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

(+) Yeah! (+)

Hitmonlee

Mario

Fletchling

Tiki - Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

New Mystery is among my preferred handheld FE games to replay, but damn does it butcher Tiki. Divinestone with limited durability AND changing the way that Dragonstones work from laguz-like transformations into basic weapons really limits all the fun flexibility that the original had. FE3 Tiki is awesome - effective damage against the final boss potentially trivializing that fight, able to transform into a wyvern to just become a flying unit with the BEST mobility in the game on command, extra fun in experimenting with the magestone and icestone to shred other dragons. She has a level of almost game-breaking flexibility that is only held back by how mid-late you get her. They really nail making the manaketes feel special in this game - Xane is likewise an amazing unit, probably my favorite in FE12 and favorite ditto type character in general, with apologies to Shang Tsung and Mokujin. Tiki has that Eevee-like appeal of so, so much fun potential and it gets almost totally discarded outside of FE3. Awakening seems to just double down on the whole divine dragon thing, and thats become her calling card, from FE12 to Warriors to even Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I do LIKE her being brought back for Awakening, its always fun when a game pulls a Rydia and you get to see how the passage of time affects a child character, but shes really more of a novelty there than anything else. Anyway, shes too good of an Assist Trophy, like, definitely one of the mindless well I guess I win the stock now choices on a solid 70% of stages. I get that you should have some win the lottery options and shes definitely important enough for Fire Emblem that she SHOULD be in Smash (shes playable in five games as part of the main story and matters in all of them, thats pretty good why does Corrin have to be here and not her), but shes sadly just kind of big dragon in a world where Rathalos also exists.

Hitmonlee - Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green

Hitmonlee is a surprisingly fun Pokemon to use in pretty much every generation other than Gen 2. Sure, the guy gets walled hard by Gastly, but hes had novelty through almost all of his appearances. Gen 1 hes got the only fighting type moves in the game actually worth a damn other than Seismic Toss, and its fun to just hit the button and watch opposing health bars melt sometimes. He has absolutely zero utility, but hes a fun unga bunga and is actually semi-functional at what he was designed to do, something that I think only him and Poliwrath pull off out of all the Gen 1 fighting types. Gen 3 grants him the Limber ability, making him an incredibly effective check against paralysis and letting his huge attack stat and simple game plan benefit tremendously from the Choice Band. Diamond and Pearl give him the Reckless ability, which lets Lee get EXTRA damage off of Hi Jump Kick, something that wouldnt immediately become more valuable than Limber, but emphasizes his Gen 1 role even further, especially now that he has Sucker Punch to swipe ghosts with. Gen 5 introduced the gems and the Unburden ability to make him a tremendous late-game sweeper, and from there, Lees had all the tools he needs to at least be fun. Fire Red is basically just tossed up there because its one of the few games where he has good in-game availability. Hitmonlee is one of those rare Gen 1 Pokemon whos never truly had the spotlight to himself, but has remained pretty damn fun whenever he shows up. And yeah, I miss him in the Pokeball. HEYAAAA. TETETETE is such a fun vocalization, Scizors got nothing on him.

Mario Baseball Profile: Mario - Mario is Mario. I know thats a boring answer, but when you think of Mario being good at everything, but not quite GREAT at anything yeah, thats exactly how he plays. Mario has Sliding Catch and Wall Jump as abilities, making him second only to Toadette as a right fielder with a great diving range, good speed, and, yknow, the necessary Wall Jump to be a right fielder. He also doesnt have abysmal chemistry with Waluigi, so the lanky purple mans resurgence as a 1st baseman hasnt hurt his viability in the same way it has Luigis. Marios bat is good, its not a home run hitter most of the time, but hes got a consistent singles bat that most would dream of having access to. And considering Toadette is absolutely abysmal at the plate, this does give Mario an argument for being the best all-around wall jumper in the game. His Star Hit is pretty middle of the pack, a line drive thats set on fire so its highly unlikely to be caught by anyone except Yoshi; its easier to hit with than Luigis, but is less consistent and has a lower scoring potential than a good Luigis hit. Its good, but usually not worth spending two stars on, and not a game-changer like DK, Birdo, or even Diddy Kong could be. His pitching is fine, but not remarkable enough to put him on the mound instead of in the field. Standard as it is, Mario is just good. Hell probably see every game because hes just a good extender of consistency and helps bridge the gap between your power hitters, but hes not exciting. Hes just Mario. He does the Mario thing.

