Board 8 > ITT I Rate The Best Playable Appearance Of Every Smash Character

(+) Yeah! (+)

Giant Turtle

Lloyd Irving

I tend to have Micaiah at level 20 by 1-9 so I'm not really trying to snipe for XP by then.
Even at max level she still goes down quite easily to the mooks, sometimes being doubled.

Kamekguy posted...

I dont feel any real animosity toward Yoshi, but this is the second game in a row where the conversation has been oh just wait until people get good with Yoshi, his fundamentals are SO strong. And then everyone gets bored of Yoshi and that never happens due to lack of interest. BUT THE POTENTIAL THO.

Check out Yoshidora in Japan, dude consistently beats some of the best Smash Ultimate players in the world.

Edelgard - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I think all Three Houses characters are varying degrees of good insofar as gameplay goes. I know each one has significant advantages and disadvantages in stats and growths compared to others, but I think making more optimal characters is a more dull way of playing, and what differentiates them is clearly their supports. And Edelgard is fine. Like, shes clearly meant to be a very specific ideal personified into an anime archetype, and she executes both of those very well. If this is the type of character that appeals to you, its likely shes appealing VERY well, scratching that same type of I can save them itch that characters like the Persona 5 traitor do. I like P5 Traitor significantly more than Edelgard, mind you, much more fun mask on that one before the other shoe drops, but I think both are well-executed for what theyre going for. I can easily understand hating the character because of how she goes about what she stands for, but I like seeing the depths shell go to or how triumphant her ideals can end up being depending on the route chosen. I appreciate how strongly Three Houses deviates in its back half depending on route; usually choices like these are more subtle until a few endgame chapters, and Edelgard forms an important piece of Three Houses whole through her contribution. Fallen Edelgard pretty much ruined PvP in Heroes, though, so that sucks I guess.

Birdo - Mario Superstar Baseball

Birdo has an incredibly underwhelming bat. Theres a chance in Hell that she hits a homer, but otherwise, shes got incredibly dinky slap hits and easy fly-out charge hits. Normally, she would be dead weight offensively. However, Birdo has the uncontested best Star Hit in the game, the Weird Ball. This turns any ball she hits into an egg, following a line drive trajectory into the outfield, causing the egg to bounce along the ground in a randomized direction three times before finally settling on a trajectory and rolling along. The egg bounces too quickly to properly react, the initial bounce is the only one that counts toward the foul line so it can easily spring into foul territory and require a fielder to book it, and the bounces can actively go OVER fielders at times. This is the most volatile star hit in the game, ranging from a bad egg giving you an instant out to bagging a guaranteed triple at the best of times, or an in-the-park home run if youre playing on a gimmick stadium or an error is made. This makes Birdo have the easiest clear the bases potential of any character in the game, even Bowser; a bad hit can be made into a successful Weird Ball just as well as a good one, Birdo just has to make contact anywhere on the bat and shes got a chance. More skilled players can slice the ball, hitting it on the very first or last frame it can be hit, guaranteeing the ball go straight down the middle to eliminate the possibility of it being caught for an out at all! All of these make Birdo likely the most common choice for captain other than Bowser. A character being captain allows for two things: the number of Team Stars they have available at the start of the game is based on their average chemistry ranking with the rest of their team, and it makes their star hit specials only cost one team star on contact. All other captain candidates on a team will cost two Team Stars if they make contact with the ball, which burns through your resources insanely quickly. A two-star Weird Ball is usually worth it, a one-star Weird Ball? Thats insane value. Birdos only real competition as a captain choice is Donkey Kong, as the Banana Ball is also excellent and both he and Birdo have chemistry with Petey Piranha (for some reason); Bowsers Star Hit is actually terrible, so forcing him to be captain is a nerf to keep his overwhelming power in check. By designing a team around Birdo, you give her the ability to be the most pivotal playmaker on your team, even beyond home run hitters

and that isnt even talking about her defensive utility. Birdo knows Suction, a less powerful version of Yoshis tongue that snoofs softballs swiftly down her schnoz. Now, shes too slow to be a great outfielder like Yoshi, but on shortstop or 2nd? If a ball comes within Birdos zip code, its getting caught into an out. Suction does have a downside, as Birdo is unable to throw the ball for a moment after sucking, but if it nabs a catch out, that hardly matters; its only grounders that really ruin her day. Brido is absolutely fabulous but oddly is usually a later draft choice. Donkey Kong also fills the shortstop/2nd position well and has the added utility of being a home run hitter compared to Birdo, you gotta draft power hitters early or else your opponent will feast on home run hitters, Yoshi and Boo are always valuable, you need to have consistent singles hitters in order to take advantage of Birdo, if youve got Bowser you might not want to be using the Weird Ball for two stars all the time - Birdo is a character that you almost accidentally build your team around. Drafting Birdo as the 6th member of your squad isnt uncommon. But theres no doubting just how fearsome she can be in the right situation - if youre good at setting her up and even adequate at rolling the dice, shell pay dividends. By far her best appearance in the Mario series.

Giant Turtle - Unplayable

He is a friend. I wish that the water wasnt swimmable in Great Bay in Ultimate, that stage was SO much better and more impactful when you sunk like a rock. Now bonking off of the bottom of the laboratory is no longer a skill check for teching. I do think the turtles a really cool way to get into the Great Bay Temple, and find that that temple gets a really bad rap in general, I think the differing water currents and especially the ice arrow puzzles are really neat and dynamic in a more interesting way than a lot of the conveyor belt puzzles of the 2D games. But yeah, its a giant turtle. I like giant turtle.

Lloyd Irving - Tales of Symphonia

I dont think Ive played Tales of Symphonia since what, 2006? Lloyd was never my favorite as a character, weird middleground between the anime meathead idiot hero and the confident bishe JRPG protagonist, never felt like he did either side that well, but he was fine. And damn, when you got to play as him, it was an art form. The way that he naturally air combos with his basic strings, ESPECIALLY for 2004 before Devil May Cry 3 really codified the infinite stylish air juggle as a thing that existed outside of Marvel Vs Capcom, was awesome, and Tempest remains an all-timer of a move to just throw out, turn off your brain, and feel really, really good about. I have no idea if it still holds up (from what I understand and seeing how Tales has evolved, probably not), but it definitely sticks out as something that felt outright magic for its time. Do I think that should translate into a role in Smash? Ehhhh, I think Lloyds time has passed him a bit, I dont think hes QUITE the same case as Cloud where he himself is an icon on-par with his game and I dont think that Velvet and other recent protags are THAT far behind him. But hes really solid, Im sure Id be hit with all kinds of nostalgia hearing brand new Lloyd lines. And while I know theyd never go the extra mile like this man can you imagine Skits in Smash with him? Brilliant.

