -- but in short, we need villains for
variety. It is completely redundant to include 3 hero-sided characters, and the developers have or should have already realized this fact. And despite what you may think, Wolf is
not a filler character – he deserves that spot just as much as Krystal or Falco do. The only leverage he has above them, and the reason I am arguing on his side, is on behalf of the villain issue. We
do not need an all out good guys roster with Fox, Krystal, and Falco only.
Now, let’s decide: Falco or Krystal? Although this is a completely unrelated debate because it has nothing to do with Wolf himself, his chances are indirectly affected by either of those two character’s inclusion. So, I will attempt to solidify a roster and quell the uncertainty by simply eliminating a potential candidate for Brawl – Falco. Don’t get upset just yet, my argument is as follows:
With Krystal’s status as a shoe-in, being a female representative and other evidence such as her voice actor confirmed for Brawl, you can assume that she will be a playable character. Like it or not, she will most likely take the “supporting character spot” for Star Fox, and personally I am not against this because I will not go against logic. It is illogical to assume that Sakurai would go with the Fox – Falco – Wolf route and include 3 male space animals. While I would approve of any possible means for Wolf to appear in Brawl, this is instance would not follow my reasoning.
If this amount of evidence seems lacking, Krystal has much more going for her – let’s talk movesets. If she were to be included in Brawl, I stress that she must have her Adventures outfit and staff for the sake of uniqueness. Imagine this for a moment, if all 3 representatives had their movesets derived from the “space/technology” environment of Star Fox, do you realize how difficult it would be for the developers to do that?
Let’s stop for a second – I really hate people who say that it would be impossible to create a unique, working moveset for any character. In fact, I’ve seen this argument quite a bit in this thread against Wolf. But this scenario is different, because instead of fabricating a moveset for only a single character, the developers have to create
THREE! Remember this, Fox already had a made-up moveset for the original Super Smash Bros, so imagine creating an entirely new one for Krystal and Falco and Wolf on the same baseless principles. I could see maybe two, but definitely not three or more space animal type movesets.
Fortunately, Krystal has her own distinct character background to draw a moveset from, which happens to fit her well – this gives her an immediate edge above Falco and Wolf. Personally, I couldn’t imagine Krystal having a space animal moveset like Fox anyways, it just wouldn’t be appropriate for her character. Most of the Krystal supporters realize this as well and are leaning toward a staff-based moveset. I am hoping the developers consider that route, too.
At this point, you probably still aren’t convinced that Krystal will be in Brawl, so I’m going to flip this argument around and set my sights on Falco and Wolf instead. Some people say that Falco should be in Brawl -- even if he happens to be a “Luigified clone” of Fox. Make no mistake, there better not be clones in Brawl, and for a game of this caliber, semi-clones aren’t acceptable either. This is just a pathetic excuse to include the
CHARACTER Falco, despite him not being any different than the character who is Fox.
The truth is, it isn’t possible to create a moveset for Falco that would separate him from Fox. Why do you think, then, did they choose Falco to be a
CLONE OF FOX in Melee? I’ll tell you why -- because he is the perfect candidate for a clone of Fox. The same reason Dr. Mario is the perfect candidate for a clone of Mario, the same reason Roy is the perfect candidate for a clone of Marth, the same reason Pichu is the perfect candidate for a clone of Pikachu, the same reason Young Link is the perfect candidate for a clone of Link.
The only one that doesn’t make any sense at all is Ganondorf and Captain Falcon, which was probably the biggest screw up in Melee ever, as this was only the result of a lack of development time. However, the developers did not originally intend for Ganondorf to be a clone. Herein lies the biggest difference:
FALCO IS AN INTENTIONAL CLONE, Ganondorf is not. Since there is this new mentality that all clones will and should be removed from Brawl, I expect Falco to be dismissed along with the rest of the intentional clones.
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I had the choice between a character who is only slightly different than Fox, and one that is
ENTIRELY different, I’ll choose the latter anyday. You might attempt to argue that Falco has the potential to be different than Fox, but the truth is,
they aren’t. Yes, Falco is a bird, and Fox is a fox. Does the specie of animal in Star Fox matter? No, it doesn’t make a difference
AT ALL. Do you think Falco might be able to use his wings to fly? That’s just as silly as saying Slippy smacks his foes with his tongue and Peppy can run fast because he’s a hare. Aside from their voices, the characters in Star Fox do not make use of their animalistic traits.