Fletchling - Pokemon X/Y

I dont get the Fletchling line. You already had a bunch of fire birds, what possessed you to make an even more boring one as the mascot of France? Moreover, why did you name the final stage Talonflame? Like, thats a name that a 4-year old gives to their Fakemon, and not even their favorite, just one of the random birds or dragons they invented. Anyway, Fletchling is interesting because of Gale Wings and thats it. For whatever reason, they decided making flying-type moves all have +1 priority wont be THAT big of a deal, and it ended up being an absolutely massive deal. It was nerfed into the ground in Gen VII by making it only active at 100% health, but in X and Y? Where you could freely abuse that? Oh man, this line was STUPID. Not even necessarily in a fun and mindless way, just sort of as a matter of course that youd almost always have to deal with. I liked Fletchinders role as sort of an underpowered middleground, was fun to run on my Banjo-Kazooie themed UU team, but Talonflame was omnipresent for a good while and Fletchling was similarly EVERYWHERE in Little Cup. I actually think Smash is where I like it the most - its just a little hitbox that hops around mindlessly, and if you get combod into oblivion by it, its your own fault. Its such a silly little thing, a minor inconvenience that can sometimes make some incredible plays by virtue of just sticking around for a long time and accidentally contributing to a win. Its a great Pokeball summon, its just sadly a low-tier bird in the grand scheme of things. Pikipek and Rookidee are great follow-ups to it.

Soma Cruz

Eevee

Noki

Tom Nook

Soma Cruz - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Almost entirely because I prefer the boss fights, theres no damn touch screen mini-game after each boss, and you get the Black Panther soul as a reward for getting on the True Ending path instead of it being a random drop, Black Panther is such an insanely fun reward that makes completing Aria a delight. Anyway, Somas probably the only Castlevania character who can reasonably give Alucard a run for his money when it comes to best playable vania character. And I hold Castlevania protags in higher esteem than most; Richter, Maria, Shanoa, JONATHAN CHARLOTTE, even Eric, all really fun characters to be. Whereas Alucard is every single broken idea that the devs had and then some as long as you got the right drops, Soma is a much more streamlined experience; still a ton of experimentation and a lot of broken souls, but it feels more complete and considered. They had four prior games to iron out all the bugs, Soma is Alucard without jank or that really fun backdash but I have to admit I really like SotN FOR the unpolished jank and the everything and the kitchen sink approach to what Alucard can do! From a pure game design standpoint I like Soma more - his powers have a more natural progression that lets him explore the castle more easily, Power of Dominance is a lot more elegant of a system and fits in more with his flavor than Alucard getting random drops and artifacts, the overall setting and set-up of his character is a bit stronger than Richter really screwed it up, Alucard can you go fix it? - but hes a far more gradual power fantasy while I feel broken with Alucard almost immediately after Slogra & Gaibon go down, and I think I prefer Alucards mindless, ever-varied destruction in this case. Somas still excellent, if a bit bland as a character for my tastes when hes not considering being evil, hes just a step behind his ex-son for me. I do love how he leans more into being a summoner, though - always the coolest kind of character for a game as centered around combat with weird enemies as the corner scratcher Castlevanias, and he plays with that novelty to the fullest. Cool way of getting his spirit, too, bit of an unnecessary spoiler but Hell if Sakurai ever cares about that!

Eevee - Pokemon Stadium 2

https://youtu.be/R9BWt3v2Y2Y

Theres something so delightfully demented about this music. Its such a fun, quick test of reflex game, and just little things like the disappointed clunk sound Eevee makes as you bonk against the closed bucket and the way the tempo shoots up for the final round makes it feel so good. Most of the Pokemon Stadium mini-games are winners for putting Pokemon in weird and occasionally violent situations, and this is a solid one of em.

Anyway Eevees pretty much always great in whatever game it appears in. Red and Blue its an auto-include amongst most teams once you get it, if only because Hell if youre gonna use any other Gen 1 electric type, I love how its made to be more or less effective against your Pikachu depending on how you fight the rival at first in Yellow (if he beats you in the lab, he doesnt consider Pikachu a threat so he evolves Eevee into a Vaporeon, if you beat him twice he thinks electrics are the way to go so he goes Jolteon, 1-1 or you skip the Rt 22 Rival and he goes Flareon), Gen 2 essentially banishes evolution stones to Kanto so youre encouraged to get Espeon or Umbreon and theyre both great, XD has it as a starter, Lets Go Eevee its apparently broken but I dunno I never finished that one, BIG FLUFFY GIGANTIMAX EEVEE. Lil dudes just a great time every time. Its never been my absolute favorite line, but its one Im always glad shows up and has a great gimmick. I like his modern voice too, where he goes yeeeeee boi when you pet him. Fabulous. Smash Bros Eevee I get why its there, Eevee deserves to be repped, but I cant help but think a random evolution wouldve been a better gimmick for it. As-is it just is a slightly more effective but slightly less funny Fletchling or Starfy.

And for posterity (and these are all good but I dont adore kinds of Pokemon to me), Vaporeon > Espeon > Jolteon > Leafeon > Glaceon > Sylveon > Umbreon > Flareon. Combination of how much I like the design and how much I like them in battle, with Flareon falling down because of that weird Pokemon Stadium animation where he shakes his ass at you.