PrinceOfKoopas posted...

I tend to have Micaiah at level 20 by 1-9 so I'm not really trying to snipe for XP by then.
Even at max level she still goes down quite easily to the mooks, sometimes being doubled.

Yeah I get you there. Just knowing this chapter is coming up, I try to leave Micaiah with a couple levels to reach max so she can feast in 1-9. Because damn does the Dawn Brigade need all the XP they can get for Chapter 3, that laguz map in the swamp, every single time...

Daisy

You can talk about her in Smash, too, if you want, but I'm here for the baseball at this point.

Thwomp

Polar Bear

Kamekguy posted...

Yeah I get you there. Just knowing this chapter is coming up, I try to leave Micaiah with a couple levels to reach max so she can feast in 1-9. Because damn does the Dawn Brigade need all the XP they can get for Chapter 3, that laguz map in the swamp, every single time...

You guys actually bother training Micaiah? I just resign myself to the fact that she won't be anything more than a staffbot and funnel all the EXP into Jill and Nolan. Sacrifice + being the only tier 1 unit that can equip Paragon is usually enough to get her to a decent level in part 1, anyway.

Mewtwo59 posted...

You guys actually bother training Micaiah? I just resign myself to the fact that she won't be anything more than a staffbot and funnel all the EXP into Jill and Nolan. Sacrifice + being the only tier 1 unit that can equip Paragon is usually enough to get her to a decent level in part 1, anyway.

I just finished another run of Radiant Dawn earlier this week on hard mode (with the gimmick being bringing Shinon, Leonardo, Rolf, Fiona, and Astrid to the tower; and Sothe having transfers from PoR where he has max stats in basically every stat... he still sucks because Whisper's Strength cap is 28); Micaiah ended up being 20/20/18 or something and capped every stat except Strength.

But either way I always train Micaiah. Paragon definitely being helpful. It's not optimal to train hereven with her stats capped she's still 2HKO'd by any physical unit on enemy phasebut I like her personally, and Thani is fun (though Generals Resistance is so high that even capped Magic Micaiah won't OHKO) until she was Rexaura-ing stuff with impunity. She's a fun unit.

Sans

PrinceOfKoopas posted...

I just finished another run of Radiant Dawn earlier this week on hard mode (with the gimmick being bringing Shinon, Leonardo, Rolf, Fiona, and Astrid to the tower; and Sothe having transfers from PoR where he has max stats in basically every stat... he still sucks because Whisper's Strength cap is 28); Micaiah ended up being 20/20/18 or something and capped every stat except Strength.

But either way I always train Micaiah. Paragon definitely being helpful. It's not optimal to train hereven with her stats capped she's still 2HKO'd by any physical unit on enemy phasebut I like her personally, and Thani is fun (though Generals Resistance is so high that even capped Magic Micaiah won't OHKO) until she was Rexaura-ing stuff with impunity. She's a fun unit.

One of those units isn't like the others.

I always just bless Purge because doubling dragons from 10 range is really fun. And it's not like she can do anything against any of the other enemies after that point, so you aren't losing out on anything later by doing that.

Daisy - Mario Strikers Charged

When I didnt default to oh its Donkey Kong. Well I cant NOT play as him or yo they made Diddy achieve enlightenment for some reason thats rad as Hell, Daisy was my go-to for Strikers charged. For whatever reason, they gave her geomancy where she strikes the ground and massive crystals burst from the earth underneath her. Gave her a really great balance between the totally busted defensive walls like Waluigi and the offensive juggernauts like Hammer Bro - she was skilled at basically everything, but needed juuuust a bit of skill. I also love how full of herself she is in the game, Daisy gets PISSED if shes losing and its probably the only game where youll get a Mario princess touching her ass and making a sizzle sound, which Im sure awakened a lot of things in a lot of people, but I find it a fun differentiation from Peachs pop princess vibe in this game. Great showing of personality that really evolved Daisy until nothing was done with it.

Mario Baseball Profile: Daisy - Daisy is on the veeeery fringe of being meta, but has a few key traits holding her back. Her Star Hit is interesting, removing the drop zone indicated from a solid line drive hit but she gives it a bunch of loft, making the hit merely a skill check rather than a guarantee like most star hits. Her chemistry tree is awful, having good chem with Peach (out-of-meta) and Luigi (barely meta), and having negative chemistry with Bowser, Waluigi, and Petey Piranha, three characters she is almost DEFINITELY going to be throwing to. Her singles bat is good, probably on-par with Mario, but she doesnt have quite the oomph to knock it out of the park. Her pitching is good, but not good enough to ever consider her as your lead-off, you dont draft backup pitchers explicitly for pitching, and even if you did, Boo/Diddy/Dixie/Waluigi basically has the mound on lockdown. However, she does possess an amazing combination of abilities for the infield - Sliding Catch and Quick Throw. Sliding Catch lets her nab grounders and line drives fairly efficiently, while Quick Throw - an ability that is exclusive to her and Peach - removes all start-up and endlag on her throws and catches. The instant the ball is in Daisys glove, she can toss it to another base, priming her to be the absolute best character in the game at making Double Plays. However, there are three major issues with this; her poor chemistry with first basemen other than Luigi (with Walu and Bowser being very common there) leading to errors, her throwing arm is mediocre at best so a character like Pianta or Wario will usually match or exceed her, especially if they need to throw to third, and she has one of the skinniest hitboxes in the entire game. Hitbox size in baseball is determined by the characters body (except Toads, for some reason, because their heads are huge), giving some characters like Petey real difficulty in catching the ball. Peach and Daisy are the slimmest hitboxes in the game by far, making balls that any other character would be able to grab sometimes just pass them by. Daisy isnt a bad character by any means, she does everything at least OK, but shes beat out by Mario in the generalist role and unless youre really high on a Luigi strategy, isnt gonna contribute more than a specialist. Was a funny time where her Vs Wario for title of meta 2nd baseman that isnt Pianta was a debate, though.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - Remember when they accidentally realized there were slight differences between Peach and Daisy in playstyle and patched that out as fast as possible? Yeah I just dont get the point of Daisy? She makes perfect sense as an echo fighter, thats a popular enough character with a similar enough rig, but they just do NOTHING with her? Like, you dont have to change how the Peach moveset functions in order to make Daisy work, just alter some properties, make it more aggressive, maybe make float faster but last for less time - there are ways to make the Peach playstyle fit with Daisys personality. But it just doesnt? Toad is blue now I guess? The issue this leaves is that Peach has a moveset that fits her very well, finding power in very traditional femininity and using it to kick everyones ass, and Daisy just kind of does the same in spite of her tomboy personality. It doesnt even boil down the character to her core elements, it reduces her to Peach with different voicelines. And thats not why people whined about her not being in Strikers Battle League on release! I dont like being mean to say something is a waste of resources, but like at least if you gave this same treatment to Funky Kong and just added a surfboard to his Up B, itd still get at Funkys character. This is the issues of Lucina without even bothering to give her any meaningful change. Time wouldve been better spent elsewhere, even for Daisy fans. F