Furthermore, there are those that say Wolf should be an alternate costume of Fox. Do you think that just because a fox is similar to a wolf in our world, that this means the character Fox McCloud is the same as the character Wolf O’Donnell? Do I need to repeat myself?
THE SPECIE OF ANIMAL DOES NOT MATTER IN STAR FOX. They are two entirely different characters altogether, and even moreso than Fox and Falco would ever be.
I laugh at those who say Wolf should be an alternate costume of Fox. Actually, if you just stick a bird head on Fox and call it Falco, that would be a more reasonable alternate costume, because that is the truth. Falco is nothing more than a wingman of the Star Fox team, the same as Peppy or Slippy are, and don’t even try to make him out to be more than just that. They all fly the same Arwings, they all use the same technology, they are all derived from the same background because they are all on the
good side. Because of this extreme similarity with an already existing Star Fox Team member – Fox himself-- the character Falco does not deserve his own spot in Brawl. The only way I could see him making it would be as an alternate costume of Fox or an AT, but nothing more. However, if the Star Fox franchise was allowed to expand itself in Brawl to have more than 3 characters, you can be sure that he would be the first one to fill that 4th spot as an “Extra character”.
Alright, so you might say, if Falco doesn’t have a chance, what’s so special about Wolf? Falco and Wolf both have a distinguished personality as well as a massive coolness factor, but what makes Wolf stand so far ahead? It’s all due to the fact that Wolf is a villain character – his background gives him moveset potential that has still been untouched thus far in the Star Fox franchise. Being a member of his own distinctive squadron, Star Wolf, he has access to a much darker side of weaponry and technology, which fits the style of his character even more than they would in the hands of any other character in the Star Fox franchise.
So for those of you who still don’t believe Wolf has good moveset potential, you’re right. He has
GREAT moveset potential, and I’ll show you.
[Note: Credit and inspiration for this moveset goes to many other members]
Wolf O’Donnell Moveset
Stats
Strength: 4/5
Speed: 3/5
Weight: 4/5
Jump: 3/5
Recovery: 5/5
A Moves
Tap A: A sinister right punch.
Tap AA: A sinister left punch.
Tap AAA: An even more sinister headbutt with heavy knockback.
Forward Tilt: A rising knee attack.
Up Tilt: A swift, arcing uppercut.
Down Tilt: Crouches low and thrusts his foot into the opponent's shin.
Forward Smash: A taser punch -- if it connects, opponent is electrocuted for a few seconds and then launched outwards. (think Pichu's, but with a punch)
Up Smash: Quickly activates his thrusters, and performs an upward bodyslam with his back. (he carries a heavy booster pack)
Down Smash: A forceful foward-back sweeping kick. (think Captain Falcon's but crouching down -- gets low, kicks his foot out in front, then sweeps it around the back before standing back up)
Dash A: A ruthless shoulder charge.
Neutral Air: Tucks into a cannonball, activates thrusters, and spins once rapidly.
Forward Air: Clamps both hands together forming a large fist, then slams down concussively. (think DK's)
Down Air: A stomp that quickly activates the thrusters on his feet, burning his opponents.
Back Air: A forceful backwards elbow.
Up Air: An upwards cyclone kick.
Grabs
Ranged Grab (The same kind as Samus and Link – we need more ranged grabs)
Grab Move: Grappling Wire – a thin wrist fired cord used to pull opponents toward him.
Grab Attack: Forcefully punches the opponent in the gut with his free hand. (enough so that they bounce off the ground)
Up Throw: Wolf falls onto his back, pulling his opponent above over his feet, then launches them upwards with his boots.
Down Throw: Shoves them down and holds them in place with his boot, shooting them in the face with his gattling cannon.