Noki - Mario Superstar Baseball

Man I miss when we got oddball picks like Noki in Mario spin-offs; probably the only time the character is ever gonna get any spotlight, and its entirely because of Sunshines recency at the time of Superstar Baseballs release, but I like when Mario gets to throw in newbies that were only relevant for the recent entries. And Im not talking about the Roaslinas, Petey Piranhas, and Paulines of the world - I want more playable Lumas, Sprixie Princesses, and Honey Queens in the world. Anyway, Noki is in the same camp as Dry Bones as pretty good at everything, but while Dry Bones has more offensive utility, Noki is a bit more focused on defense. Shes one of the few characters with both a speed proficiency and sliding catch, making her probably the most viable replacement for Yoshi in left field, and generally pretty okay in any position you stick her in. Shes Piantas only chemistry partner, so if you want the Pink Menace to be ever so slightly more viable at hitting a home run, her small boost to his power if shes on base WILL matter and get him over the fence. Green Nokis also a very solid line drive star hitter, and Red Noki and ok Falcon Popper but Nokis bat is a bit shorter and less powerful than most, so shes only ok if she doesnt have a star available. And while has has Pianta chemistry, she has no other positive chemistry bonuses and negative chem with Petey. Still, shes an all-around player in the same vein as Mario or Dry Bones, just ultimately less valuable, as what she excels as it usually either unnecessary or Yoshi is so dominant that ANYONE is a poor replacement. Viable enough to see some games, but definitely an 8th or 9th draft slot pick after youve rounded out the rest of your squad.

Tom Nook - Super Mario Maker

The costume mushroom was such a fun little novelty. Both a fun thing to unlock and an actual way to flaunt an amiibo collection, AND you got some really fun crossovers with it, too. Actually getting a Game Center CX reference across the ocean has been a treat! I still think that Nook shouldve been the rep for Animal Crossing over Villager, I know theres always a bias toward the player character/avatar, but everyone wanted Nook back in the day, he WAS the icon of early Animal Crossing, and as many murderer villager memes were fun, better have my bells Nook wouldve been such a good novelty, setting up furniture as traps, managing money. Just a lot of potential that strays away from everyday life, but plays more into the management sim core of Animal Crossings actual mechanics before its vibe. I love that hes a legitimately hard-working, caring businessman who does want the best for both his customers and employees, yet EVERYONE takes him as a crooked two-timer with some insidious plot because good land owners simply dont exist. Keeps the character nice and multi-faceted, always fun to see, always a great symbol of the franchise, and the post-Isabelle reveal bit where hes staring sadly at a computer screen is just delightful. I dont quite get why his house blows up in Villagers Final Smash - I get the idea of paying him to construct a house and that it NEEDS a flashy ending because free real estate doesnt do much damage, but I feel like hed be better served as an assist trophy tossing out items, similar to Isabelles previous role but perhaps with more adding random furniture to the stage temporarily. I want more out of Nook, basically. Everywhere. Hes great, he deserves it.

Pyukumuku

Mew

Sukapon

I can't remember who I haven't asked about yet so just pick a random baseball profile of who's left

Skull Kid

are there any playable smash characters that havent been done

pjbasis posted...

are there any playable smash characters that havent been done

I think this is everyone left based on my count (though I don't have MUCH more to say on echoes where the primary fighter was already done):

Sheik
Dr. Mario
Marth
Olimar (technically but Ive said pretty much all I wanted to in Alph)
Villager
Palutena
Ryu
Bayonetta
Dark Pit
Dark Samus
Chrom
Richter
Ken
Min Min

Huh, Ryu hasn't been done yet? I'll nominate him then.

Bayonetta

Pyukumuku - Pokemon Sun/Moon

I dont really want to talk about in-game Pyukumuku. Its a defensive Pokemon, and as fun as Shuckle and Wobbuffet can be as gimmicks (and by fun I mean destroying someones fun, which is the fun in Wobbuffets case), youre almost never gonna play a pure defense Pokemon in-game. There are exceptions for excellent defenders who can double as attackers or have nasty gimmicks, like Cloyster and Skarmory, but Pyukumuku just spreads statuses, dies, and tries to take whatever eventually killed it with it. I respect the idea of an annoyance that you have to choose what to sacrifice to get rid of, but that kind of strategy is always only gonna work in a competitive environment since just hit things is typically the better strategy for most single-player Pokemon ventures, even challenge runs where that changes to okay status, THEN hit things. Instead, lets talk about how Pyukumuku is an amazing Pokeball Pokemon. Its not even that strong, but its SO much fun to use. Just a giant cartoon hand that passively wallops any bad guy it happens to zoom near made out of innards, one that you can hold around and toss at opponents? That is so much fun, and far less disruptive than something like the Cucco. Pyukumukus just a fun little guy, ADORE when it waves goodbye to you to let you know its done, always a delight to see it even if it wont win you the game, because its just that great of a little buddy. Hope it stays forevermore.