Thwomp - Mario Party Advance

Mario Party Advance is like if you took some Mario Party mini-game concepts and decided hey, what if instead of making a party game, we made Yakuza sub-stories where you play mini-games instead of fight? Thus giving us famous lines like Im Bowser, gamer without compare and showing at least five separate Mario characters have crippling gambling addictions. Anyway, for whatever reason, Thwomps mini-game is a detective game investigation sequence for 3-year olds where you have to figure out how he could have been robbed, and for some reason it goes into an Ace Attorney-like study the entire room for clues sequence. Its never used again in the game, its just here. Because Thwomp wants you to waste time on him. And thats neat. Also he rides a moped in a Mario Party 8 mini-game, thats pretty funny. I like Thwomp, but I like Whomp more, for some reason they keep giving Whomp a New Yorker accent and thats just funny to me, plus he had the better selection of extras in that Mario Party 4 mode. In Smash, Thwomp exists? Like, its an iconic enemy, I get why hes here, but its another Mario enemy that does stage control. And out of the Bro/Chomp/Thwomp trifecta, I think he does it the worst and least interestingly. Hes always been a lot cuter as an extension of Kirbys stone ability. Also, Blue Thwomps > Grey Spiky Thwomps, they work better as platforms and still crush you real good, justice for Marty the Green Thwomp from Mario Kart 64.

Polar Bear - Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back

I think Polar had the best chase sequences in the Crash series, with the possible exception of the Schnurgle sequences from the alien chases in Crash 4. Something about the way the little bear controlled compared to the others felt right - Pura was always too slow and the hogs always incredibly stiff. Polar, though, he zoomed at just the right pace and had this weird horizontal momentum where he could just move in the air perpendicularly as fast as he could run, and it felt great weaving through obstacles. It culminating in a race away from a giant polar bear was also a great touch, especially with backtracking TO polar leading to the secret warp to Totally Bear for even more bear action. And shoutouts to Unbearable in general, what a fantastic level that terrified me as a child. Polar was also my main in Crash Team Racing when I was a kid, adorable little guy doesnt know how to read or drive but hes gonna do both anyway, love him even if I fell off turn characters in that game hard. This is all to say that I liked the polar bear from Ice Climber in Melee, but I think hes part of the worst section of the Summit stage; that whole water bit is just obnoxious, and he only proves to make it more obnoxious.

sans - all elite wrestling

still one of the funniest wrestler intros of all time. like, as much as i appreciate sasha banks sailor moon cosplay or the new day coming out of a giant box of cereal as saiyans, there is something special about a ring announcer having to say that kenny omega is calling on the power of sans from undertale. a really special moment that transcends wrestling itself.

anyway sans is the only reason people play mii gunner. im sure that people would have played cuphead to some extent, but the funny skeleton damn near overshadowed banjo on release, and banjo was banjo! what i think i appreciate most about sans as a character is that, in spite of his overwhelming memetic status and very easily being a character who could lean into that, he just stays totally in-character in his subsequent appearances. he doesnt become a series of references or memes to try to pop the crowd, he plays on the expectation of potentially doing that, and then just keeps living as a character, interacting with toriel and asgore, talking about his brother - sans remains sans. and i really appreciate that about him. i also love the general juxtaposition his existence leaves the game of undertale in, wherein its a fun but fairly straightforward and easy shump-type game if you play it regularly, carried by charm and character that sans exudes. if you dont like it, or even care too much about it, sans provides you with the greatest mechanical reward in the game, at the cost of literally destroying all the things he actually cares about. im not gonna say its a great commentary or anything, i just find it neat and really reinforces the reason the characters the way he is. and the boss fight is really fun.

Magikoopa

Lyn

I wonder how close Sans was to becoming an actual Smash character. Probably not THAT close, as there's still plenty of popular characters that had to be snubbed...but Toby Fox did visit Sakurai's house.

Black Knight

Fighting Polygon Team

Dante

Magikoopa - Mario Superstar Baseball

Magikoopa is probably the first character even casual players will go yo this guy is cracked to that isnt a home run machine. Instead of wearing a glove, Magikoopa holds the ball by hovering it over his head with his wand. For whatever reason, this causes the game to count his wand as a massive hitbox in the field, making him rival characters with Super Jump in vertical prowess with a normal leap. But then you couple that with his special ability, Magical Catch, which is basically Yoshis Tongue or Birdos Suction with an even longer range as Magikoopa decides nah, dont feel like playing baseball, I caught it lol. However, magical catch is a bit more finicky than the dinos, as while it has the longest range, it also has the longest animation, Magikoopa taking foreeeever to slowly guide the ball into his clutches, making it the least likely of the abilities to score double plays. This is coupled by the fact that he gets locked into the animation whether he can actually catch the ball or not, sometimes slowing it so it gets to your outfielders less quickly. AND hes got a horrible throwing arm and is horribly slow! This keeps Magikoopa from serving the same outfield role that Yoshi dominates, and makes him inferior to Birdo and a lot of the best 2nd/Short options in the infield. On the flip side, though, this makes him an INCREDIBLE corner baseman. It doesnt matter if he nabs a ball slowly if its gonna be foul, so any time a ball veers too far past his base, Magikoopa can very easily convert any battle mistakes into outs. Add in his jump nabbing balls right out of the sky and his weak throwing arm mattering less at the corners which VERY rarely need to throw to each other, and you will not see a game where Magikoopa isnt on a corner (usually 3rd, him and King Boo tend to dominate that position). On top of that, Magikoopa has an exceptional bat, hitting gappers really easily and all of his variants having the line drive star hit, and hes a character with Boo chemistry, giving him an advantage with pick-offs. You can see players picking the more balanced Blue Magikoopa, the stronger and thus better star hit/max potential Red Magikoopa, or the solid backup pitcher Green Magikoopa depending on preference, a real rarity for characters with color variants. Youll never see Yellow Magikoopa, though. His robes smell like piss so he runs slightly faster, but hes still slow.

