LogFAQs > #967590566

Hammer Bro - Mario Superstar Baseball

Honestly both Strikers Charged and Superstar Baseball are amazing performances for Hammer Bro. Hammers undoubtedly the best sidekick in Charged, as his deke is slam a giant hammer down, giving him a solid dodge and great offensive presence. And his power shot is just concuss Kritter with hammers, which gives him a no skill required free goal if it lands. Hes just simple and easy! Superstar Baseball, Hammer Bro is designed to do one thing and one thing only: hit home runs. He shares a unique battling style with only Toadsworth and Donkey Kong, where almost the entirety of his bat is a sweet spot, but its much smaller than other bats, meaning that either hes gonna hit the ball deep, or hes gonna swing through, no questions. This is coupled with the fact that hes probably the third-best home run hitter in the game behind Bowser and Petey, and might actually be more consistent than Petey as he is far less likely to foul out or hit pop flies. This is complimented by his excellent chemistry tree, by which I mean he has chemistry with Bowser. Bowser is FAR too dangerous to pitch to most of the time, with the idea of walking him to 1st being much, MUCH safer than taking the risk of throwing him out. If Hammer Bro is directly after Bowser in the line-up, with the chemistry boost thats guaranteed from Bowser being on-base, you are now pitching to a second Bowser. He isnt QUITE as good as Bowsers ridiculously long bat, but letting someone draft Bowser-Bro-any other heavy gives them the most devastating home run core possible in the game, like, there is nothing else that can remotely compete. Even Hammer Bros variants are great, Boomerang Bro having a unique curved trajectory on his balls that makes them foul more often, but make it nearly impossible to rob with wall jump and gives the character a viable slap hit. Fire Bro lowers the trajectory of the ball in exchange for more power, turning him from a home run hitter into Pianta+. Fire Bro usually isnt worth trading out Hammer or Boomer, but the former two are constantly in contention with each other. In exchange for an unprecedented at-the-plate threat, Hammer Bro has absolutely zero defensive utility - hes your catcher if you didnt draft Petey, not because hes good there, but to hide him from having to play any position where his mediocre everything would cost a run. It says a lot how GOOD his batting is that hes still considered a top tier character in the game in spite of that. Hammer Bro does exactly one thing, it just happens to be the best thing in the game he could possibly specialize in.

Dr. Wily - Mega Mans Soccer

There is something absolutely delightful about Dr. Wily hating Mega Man so much, he.invents a robot suit specifically so that he can outperform military-grade combat robots at sports. Works a tad better for me than him getting really into racecars for playable appearances, at least, and the Wily Field theme is actually really great. I like Wily a whole lot as a character, sort of being a far more tame and sane alternative to Dr. Eggman - Wily is all ego searching for praise while Eggman actually wants to murder people and fulfill his funny theme park ambitions. This gets coupled with the old design the robot masters contest with Wily asking children for all over the world to help him foil Mega Man with diabolical designs. Its an oddly wholesome image that gets kids to think about game design in neat ways, I really like it. Wilys a pretty fabulous Assist Trophy in Smash, picking the MM7 Capsule for all of the suffering its caused was a brilliant move, and having him with the begging for mercy animation when you bust the pod is such a good touch that I cant help but love. The actual Assist Trophy functions really well, those energy balls havent gotten any less annoying to deal with and he doesnt completely warp a match around his presence like Tiki or someone. Just all-around good stuff from the good doctor.

Toon Link: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

I dont think Wind Waker actually has the best Zelda combat anymore, but it sure does sell its combat better than any other Zelda game. The way Link feels so lithe due to his small frame, the fluidity and motion of his jumping attacks, the sound effects every time he lands a blow creating a natural momentum to combat - when youre wailing on enemies, the game does everything in its power to make you feel like an expert swordsman. Item set is also really great in this game, the Deku Leaf being a fun multi-purpose tool that would go on to inspire the sailcloths insane versatility, Skull Hammer being a great visual upgrade from the oddly small Megaton from Ocarina, the Boomerang gains a lot of versatility and is just always fun to use in 3D Zelda, Sailing is a hit-or-miss process, but as someone who gets a rush of serotonin filling out the map so that the Walk Armor in SotN gets stronger, Im alright with the down time to get to cute objectives that are relatively fun up until the Triforce Hunt. Its not like Toon Link has much competition - the DS games are fine but wild and kinda clunky departures, Minish Cap is aggressively yeah this is fine, Triforce Heroes I just remembered existed - but Wind Wakers a fine template with really high highs that make controlling the character distinct from other incarnations.

Best Smash Appearance: Brawl - The more Link changes, the more Toon Link stays the same. I understand the point and purpose of Toon Link, hes a popular and distinct enough incarnation of the character and I appreciate that were not still calling him Cel-da and can instead make jokes about his ability to attack your opponents life points directly if they control no Toon monsters on their side of the field. But MAN does he feel redundant. There is a unique floatiness to Toon Link that sets him apart from his taller counterpart and makes him feel even less congruous with his debut game. Wind Waker Toon Link is a very in-your-face kind of character, constantly dodging and weaving. Smash Toon Link is a camper with odd set-ups that work sometimes. I do appreciate that later Smash games gave him more unique animations, but those are also kind of worse? Like hes now singular slashes instead of a lot of multi-slashes, taking him even further away from his initial design. Like, I cant think of many less satisfying to land finishers than Toon Links forward smash - it just kind of ends halfway through a full swing with no fanfare. But I could understand, with how much theyre evolving Link, if TL was here to preserve a legacy playstyle for the character but then Young Link exists and does that infinitely better. The feel of Melee Link is more accurately captured with Yink than ANYTHING is captured with Tink. And thats not to mention how pitiful his moveset really is when you consider all of the unique possibilities his own adventures and weapons offer him! Toon Link is a character who hasnt had a reason to exist since Brawl, and really does deserve better. He does have that victory animation where he tries to catch a pig, though. Thats cute. D-