Mew - Pokemon Red/Blue

I think there is exactly one Pokemon that embodies the spirit of Pokemon better than Mew, and that Pokemon is Magikarp. Magikarp is everything that Pokemon is: believing in yourself, finding potential in every creature, bonding with your friends to unlock their potential, using your team to the fullest to compensate for a weaker party member until they become strong, memes, and the ultimate payoff of your own, special monster whos glad to wreck up the place. Mew isnt that, Mews barely in the game, but nothing sparked the imagination more that the possibility of obtaining Mew. That damn truck in Vermillion Harbor should be absolutely nothing, but it was immortalized because hey, its unique, Mew HAS to be involved, right? And if not, okay maybe its just that were missing a step to actually move the truck, what else can we do? Having gotta catch em all as your slogan and then having a mysterious, uncatchable, etherial force that you could only get by either fully immersing yourself in Pokemania and making a pilgrimage to the local holy Toys R Us or breaking down the very world you live in and pulling the progenitor out of realitys bleeding wound made it absolutely legendary. No force captured the imagination quite like Mew - how powerful it could be, how many other Pokegods were lurking in hidden gardens, how many Pokemon really were there in this world? It barely even mattered how Mew actually played (which was good - its a fast psychic type of course its good) compared to what it was. Mews mystique is something that only stuff like W.D. Gaster can ever truly replicate in the modern age, and it really was a special time. Love it holding up that role in Smash Bros, too - it does nothing, but the fact that it exists is cooler than that.

Sukapon - Joy Mech Fight

https://youtu.be/RxryBRYuGno

You fool. I own the second-largest Joy Mech Fight video in the Western world (coming for you, 14 year old DeceasedCrab Lets Play). Youve not just suggested a mere assist trophy, but one of the few characters that I can safely say I am factually one of the most qualified people in the world to talk about.

Bragging aside, Sukapons great. I love that they preserve his sound effects, his goofy facial animations, and make him hit like a truck. The JMF robots are supposed to be huge death machines clanking against each other with enough force to reasonably take over the world with, so giving Sukapon that power as he goofily cartwheels around is great. Joy Mech Fight is the perfect little beginner fighting game - no walls, no differentiation between highs and lows, no real combos. Just an infinite stretch of neutral and reads to make getting blown up or making a huge comeback equally possible. Sukapon is perfectly equipped to be the face of this - essentially serving the Mega Man roll of being a regular silly robot converted into a combot to fight his brothers and recruit them to his side. And hes great at playing with the games mechanics, having a projectile thats also a teleport AND a burst movement charge move in the Sukapon roll. He can even active it in the air or stop it mid-charge specifically to read jumps! Sukapon remains goofy while still being a very defensive, keepaway style opportunist, but one who can go flying across the screen and play with rushdown options at a moments notice. Hes just a great, silly little guy who Id really, really love to see in Smash. Hes not Nintendos first fighting game character, but hes their first GOOD fighting game character. JMF is still really, really fun. Highly recommend.

Skull Kid - Hyrule Warriors Legends

Its kind of weird how Skull Kid has become THE name of yeah this should be the next Zelda character in Smash Bros, huh? The combination from how the triforce trio has worn down anyones patience for a character even remotely related to them ruling out Impa to how Ghirahim was pretty much ruled out the instant he was made into an Assist Trophy, Mindas time seemingly passed, no one who rightfully wants Marin is loud enough, and no one but me actually wants Tingle. So you have hey we like Majoras Mask, and he was in Ocarina of Time too so hes a legacy character! And I mean, hes definitely cool in just color palette and design, would definitely be unique in feel, but I think hes a weird rallying cry. Like, yeah, we want the possessed husk of a child whose main character trait is feeling regret for succumbing to his desire to make friends turning so violent and warped to go back to being possessed AND fight Ryu from Street Fighter! Skull Kid is a character who works a lot more narratively for me, a good arc thats worth following and represents the healing nature of Majoras Mask. I feel like tossing him in is just a little weak compared to reworking Young Link to represent the masks? Almost feels like a compromise to avoid the symptom of too many Triforce users without diagnosing the root disease of there are only fhree original movesets between seven characters, and two of them used to be one character. I also think hes got one of the weakest Assist Trophies, Dialga and Palkias wacky warping powers arent all that fun to me outside of the time freeze, and Skull Kid is stuck with well I guess we stop playing the match now powers. I like the character, but I think both his place of where the fanbase wants him to be AND where he ended up in Smash is a bit warped. Just let Skull Kid live his life, toss Happy Mask Salesman in the AT spot you could definitely make something great out of that including still having Majoras Mask in there, and build from one of the dozens of better Zelda reps. His appearance in Hyrule Warriors is much the same but dropping the moon as an attack is fun, cant deny that.