Lyn - Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword

Lyns such a fun lord surrogate character. Admittedly, of all the FEs Ive beaten, 7 is the one I have the most passive memories of outside of going oh yeah, that was good consistently and I really liked Ninos arc, I wish she was more usable. But Lyn is a constant highlight, essentially thrusting the myrmidon class into the spotlight and serving as a perfect beginner character for the Fire Emblem series. Sure shes kinda frail, but she makes up for it by being dodgy and critting every ten seconds with the Mani Katti; shes supposed to be your secret weapon, the ringer thats gonna close out fights with a flash. And with this being the worldwide introduction to Fire Emblem, its really important to have a character new fans can glom onto and feel that sense of thrilling empowerment, combined with the dread of losing it all. Lyn is stellar at that, and even though she falls off pretty hard the further through the game you get well one I appreciate that your initial lord isnt doing a hard carry through the game (which would be great if Marcus also fell off), but I think its absolutely fine, she serves her role at the beginning perfectly and gets a real cool power boost right at the end so you can feel good for taking her all the way. Lyn is a character who really did need to appear in Smash in some form, and while I think you could make a really fun speedster swordswoman moveset with her (Sora and Meta Knight are the only ones really holding up that role at the moment), I think her assist trophy appearance is fine. I really like one having this constant, building tension of a powerful quick draw strike, puts the feel of something like Samurai Kirby into the game, its great. One of the few times you really want to rush down and beat an Assist Trophy instead of simply avoiding them.

Black Knight - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/80133166/967645111

Fighting Polygon Team - Unplayable

The best version of the fighting teams, bar none. Alloy and Wireframes were fine, Id even say that the wireframes having the Smash logo faces made them a lot more distinct as minions of Master Hand. But theres something about that mess of purple shapes that always confronted you on the versus screen that made you go HUH? OK THEN. Also just sick designs in general, like the Yoshi polygon with the sharp teeth? Legitimately terrifying. They KIND of harkened back to this with the light and dark souls that galeem and dharkon summon in Ultimate, with the characters reduced to a single glowy gradient, but those lack the distinct character that the Polygon Team had. There was something neat about figuring out which body belonged to which character, seeing these weird deformations of half-finished characters, like Master Hand was creating these half-ready husks as a final test. Really distinct stuff, also fantastic theme on Battlefield, I dont think theres a song other than the character select screen thats so distinctly Smash 64.

Dante - Devil May Cry 3: Dantes Awakening

Its not that I dislike Devil May Cry V at all, its that I love playing as Nero and V so much that Dante often takes a step back. Blame his theme being the worst so I dont care to get good so I feel the dopamine. I dont really have to elaborate on why DMC3 Dante is so solid, yeah? The feeling of swapping styles for the sake of style, the experimentation that comes with every new weapon reward, the fluidity of movement. DMC3 was the no baby come back, I can change I swear! gift after DMC2, and it feels like its trying everything in its power to make you love it again. And damn, it succeeds in doing so. DMC isnt my absolute favorite character action series - God Hand is over there being its own weird, perfect little creation and has destroyed my ability to gauge the genre accurately - but I do greatly appreciate not only the trailblazing that Dantes done, but how he remains incredibly fun at his core. Plus I mean, Devil May Cry is just so GOOD at framing its bosses, like the set-up to these showdowns is pristine every time in a way Bayonetta couldnt hope to keep up with. And I like Bayonetta, its just not Vergil 3. It could never be Vergil 3. Wish Dante got in instead of Byleth, really do, that was a good rumor going around and it woulda been fun. The sheer variety Dante could bring is fabulous, and unlike a character like Joker, you GOTTA bring his variety - they did it for Marvel 3, anything less would be underachieving!

Porygon

Bowser

Wii Fit Trainer

Ring Fit Adventurer

The Prince of Sabl

Kamekguy posted...

she serves her role at the beginning perfectly and gets a real cool power boost right at the end so you can feel good for taking her all the way.

I hope you aren't talking about the Sol Katti here. That's possibly the worst weapon in the entire series. I have no idea what they were thinking with that one.

Mewtwo59 posted...

I hope you aren't talking about the Sol Katti here. That's possibly the worst weapon in the entire series. I have no idea what they were thinking with that one.

Look I know it reduces her speed to the point where she loses all edge as an actual unit and doesn't actually outpace a silver sword thus making it an objective disappointment.

But it looks cool and effective damage makes my brain tingle.

Porygon - Pokemon Blue

And ONLY Pokemon Blue of the Gen 1 games. Needing to get 9999 coins in red version? The guy is pitifully inaccessible. Anyway, for an in-game playthrough, Gen 4 is probably the best appearance of Porygon - Platinum makes the weird duck actually accessible, and Porygon-Z was still a really fun novelty at the time to strive for with its ridiculous special attack plus the physical/special split giving it funny STAB Hyper Beam. However, I have a real soft spot for oddball competitive Pokemon, and Gen 1 Porygons more recent emergence as a rogue pick is hilarious to me. Porygon is bad but its perfectly built to counter Snorlax. Porygon is slow, but is juuuust slightly less slow than Snorlax. Porygon doesnt have much health, but it has juuuuust enough to be able to take less than 50% from a Snorlax Body Slam, meaning that it can recover the damage off and pp stall Snorlax into defeat. It learns Thunder Wave, which can occasionally give it free turns to whittle Snorlax away or read the switch and paralyze something like Tauros. And its Normal type, making it immune to being paralyzed by Body Slam. Porygon is good against absolutely no other Pokemon with a remote competitive niche, but it does exactly enough correctly to beat one of the Top 3 non-Mewtwo or Mew Pokemon in the game. And I love that story, its great. Cute little section of Poke Floats, too, I miss the Porygon2 pokeball where it just kills you unreactably.