Forward Throw: A devastating forward kick with his boot, as if kicking down a door. (King Leonidas style)
Back Throw: Hugs the opponent tightly, then performs a quick booster-pack powered suplex, head first. (think Kirby's)
B Moves
B: Gattling Cannon: The cannon itself has a lag time to pull out, and it remains out until you stop holding down the B button. When the cannon first starts firing, the rate of fire is slow, so the damage is near useless. But the longer the barrel spins the more damaging and effective this move becomes. Wolf is stationary for the duration of this move. Use with caution though, if the cannon is fired for too long, it will smoke and overheat -- which will greatly increase the lag time to put the cannon away. (Note: The bullets are actually small vulcan lasers, not real bullets)
B+Forward: Sniper Stance: Wolf pulls out his Sniper that he carries on his back and goes into a kneeling stance, taking aim. This move works a lot like Snake’s Nikita missile launcher special move, where the player is vulnerable while in the stance. The move can be cancelled at any time also, just by rolling out of it. To actually fire the sniper though, it takes time to charge its powerful laser (again this is a laser, not a bullet projectile). For those of you familiar with Halo 3, this would work a lot like the Spartan Laser. Holding the B button would begin a charge, and after a second, it would fire the shot. You can cancel the charge at any time by releasing the B button, and just hold it down again to charge up another shot -- this allows you to manually time your shots for pinpoint accuracy. This move would be very powerful, similar to that of a Falcon Punch, only ranged.
B+Up: Booster Pack: Wolf also carries around a covert jetpack near his shoulders, as well as small thrusters on his feet. This move would work a lot like Pit’s Wings of Icarus, giving the player great recovery mobility but lacking any sort of offensive power. The flight time would be better than most character’s, and it would also be fully controllable. You can direct Wolf wherever you choose, but only for a limited time -- after the thrusters shut off, he will plummet below. Also, the short flames emitting from his boots can burn his opponents.
B+Down: Cloaking Device: Despite what many will think, the cloaking device can be implemented as a move effectively and also be balanced enough to work. The principle is based off of the cloaking device from Melee, where your character will flicker every so often to reveal your position. Now as a move, it has a duration that works exactly like Wario’s B+Down special, Wario Waft. When you aren’t using the move, the cloaking device will charge up to increase its duration the next time you activate it. Fully charged and activated, it will appear to work exactly like Melee’s cloaking device. However, as the duration runs out, the move loses power and your position will begin to flicker more and more often until it finally runs out, at which point Wolf will be entirely revealed. You can deactivate the move at any time to conserve charge by pressing B+Down again. You can also activate the move at any time – even while it is still charging – but remember your position will flicker more often than it would if it was fully charged. If you’ve been following along, this means that constantly activating the cloaking device at low power would be very useless (or maybe very useful? Mindgames???).
Final Smash
Wolfen: Think Fox’s final smash, only with Wolf’s signature ship. After activating his final Smash, Wolf jumps into his Wolfen on the spot and then begins to hover just above the stage. You control the ship through the same side-scrolling action as the Landmaster by flying forwards or backwards. You can also slowly adjust altitude by moving up and down, however there is a limit to how high you can fly. You can even do barrel rolls -- and to turn around, Wolf will perform a small U-turn loop. Wolf can take enemies out either by boosting right into them at high speed, or by shooting high-powered lasers. The duration lasts the same as Fox’s, where the ship will begin to flash until it disappears, and Wolf drops back onto the stage.
Taunts
Up Taunt: Casually rests his gattling cannon over his shoulder while making a cocky “bring it” gesture with his other hand.
Left/Right Taunt: Laughs manically with both hands out in front.
Down Taunt: Crosses his arms and mutters, “Too easy.”
Victory Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYk_0RwYnA
Basically, I sought to make Wolf into a walking arsenal. He is a mercenary fighter, a master of resourcefulness, bringing all the weapons he needs to be prepared for battle. For any situation, he seeks to underhand his opponents by having every available tool just up his sleeve – and then overwhelm them through sheer firepower. I consider Wolf to be like the Jango Fett of Brawl, which I feel is very fitting for his character.
Now, I might not be the person who has created the best moveset for Wolf on these boards, however, I challenge Falco supporters and Brawl’s developer’s alike to create a moveset for Falco that even comes close to something like this. If you want to go ahead and give him flying abilities and think such a technologically sophisticated character should be flapping his wings around the stage, be my guest. That just means you know nothing about Star Fox, and you know even less than that about developing a game.
In closing, if the developers realize all of this and still feel that Wolf doesn’t deserve to be in Brawl, well, I guess I would be very disappointed to say the least.
However, if
you understand all of this and still feel that Wolf doesn’t deserve to be in Brawl, then I must say, you probably have a certain level of intelligence which might question the necessity of your existence.
He better make it…