Pianta - Mario Superstar Baseball

Pianta is perhaps the most interesting development in Mario Superstar Baseball history. At a casual level, and at the very beginning of the meta, he was undoubtedly the worst character in the game. A power-based character who only had the same batting stat as Mario, low trajectory meaning he very rarely hits home runs as his balls are more apt to line drive, no pitching potential, low speed, AND his bat has a weird sweet spot that is later in his swing than most characters, meaning that batting with him has to be a learned skill compared to the rest of the cast. Pianta was a meme, the idea that some day, he will rise up from the depths of mediocrity and become meta relevant laughed at and lobbied about, tossed only on teams looking to through or BM.

He then rose up from the depths of mediocrity and became meta relevant.

Pianta is a pull hitter, meaning that he naturally gains more power hitting to the opposite field of his handedness. Pianta is a right-handed batter naturally, but you can swap the handedness of any Mario Superstar Baseball character before the game. Leftie Pianta pulls toward right field, which just so happens to be marginally more shallow than left field, and that small change is JUST enough that Red Pianta, specifically, can clear home runs. Not only that, but his low trajectory means that hes hitting pop flies a lot less often than contemporaries like Wario and Bowser Jr, making him more reliable to at least get on base, if not slamming the ball home. Five variants of Pianta (Blue Left/Right, Yellow Left/Right, Red Right) were utter jokes, but Left/Red Pianta? He was the Pink Menace, And players quickly discovered that he didnt just play a mean second base, he potentially played the best 2nd Base in the whole game. Piantas a big body, like DK, and also has the Laser Beam ability, denying runs by tossing the ball home with multiplicative force. However, Pianta ALSO has the second best throwing arm in the game, behind Petey Piranha, meaning that he is THE fastest denial tool in the game. Other 2nd Basemen tried to outdo him - Daisy, Wario, even Birdo. And while Birdo did offer more consistent outs, Pianta is an absolute general of the basepaths, a purely defensive wall, and shockingly from his worthless origins, a paragon of consistency. It says a lot that even though he has anti-chemistry with Petey, undoubtedly the best catcher in the game, making him occasionally throw errors way off the mark to the plant, Pianta is STILL the primo 2nd base choice in the meta. This would be an incredible cinderella story BUT THEN Pianta goes and adds onto it! The Falcon Pop was discovered, a near guaranteed singles star hit if your character had both the Pop Fly star ability and could properly hit the ball in a jammed/poor contact state, AND was right handed.

The Pink Menace is the absolute best Falcon Popper in the entire game, his sour spot massive enough that he will almost never hit the ball too far, and his natural power causing the ball to cruise into the gap without fail. There is now a debate on what HANDEDNESS Pianta should be in order to achieve optimal play, something that NO other character in the cast could even pretend to have to the same degree. Pianta has gone from the most useless character in the entirety of Mario Superstar Baseball into its most multi-faceted, able to perform some roles better than nearly anyone else, squeak by as the weakest character that you can reliably expect a home run from, and is a character who now sees almost every single game, guaranteed. Man has a NARRATIVE. Freakin incredible.

Will get to Ryu and Bayo later, could only manage these ones on breaks today.

Marth

Sheik

How do you feel about the idea that Pianta should have been the final unlockable character in Mario Party 9 instead of Magikoopa? That's what I thought when I played that game.

Unown

Lakitu

Shovel Knight

Richter

bump

Sorry this is an incredibly busy week for me. Hopefully by the end of it I'll be able to do more, just a lotta things stacking up suddenly.

Completely understand. Thanks for all the awesome write-ups!

Ryu - idk I play balrog and pretend ill pick up juri every game but never do

I dont feel qualified to say which of Ryus appearances is the best one (not V), hes not a character I follow from game to game to know the nuances of. Instead, I would like to praise what Ryu represents in general - consistency. Ryu is an absolute workhorse insofar as Street Fighter goes, someone who absolutely NEEDS to be at least playable in every single appearance as he represents the purest, most straightforward tempo that your chosen Street Fighter game is made to represent. Ryu is like picking rock in rock paper scissors; youre not choosing to play with the meta aspects of the game at all, youre choosing the default, but its rock. Rock feels good and it wins good. I know that he usually ends up inferior to Ken in most numbered entries, if not directly competitively than certainly casually by the time the ken flowchart came into effect, but theres a simple, disciplined elegance to the character of Ryu that makes him feel really good. All of his tools are straightforward, fulfilling their individual purposes and not much more, but all of them are good. He really is the character that sticks the closest to his Street Fighter 2 basis; Ryu will, of course, develop combos as games necessitate, but how he goes about them and what tools he uses to get them should always remain very easy to grasp, akin to those powerful single counter-hits in SF2. Hes never a character Ill decide to main, and there are definitely shoto variants I prefer over him (Demitri from Darkstalkers especially), but Im always happy to pick him up and go a few rounds. I guess I do like the purity of SF2 if you forced me to pick, but Hell if I could tell ya which version off the top of my head.