Mario Baseball Profile - Bowser

Weve been talking in a lot of except Bowser, on the Bowser Team, behind Bowser, with the Bowser match-up, supports Bowser. And there is a very, very good reason for that. Bowser is not just the best character in Mario Superstar Baseball, he warps the entire game around his presence, and is so integral to the teambuilding process, his removal would cause endless repercussions. To put it simply, if Bowser is at the plate, he is getting either on-base or an RBI 80% of the time. Bowser has, bar none, the best bat in the game; it has the longest reach of any bat in the game, it has the most power of any bat in the game, his homers have an insanely high trajectory that even characters with Wall Jump cannot grab, and hes a pull hitter, meaning that he naturally drags the ball toward his side of proper handedness, which just so happens to give him an easy, intuitive window to smack it over the fence; no complicated timing or thought needed, just hit the ball and watch it fly. If Bowser can make contact - and it is very easy for Bowser to make contact - its usually gonna go over the fence, and in the worst cases, hell hit it foul far enough that Magikoopa and the super jumpers cant snipe him because he hit it too damn hard for them to react. Because of this, Bowser is almost always an automatic walk; there are VERY few situations that would make you want to pitch to Bowser. And due to this, teambuilding completely warps around him. A power hitter like Bowser would normally be in the 4 slot so he has Grand Slam potential, but youll often see Bowser in the 2 or 3 spot as a guaranteed single, likely after someone like Bones he has chemistry with or Toadsworth who will also reliably get on base. If Hammer Bro follows Bowser, though - Bowsers giving a chem boost to that boy, putting the opposing team in a no-win situation where a grand slam can EASILY happen. And while Bro is optimal chemistry, any power hitter can serve Bros role, made even worse if theres a conga line of power right after the Koopa King. And on top of that, he has Laser Beam, making Bowser a great corner baseman because where else are you gonna stick him; hes not OPTIMAL, but he denies homers and theres no way in Hell youre passing up on BOWSER. And on top of that, he also has Cursed Ball pitching like Dry Bones. Hes not as good at it because he has no curve, just fastballs, but its an option! Bowser does nothing else but he can win games on his own in a way that no other character comes remotely close to, even if hes merely getting beaned to set up someone else. Bowser is so ridiculous that he has to be nerfed; if Bowser is on your team, he HAS to be your captain, as his star hit (which turns the ball into a Bullet Bill thats always a line drive but pushes you back really far if you catch it) is never worth going for because I mean its Bowser, you could get whats essentially a guaranteed sac fly run-in or you could just win the game. And winning the game is EASIER! This puts greater value on all the characters with good chemistry with Bowser, as team stars are far more valuable when the Bowser Team has to spend two on Birdo, or DK, or Mario, or whoever else. Does this entirely combat Bowsers overwhelming power? No, nothing else could, but it at least keeps him from running away with games by just sticking him on the Birdo team, and gives more value to characters like Bones and Koopa who would otherwise be harder picks. Bowser is what makes Mario Baseball such a volatile, potentially high-scoring game, and is one of the tentpoles that really makes it something special. As the old adage goes: Bowser Wins Games.

Wii Fit Trainer - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Wii Fit is allllmost there as a character. I appreciate the out of left field pull, that level of unexpectedness combined with the no, that makes sense, Wii Fit sold a ton of copies factor makes the trainer a deep cut thats exactly memeable and recognizable enough to not be too easily dismissed. Having the female trainer as the base also does wonders - I think theyre the only character with a selectable gender who defaults as female - really allows for a nice establishing of their character. Anyway, Wii Fit Trainer is essentially a haha defies expectations joke, and I think they do a pretty decent job of it. Like, they have really weird hitboxes because of the dedication to making them hit so many yoga poses, and they give the character a ton of aerial mobility to make those moves actually hittable. And its neat and goofy and works but for whatever reason, I dont think its all that cohesive? Which is weird, of course its not, its using fitness moves and attempting to make some form of cohesion between them. But I feel like there should be a stronger dedication to fitness with Wii Fit Trainer, and thats only really gotten with Sun Salutations self-healing and Deep Breathing, which are veeery surface level interpretations of fitness being good for you. THIS is the character that I think should have the Monado Arts - if you manage to do a full set of moves, youre all stretched out and get a buff. The focus should be on how doing your routine makes you real buff and tough for the actual fight, and instead its mostly just shooting soccer balls at people? And Headers a funny move, dont get me wrong, but I feel like WFT is a joke character where they just told a basic joke without thinking it through, especially compared to Plant and Jigglypuff, Theres not really anything bad with her, and she has the funniest crawl in the game, but I dunno, I want more. B-

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Wii Fit - I dont THINK the trainer is playable in Wii Fit, but I am impressed that she got in before the balance board. One of my favorite bits of characterization is the balance board reacting when you step on it, and if youre heavy it will audibly strain. Like thats so MEAN, why are you bullying the people who probably would find Wii Fit most helpful? Hilarious.

Ring Fit Adventurer - Ring Fit Adventure

And immediately, Wii Fit is antiquated, Ring Fit Adventure is a MUCH more fun time and far more effective at achieving its goals. The conceit of Ring Fits combat is simple - you have different types of exercises that match up with different elements, and you fight color-coded enemies like Pokemon. It would be a stupidly boring game if it were just a straight-up RPG but what I love about Ring Fit is that your own, physical body is your mana. Playing optimally is incredibly difficult - if a boss is weak to a specific element, not only cant you do the same exercise consecutively so that you dont throw your muscles out of whack, but you HAVE to push yourself with a more demanding exercise so that you outpace their damage, or else settle for a more defensive strategy so you wait for your muscles to recharge. Additionally, the games difficulty slider actually makes encounters easier by increasing the amount of reps you have to do to successfully complete a move. It ups your maximum damage for every attack, meaning that you can face bosses at lower levels with less equipment, in exchange for the actual process of fighting them being more difficult. If youre exercising optimally, your hair gets set on fire, which is such a simple but fun visual indicator of being in the zone and just man, so much of Ring Fit is so well considered, deconstructing an RPG and turning the basic process of attacking and adventuring into the most intensive part of the game. Brilliant design, Dragaux deserves to be in more games, what a great bully.

The Prince of Sabl - For The Frog The Bell Tolls

Its wild to me that this game came out in 1992. Its such a thorough deconstruction of the Zelda formula at a time where the Zelda formula barely existed, a fun little joke game that relies more on wit and basic problem solving than anything extreme yet it has way more brutal platforming than Links Awakening would ever come out with. Its so much fun having an incompetent, haughty protagonist who tries to find away around all of his problems and buy out anyone whod end up as an obstacle to him - Bell Tolls always has this wit about it, looking to subvert expectations in fun ways. Really, it combines some of the best aspects of Zelda, adventure games of the era, and puzzle games like Adventures of Lolo to make a product that feels very un-Nintendo, especially in its early era. The Prince is actually one of the assist trophies that Id love to see promoted to a full playable character. I love his current incarnation as a cartoon fight cloud, but imagining that as a special move, dragging other players in and forcing them to mash so that they can escape a self-destructive command grab, or bribing opponents to go easy on you - that sounds like such a fun, stupidly chaotic character. Definitely who Id support for the next retro rep.

You sold me on adding the Prince with the bribery special move. That would be too funny.

Beedrill

Greninja

Kamekguy posted...

Having the female trainer as the base also does wonders - I think theyre the only character with a selectable gender who defaults as female - really allows for a nice establishing of their character.

Inkling too!

At least one of the FE avatars should have been female default, it's really odd they're not.