Best Smash Appearance: Smash 4 - Ryu is, sadly, the fighting game character who I think suffers the most in their transition to Smash Bros. When he was the sole novelty of the more traditional fighting game mechanics identity in Smash 4 and was overtuned to Hell, this was more forgivable, but SO much care was put into making him game-faithful to Street Fighter II that he ends up feeling really off doing just basic platforming. This isnt quite a case like Snake, where his weakness in platforming is the point so he has to rely on his tools and wits, or Kazuya, who is also weak in this regard but is brutally overpowered in other areas to make up for it, Ryu is just SF2 Ryu for the sake of being SF2 Ryu, and I dont think moving around with him has ever felt particularly good in any sense. He does what moves youd expect of him, has a good out of shield game as he should with the shoryu, and has more traditional combos, but the way he actually interacts with the systems of Smash Bros feels clumsy. The character exists to serve their identity and gimmick first and the actual flow of Smash Bros second (an issue with a lot of Smash 4s designs, admittedly), and while I think its been made to work okay in Ryus case, I think okay is really his cap. Terry has shown how to really make a fighting game character blend with the feel of Smash Bros insanely well, and in his wake, Ryu proves that its not that fighting game characters are inherently clunky in Smash. Its that hes failing to adapt to it. A lot of great work here, and there is some real juice behind his moves, but I feel like you need to focus on what Ryu actually DOES as a platform fighting game character now that were past the novelty of him being in the game. C-

Bayonetta - Bayonetta 2

Weird day to be writing this up with the Bayo 3 news on Hellena Taylors statement, but here we are! The Bayo games are probably my least favorite of the trio of Revengeance/Bayo/DMC. It all comes down to their defensive play; I love the feel of the parry directly correlating to the rhythm of the battle, and Dantes just dont be in the way gives a real feel of mastery where youre outthinking your opponent to do as stylish a combo as possible, or are actually using Royal Guard. Bayos dodge as a middleground between the two approaches feels less satisfying to me, a more generous window than parrying giving the same reward as Dantes flippy dippies. I do think that Bayo 2 generally being easier lets you lean into this more, really makes it a solid spectacle (and the shooter/auto scrolling segments were less annoying), but yeah, just not my favorite character action series. With that said, none of that particularly affects Bayonettas character, which is brilliant from an action standpoint. A purely dominant heroine inviting an obvious power fantasy with demonic climaxes to her combos that look absolutely fabulous and feel great to pull off - while I dont appreciate the flow of bayonetta as much as I could, the STYLE is absolutely infectious. Character action games live and die on the charisma of their main character, and Bayonetta has that in spades.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - I mean, when you singlehandedly kill the singles scene from your first game and arent gimped to absolute death like Meta Knight was, the alternative kind of has to be your best showing, right? A lot of good work went into making Bayonettas combos carry just as in her games, and I have absolutely no issue with how they function on paper. Air juggling you like youre in Marvel is how Bayonettas general flow SHOULD go. The issue that I have with Bayonetta is.. well, look at Dante from UMVC3. He gets ALL of his moves from EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME, some of which are super specific, but a lot of which create for incredibly visually distinct combos. Bayonettas combos FEEL right, but the lack the pizzaz and flexibility that the witchs massive arsenal would lend to her. There are a lot of hyper specific moves that Bayo should be able to pull off in a free-form combo, but doesnt and simply settles for a rather straightforward ladder right out of the Mario textbook. Shes a character who should have paths and variants that suit her positioning and match-up experience, like Marths Dancing Blade but with more flexibility and specific set-ups, but sticks to following a single, predictable route every time. If Bayos combos are lookin like Luigis but slightly elevated, something has gone wrong. Bayo also, sadly, lacks any sort of climax to her moves, most strings simply aiming to drag the opponent up high and bop them off into the skies. And if theres a character who should be climaxing, its Bayonetta! The Wicked Weaves SHOULD alleviate this, but all of them but the boot are pretty underwhelming in their actual power to smack things away and arent typically seen in her actual combo game, often being regarded as some of the least essential parts of her kit. I feel like the baseline animations and core of Bayonetta are generally pretty solid here, but shes lacking a certain level of pizzaz to the end that makes her appealing beyond the desire to do big combo and being very pretty. And shortening her taunt in Ultimate was an absolute crime. D+

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

How do you feel about the idea that Pianta should have been the final unlockable character in Mario Party 9 instead of Magikoopa? That's what I thought when I played that game.