Donkey Kong

Kamekguy posted...

Gen 1 Porygons more recent emergence as a rogue pick is hilarious to me. Porygon is bad but its perfectly built to counter Snorlax.

This is new to me and interesting, when did this start happening?

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

This is new to me and interesting, when did this start happening?

I think sometime last year? I know that they recently redid RBY's tiers and Porygon was just recently rated for it, here's a video that goes into a bit more detail on it.

https://youtu.be/mix4hThfvY4

Kenri posted...

Inkling too!

Man I just. Totally forget Inkling Boy is a thing. The preppy outfit isn't even bad, he just doesn't even register in my brain.

Colonel Campbell

Sorry for the delay, released a video and getting everything set after that for the follow-up took a bit, just got sick of writing for the week. If you're bored, it's a 30 minute breakdown of Diddy Kong's character arc, channel in my signature.

Beedrill - Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

I just feel bad for Beedrill. Its an awesome Pokemon from a pure design standpoint, gets its own signature move in Twinneedle, Bug moves are x4 times effective against most Grass types in Gen 1 because of poisons weird weaknesses in that gen, and you will always dump it in its original game by the time you get to Celadon, if not Rock Tunnel. Beedrill is so unfortunately statted that it is VERY rare you want it, even with its normally excellent availability (though its not in Yellow so I guess its not THAT excellent), and the sheer amount of physical attackers in Gen 1 gives it a very, very hard time standing out. Why pick Beedrill, after all, when you can go up to Nidorino with just a little more effort? And eventually that boy turns into THE KING. And after Beedrill lost its niche as the only bug who can actually use a damaging bug-type move, there was even less of a reason to use it, only kept in the conversation because Ariados somehow dropped the ball as its predecessor. At least it got a Mega Evolution in ORAS, one with a monstrous attack stat, one thats legitimately fun to use from the sheer novelty of having Beedrill in your back pocket and destroying teams with it and Kakuna is only made available after you beat Groudon/Kyogre. As a Safari Zone Pokemon. Secretly. Thus removing the entire niche of the Pokemon as a fast grower at the beginning with a great eventual payoff. And you catch the Kakuna at Level 30 so its moveset is gonna be all kinds of screwed up. Huh. At the very least, its a fun Pokeball pokemon in the one game it appeared in before being replaced with Unown, man, the poor bee cant catch a break, huh? Its got everything it needs to succeed, but drops the ball every single time it counts.

Greninja - Pokemon Sun/Moon

There is something hilarious to me about Ash Ketchum being SO canon to Pokemon but not allowed to speak that when Greninja bonds with its trainer to the truest extent it can muster, the entire species has decided to base their ultimate form around him. Ash-Geninja makes Ash feel like some kind of mythic hero, and that gives me no end of delight. Protean makes Greninja an inherently fun, if frustrating to face, Pokemon. It allows for a level of flexibility that Pokemon like Porygon and Kecleon tried to reach, but just couldnt manage to pull off, and makes for a really entertaining lead Pokemon where your opponent tries to read just what kind of spikes, support, or priority move youre going to throw out. And then Battle Bond Greninja is just happy to delete anything in its path, saving Water Shuriken as a wholly unique tool to clean anything with only after it gets its big boost, which is just a cool bit of utility that you rarely get to see on a Pokemon. It actually cleverly gets to use Pokemons abilities and movesets to create a varied assortment of fun movesets. Yeah, good that its popular!

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - Admittedly, if you asked me to name every single Smash Bros character, Greninja would probably be one of the last ones I name. It has a very similar issue to Yoshi for me, where it very much is here, is very functional, but lacks any sort of sauce to really differentiate it. The difference between them being that Greninja actually has something to base itself off of, and that is yo Striders pretty cool, isnt he? There are, obviously, elements of Greninja that are unique - it uses its tongue and overall physiology well, Shadow Sneak is a cool move, Water Shuriken is a neat variant on the charge and release shot, the down air really emphasizes the whole being a frog elements and uses its legs really well, plus it feels incredibly good to spring off of enemies with it. However, its very clear that this character was adapted from its art compared to its actual gameplay functionality, and the idea of a trapper-ninja instead of a purely rushdown one intrigues me a lot more than what Greninja currently has. Not that anything Greninja does is bad, but its surface level outside of Substitute and well, theres already another ninja in the cast, one that is VERY important to the competitive history of the game! There was never going to be a world where Sheik didnt overshadow Greninja unless the frog was significantly better than her, and both tap into that ninja cool feeling and dynamic without doing much else to differentiate themselves. Again, there is nothing Greninja does badly, it is entirely functional and flavorful and Strider is a fantastic character to use as a base! Theres just nothing that pushes it over the edge for me or endears it to me past wow cool down air. B


Col. Roy Campbell - Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus

He was playable in PO+, right? Never touched the multiplayer of that one, but Im pretty sure you could actually play as 70s Chicken Fox Campbell there. Anyway, Roys probably my least favorite of the core Metal Gear codec group. Hes got a fantastic story hook, Paul Eiding sells the Hell out of his internal conflict and how his lies to Snake throughout MGS are slowly uncovered, but he doesnt really get much in the way of casual character outside of being Snakes old war buddy and having that level of camaraderie with him. Compared to Mei Lings playful goading and legitimate emotional concern for Snake, Otacon being a mess just barely keeping himself together in more ways than one, Naomis sardonic sarcasm making way for the whole getting to the heart of the professional schtick and, yknow, her role post-Raven, and even the disillusionment and bitterness of Natasha, Campbell is very much the straightforward CO. I would say hes still got more charm to him than Miller, but well, yknow. Major Zero was a lot more successful execution of Campbells concept, able to mix the straightforward commanding officer role with I guess British? It was endearing, regardless. I think I like Campbell more for what he represents than anything he does; just frank, reliable storytelling and strong character acting. For as little as he contributes, hes one of the main voices I hear in my head when I think of Metal Gear, and I think that counts for something.

I like when he insults Luigi, hes just so scathingly mean, you can hear the venom in his voice. But then, thats not really Campbell. Man, the whole Arsenal Gear sequence is so good. Like, if you wanted to hear that sequence is great, its really fantastic. The whole consciousness emerging from the primordial sea of the white house bit should be a slog, but damn Eiding sells the Hell out of it and has the most disappointed and chiding tone the entire time, its fantastic.

Mario Baseball Profile: Donkey Kong

If all things were even and offense and defense were valued equally in baseball, Donkey Kong would undoubtedly be the greatest player the game has ever seen. There is nothing that DK cant do. He has a fantastic bat, having a middleground between Toadsworth and Hammer Bros similar focused contact zone bats where he can viably hit home runs, but also can deliver some of the most consistent singles hits in the entire game. On top of that, he has one of the best specials in the game, the Banana Ball, hitting a VERY strong line drive that tends to curve right in between the middle and left fielders thats hit too fast for most to react to. Yoshi can gobble up Diddys Boomerang Ball thats hit with less stank fairly routinely, but not only do you have to adjust Yoshis position specifically to combat Donkey Kongs banana (sacrificing him as a left fielder if DK decides to just pop instead), its more a 50/50 rather than a guaranteed out. This makes Donkey Kong an incredible choice for captain, as not only is his star hit valuable, he also has a fantastic chemistry tree. While some like the princesses, Mario and Magikoopa dont love Donkey Kong, theres no one who outright has negative chemistry with the big ape, and hes generally well liked enough that getting a full stock of team stars with DK behind the helm is not a big ask. On top of that, he has positive chemistry with the other Kongs (Dixie & Diddy) and, for whatever reason, Petey Piranha, making a Kong-DK-Petey string in your batting order one of the most deadly and flexible non-Bowser combinations in the game. And THEN, that DK-Petey chemistry combos directly into DKs fielding prowess, as DK has Laser Beam, THE best ability for denying runners heading home. While Pianta into Noki with laser is the fastest possible throw, putting Noki at home is a waste of her natural talents, and Petey is already gonna be your catcher if hes on your team, so the DK/Petey toss is the fastest viable throw youre gonna have. Which is fortunate, because DK is one of the best shortstops in the game. He has no natural abilities other than laser that MAKE him good there, but hes a huge body and, for some reason, has an incredible natural dive range, letting him nab fly balls like no one else as he leaps forward and gracefully squeezes the ball between his finely sculpted buttocks (as, for whatever reason, they are want to fly directly into). He even has value as a closing pitcher! While DK possesses no spin so youd never use him as a starter, hes got a killer fastball that he uniquely throws sidearm, causing balls to break to the right of the plate naturally, making him good at jamming a good deal of lefty batters who arent used to the pitch timing, AND his banana pitch is a great desperation move if you absolutely need to close out the 9th. If Bowser did not warp the entire game around how damn good he is at the plate itd be debatable whether DK or Petey was more valuable since Peteys bat is just so far ahead of everyone else but Bowsers. But as an all-around character, there is no one better on the diamond than Donkey Kong.

Nice Campbell write-up

Riki

Robin

The Sheriff

Princess Peach

Gonna bump this boss topic.

Awww thanks, I really appreciate that. I ended up spending a solid 10 days just writing a ton of scripts, and thoroughly burnt myself out on writing ANYTHING else. Finally have my head above water insofar as that goes, though, so in we go to... whatever scraps of Nintendo characters are left, I suppose.

Riki - Xenoblade Chronicles

I havent actually played much of Xenoblade Chronicles. Hit the combat, realized oh no, Im gonna be doing this a LOT, and then decided experiencing it through a Lets Play that I only half remember was the way to go. Im the kind of person who needs to finish EVERYTHING in a zone before I am able to move on, and Xenoblades combat loop and side quests spell disaster for my ability to do anything productively. I did just pick up Xenoblade 3, though, and thats on the docket as soon as I finish this replay of Tropical Freeze - everything Ive seen makes it seems like a lot more my speed insofar as customization in combat goes. In any case, Riki is a character Im like, perfectly youre fine about? Like haha, its funny that the childish-sounding mascot character is a loving father in his 40s or 50s or whatever. Its a cute subversion, and past that, Riki fulfills his role as support well. He pretty much does the same in Smash, think he was a fun pull for Xenoblade in general, definitely the most distinct amongst the cast. I do kinda feel bad that he took Tingles function, I miss Tingle a lot, but Riki fulfills his purpose well enough. Sorry I dont have more to say on it!

Robin - Fire Emblem Awakening

Robin is a great poster child for Awakenings reclassing systems. Strategist/Grandmaster is such a cool unique path, and its actually really nice and clever how base GM falls off drastically by endgame. Having this fantastic base to rebuild Robin from the ground up from and making them HAVE to reclass to stay as excellent as they used to be at the start of the game is really smartly done. I dont praise a lot of Awakenings decisions - they saved the series but also made it focus really hard on aspects I care about less than a great level curve and cruel but not unfair map design - but Robins implementation is definitely a strong point for the game. Their incredible flexibility also makes them the most freeform aspect of the child-raising system, which Im not a fan of turning eugenics into a gameplay system, typically dont like using any of the kids other than Lucina as I prefer the reclassing system be the focus and I like Lucina having inheritance as a unique thing for her rather than being simply the cream of the crop of a BUNCH of bonus units. And I even think Robins place in the story is nice and clever, the eventual role they play is telegraphed pretty obviously, but still executed nicely and explains why their presence is so pivotal and central to Awakenings story. tl;dr, I got a bunch of complains about Awakening, but Robin tends to come out on the better end of most of them.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - I am INCREDIBLY split on how theyve handled Robin in Smash. On one hand, I love that theres a Fire Emblem character that actually represents core elements of the series. Using magic in order to serve different roles with different tomes, utilizing weapon durability in exchange for much stronger weapons, having a slower character who actually has to use strategy as they bait enemies to approach - all of these are really good, and Robin definitely represents the player-customized unit the best out of their contemporaries. They even feel good to use, Arcfire being a solid expansion of PK Fire, Thoron feeling really good to throw out, and the Levin Swords range and strength is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. On the other hand, I do not like that Robin suffers from playing the game at a basic level. In sort of a reverse-Lucario situation, as soon as you start throwing out attacks with Robin, you start losing your ability to feel strong. I could understand this if Robin were a character with absolutely phenomenal options, but Robin just kind of functions like a regular character who sometimes stops being able to play the game? No individual move in Robins kit is particularly oppressive, their only real flourish is Thoron which, while good, isnt SO good that it needs to not only be limited, but also be attached to three other projectiles, one of which is arguably better than it. And while the Levin Sword is good yeah, its a slow character with good disjointed aerials. Thats not special, thats just Ike with breakable weapons. As much as Robin props themselves up as a strategist, strategy is incidental in their moveset. Hero is a better resource management character, Snake is a better strategy character, Diddy is a better opportunist (even if he shouldnt be) - Robin doesnt translate Fire Emblem into Smash Bros. They translate Breath of the Wilds durability. And yet theres still stuff here, the base of the character is solid, the IDEA of the character is there. Robin is everything that they should be, theyre not WRONG. Theyre just highly undertuned. C+

The Sheriff - Toy Story

Its.a good retro pull and I love the idea of making older bits of Nintendos history unrealistically strong. Sheriff is a horribly disruptive Assist Trophy, but Im not as overwhelmed by him compared to others Id describe as almost guaranteed match-changers. He does a simple thing, you can predict it, but its really good and really hard to work around. Plus I like the dumpy little jingle as he walks around.