I mean, I'm happy for Magikoopa/Kamek getting more rep in general, but I do love Pianta. Ever since they decided they would just become the mafia in TTYD, it's been a great Mario species. And then Superstar Baseball solidified that love forever.

Marth - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Elegance personified. Thats easily what I would call Marths design in Smash Bros. Fire Emblem is a very tricky series to implement into Smash Bros, very simplistic and based around getting in single, solid hits on enemies as you pray that RNG is in your favor and let you get out as unscathed as possible. Marths tipper does a brilliant job of placing the ducking in and out of enemy range nature of Fire Emblem into Smash Bros so naturally it almost seems unremarkable; Marth can fight at any range, of course, but there IS a way to fight his foes optimally and you WILL be rewarded for figuring it out. Everything else about Marth is made to reflect this incredibly clean fighting style, full of very sharp, sudden animations that carefully cover space and limit foes moves. And they even throw in little bits of Fire Emblem flair, his dancing blade repping the colors of the weapon triangle in his moveset and counter being designed as a way to implement the turn-based nature of FE ( not very well IMO, but its there!). Marth is not himself in Smash Bros, he IS Fire Emblem, built around its mechanics and feel and made to work in a fantastic shell for a platform fighter. I know that hes a very basic character, but hes incredibly clean and feels good, and you need a more straightforward design for some of these characters. Marth is a fantastic choice to be that, and of all the characters Ive seen hovering around Melees upper echelons for decades now, hes usually the one I like to see in motion the most. Admittedly thats partially because Fox is so common, Fox is also great but rooting against the favorite is so easy to do, but still, props to the guy for selling his entire series on feeling good to play alone! My only request is like could you give him the Fire Emblem? Maybe? I know thatd be based on FE3/FE12, but I think the Fire Emblem might be important for a character who embodies Fire Emblem! And its a cool looking shield, too! A

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light - Rapier. You might as well boil down Marths entire personality and existence to that one weapon. The more of a novelty effective damage against cavalry and armor is, the more Marth shines. The instant you start spreading things out, introducing other interesting units, Marth starts losing his luster. He is a very function character, existing to serve the purpose of being a guy who recruits a lot of people to his army and getting to wield the good weapons that make him good. And in FE1, that works out for him, Falchion making the whole final chapter a joke and power trip as a reward for Marth enduring his hardships. The guy has zero personality other than ohhhh my friends, my friends tell me I can do this pleeease I love you allll, feels like the Hamlet of power of friendship protagonists his self-confidence is so selectively low. And dont get me started on FE11 Marth, oh noooo you had to solve a trolley problem at the start of the game and the depression made you not even able to beat Medeus on your own. Marths an NES character, and not even a particularly impressive one, whos never been able to develop past the basic trappings he was established with. Hes good in those basic trappings, and is as interesting as stale white bread the further he goes from that.

Sheik - Super Smash Bros 4

Sheik really is just okay so what if we had a ninja in Smash And to her credit, shes a very good ninja character! Everything in Sheiks kit flows very nicely, theres a great rhythm to all of her attacks, and as the years have gone on, that toolkit has been better refined to remove the chaff and really get at the heart of what makes Sheik great, This comes to a head with Bouncing Fish, a fantastic move that feels great to use, animates incredibly well, and serves as both a clever extension of Sheiks natural movement options and as an easy finisher that even casual players can enjoy. Sheik just feels like she WORKS in Smash Bros, and was designed explicitly for game feel first and foremost (which is very likely considering her being tied to Zelda initially). I dont agree with spoiling a game just three years after its release as a gameplay mechanic, but eh, its not like Smash wouldnt go on to be even more egregious with spoilers. I do think Ultimate did a bit too much to nerf Sheiks overall potential, Sheiks always been a character whos had to rack up a ton of small hits, but the amount of work she has to do in Ultimate is a bit ridiculous and really reduces her casual appeal. But its a cool ninja and I think she does the job a bit more solidly than Greninja! However this is a character that has basically nothing to do with the Zelda series. Sure, we eventually got a deku nut in there in a weird grenade form (and I guess a bit in the grounded Vanish ainmation?), but like wheres the harp? Hell, I didnt even know Sheik existed until Melee, and the VERY FIRST THING I saw of the character was a harp. Why is that nowhere in a taunt or, better yet, actually in the moveset? Its THE thing about Sheik, its like making a moveset for Tom Nook without money, or Steve without a pickaxe; like yeah you can do it, but the character is associated with and defined by one thing. That thing should probably be there! B

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Hyrule Warriors Legends - Has harp. Am happy. I am really running out of much things to say on these Warriors spin-off characters; they do the Warriors thing good and I didnt play very much because Warriors is not my thing. Really, it does everything flavor-wise that I would want Sheik to do in Smash - maybe create buffs for herself or set traps to follow up rather than just pure elemental fury if you want to differentiate her from Zeldas spellset, or just get Zelda better spells, maybe? I dunno, its good, I feel the flavor of Zelda in general has to be re-examined in Smash, so much that can be done there.

leaving it there for now, perhaps more later. these 'actual roster member' ones always take so much longer!