Anyway Strange Things on the Genesis.

https://youtu.be/Unh2dAEHtZo

Damn the Genesis is trying so, SO hard to pull this song off. It remixes the silly song of haha your life and reality is falling apart around you and turns it into one of the most fun and upbeat starts to an adventure that you can possibly get. Does it sound like the sound chip is gonna explode any second? Oh, constantly. But that just adds to the charm, giving it such a determined GRIT to contrast the upbeat jazz going on all around it. Of all of the music that was Genesisified over the years, I think this and Smooth Criminal definitely came out the best, weirdly enjoyable on their own terms rather than being desperate emulations of what they were following. That extends to Toy Story as a whole, really - the game was WAY too ambitious for its own good, throwing everything at the wall from various camera perspectives to gameplay types to digitized voice lines while forgetting to give The Sheriffs drawstring a good hitbox and making him way too big to be reasonable. But despite the rough edging on The Sheriff I mean I dont think its a great game, but its one that absolutely endears it to me.

Princess Peach - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Peach is a really difficult character to get right in a fighting game. This is a character who finds power in traditional femininity, weaponizing the cutesy and the domestic because thats just what she enjoys and still managing (or at least trying) to be powerful in spite of the stereotype around those actions. Smash actually does a really fantastic job of this - Peach doesnt ever feel limited by her stature, she mixes it up with the rest of them with decidedly strong strikes. Her float gives her not just unique combo routes that sets her apart as a really interesting rushdown character, but a regality in how she approaches that makes her beating your face in seem effortless to her. The sound design on her frying pan is fantastic, that thing feels SO satisfying to hit with, and shes so perfectly serene even in the heat of battle that it feels especially humiliating to lose to her. Here are trained fighters, warriors, dark kings, small lost children, weird animals, super fighting robots - all easily dismantled by the graceful strikes of the princess. Peach is portrayed as POWERFUL in Smash in a way that her own series rarely gets to capture. My one major issue with her moveset is Toad. Now, Im happy to see Toad, but I think her signature move being let someone else protect her kiiiind of goes against everything else the moveset is proving: Peach IS capable in her own, absolutely uncompromising way, and shell embarrass the Hell out of you for underestimating her. Plus, the little guy using an ability hes never shown before and, like. Come on. Toad has NEVER protected ANYTHING successfully in his life. I love the guy, but come on, she would be safer if she asked to be kidnapped and tried to run away in the confusion than letting TOAD save her. Also Im a much bigger fan of her Melee moveset than when the hearts and rainbows and sparkles were added - yes it gives her a stronger identity toward that traditional femininity and empowering that, but I kind of liked the subtlety of that coming across in her movement and her smacking the shit out of you anyway. Peach is really solid, though, and while I will never be able to play her, Im very happy shes here. B+

Mario Superstar Baseball Profile: Peach - Peach is perhaps the most cursed player in the entirety of Mario Baseball. Thats not to say shes a bad character - far from it, she actually has many excellent traits - but a combination of multiple factors ensure that she will NEVER see a game unless you really, really like Peach. Her chemistry tree is fairly awful, being low to awful with every single power hitter in the game, except Pianta (who shes average with and is the weakest home run threat) and Bowser Jr (who is not a home run threat except on the Bowser team which Peach is never going to be on), making her a liability on most teams when throwing to the most popular 1st and 2nd basemen and catchers in the game. She has the Quick Throw ability, one of only two characters in the game and is completely outclassed by Daisy in that department. And Daisy is already a niche pick for infield, making Peach, what, the 5th or 6th pick for a dedicated 2nd Basewoman? Her bat isnt horrible, but its hovering around that Diddy and Dixie range of you can make it work, but youre not relying on them to get on base. And being compared to those two is a major problem. Peach is, in theory, a great pitcher, as she has strong curve on her balls. The issue is, she is not a better pitcher than Boo, Dixie, Diddy, or Waluigi, but pitches similarly enough to them that she doesnt have a niche like Dry Bones or Goomba do. Peach offers nothing to your team composition from a chemistry standpoint, and in every single position she could fill, she is 5th or 6th best at best, at which point there is always someone who is better at batting, or has a niche somewhere else, or can play another position well while waiting to be backup pitcher. Peach isnt bad, and in fact feels pretty good to play as when youre just starting to play the game. Shes just unviable.

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Super Mario 3D World - Peach is a weird grab bag of appearances. Shes a great character in Mario RPG but absolutely miserable to play as, simply being a fantastic healer who should never reasonably die in any given playthrough. Mario RPG is an easy game, but Toadstool utterly trivializes it. Shes a lightweight in early Mario Kart which makes her a viable character to play as, but shes gotten lost in the crowd ever since she became a middleweight in Double Dash. Super Princess Peach is fine, I suppose, a slow and casual platformer to breeze through until you have to track down every single Toad to fight Bowser and then youre combing every single stage for secrets. Her Paper Mario appearances tend to be fun diversions, but thats more for the context of what shes doing rather than any input from Peach herself (though her fight against Mimi in Super Paper Mario is quite good for that games standards of boss). Its really the float that enables Peachs gameplay identity to come to the forefront, making Mario 2 and 3D World always her most fun appearances. Being able to casually break levels open is a joy usually reserved for Knuckles and Dixie Kong, but Peach gives you juuuust a taste of that magic, while still requiring a tighter sense of gravity than the DK and Sonic series tend to offer (at least for Knuckles - Classic Sonic and gravity are pretty tight). The speed boost offered to all characters in Bowsers Fury especially really solidifies this, Peach able to absolutely BREAK some levels with fast enough glides, and it feels great straining this game that was clearly not ready for the speed boost, but is dealing with it anyway. So yeah, I guess that one, its fun. Still would like to see her a bit more fully realized as an RPG character, though, thatd be really fun.

Kamekguy posted...

its just not Vergil 3. It could never be Vergil 3.

amazing finale bruh, the scene direction of that game is just incredible sometimes

Vergil 3 is so good that I thought it would never be topped in another action game.

Then Armstrong came along.

Kamekguy posted...

Robin is everything that they should be, theyre not WRONG. Theyre just highly undertuned.

Agree with this. I really wish Robin was stronger, because Levin Sword is the most satisfying sound effect in Ultimate.

Tiki