Min Min

Unown - Pokemon 3: The Movie

I shouldnt have to say that Unown lacks any sort of hook on its own as a playable character. A collectable within a collectable, Unown is a functionally worthless Pokemon that only is particularly interesting as a group. Pokemon is a series focused on 1v1 encounters, so you will never actually see them as a group, instead you just get Hidden Power in a single flavor and watch at Unown proceeds to do absolutely nothing. Now, there are a lot of interesting things that CAN be done with Unown - Wishiwashi proves that group Pokemon are more than workable in an ability, Zygarde shows it with different distinct forms, and Magneton existed before Unown so I really have no idea why there isnt an Unown Swarm form that you get for completing the Unown Dex. Even if it just had four different versions of Hidden Power, that would at least be SOMETHING on a body thats potentially far beefier than the pathetic excuse Unown naturally has. And I say all this because the Unown Swarm is one of the most fascinating characters Pokemon has. Their Melee appearance does remove Beedrills gimmick, but something about the way Unown moves, the rapid fluxuating infinity of the various alphabetical pieces, is so great to look at. Plus unlike later Pokeball replacements, Beedrill to Unown is trading an anime reference for another anime reference, and it decides to trade it for one of the animes best. Millions of tiny entities from another dimension trying to understand the will of others, creating sentience beyond themselves, and simply trying to write stories and fulfill fantasies? AND giving James one of the best lines in the entire series (I havent seen this many strange letters since the last time I filed a personal ad is golden)? A lot of the more mysterious Pokemon get fully explored, but Unown remains incredibly etherial. Theyre their own, weird creation thats sort of just been forgotten about, never getting any sort of payoff or further lore. Unown is just there. And its cool and has a ton of potential. But everything they do with it is lame.

Lakitu - Paper Mario

To my knowledge, outside of Odyssey, Lakilester is the only playable Lakitu that retains its cloud? I can never get into generic Lakitu being playable in the Mario Kart series, he feels weirdly naked and unfinished just seeing him in a car. And he doesnt even throw Spiny Eggs, like, come on, at LEAST keep the theming consistent! Lakilister is actually a pretty fabulous party member in Paper Mario, mostly in how he interacts with the area boss, Huff N Puff. Most partners just completely shut down the area boss theyre fighting - Watt wrecks General Guy, Sushie makes Lava Piranha trivial, Bow makes Tubbas Heart well, actually beatable for most casual builds, that ones okay. But Lakilester has to use his low-damage AoE Spiny Storm to deal 1 damage to all of Huff N Puffs adds, clearing them without dealing more damage to the big guy and spawning more by smacking him too hard. Its not a self-explanatory mechanic at all, but gives Lakilester a unique niche as a screen clearer on the cheap for certain encounters. Considering how redundant a lot of Paper Marios partners can be, being one of the few who can stand out is really nice. He doesnt approach Bombette or Bow, of course, but hes solid and the slight movement speed increase he provides on the field is INCREDIBLY welcome.

Shovel Knight - Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope

Im actually very impressed by Shovel Knights implementation in Rivals of Aether. Being able to mix in the treasure hunting aspect of the game and tie it into the shop system is incredibly elegant. Im not super familiar with RoA as a whole, though, outside of the generally silly modding scene, so Shovel Knight classic it is! Shovel Knight does a fantastic job of tricking you into thinking NES games controlled a lot less rigidly than they actually did. Going back to DuckTales after playing Shovel Knight feels weird, Scrooge is simultaneously a lot stiffer when landing and a lot looser when flailing about in the air. But SK? He feels exactly like what you THINK those classics played like, just the right level of refinement and freedom while still requiring a bunch of precision. Im not nearly as high on Shovel Knight as most people - though I think Specter Knight has a fantastic base and I ADORE King of Cards, that ones everything I want - but the good game is good. Shovel Knight is able to combine ideas and feel from Mega Man, Castlevania, DuckTales, and other examples that arent as pronounced but are definitely tossed in there, and makes them into a free-flowing adventure that feels like a natural follow-up to the era rather than an homage trying to go REMEMBER THIS? like a ton of retro throwback titles. Plus I respect the huge amount of value in the Treasure Trove, like, damn thats some good value.

Richter Belmont - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

You could really go either way with Richters two major appearances. Symphony breaks what a Belmont can be and makes Richter one of the most unbelievably fun and powerful characters to trounce Draculas Castle with. The sheer velocity of his kicks, dashing around with no fear of anything in your path, a litany of screen nukes to melt bosses or anyone else with, Richter is an absolutely brilliant reward and secret for mastering Draculas Castle. This IS the most powerful Belmont, and you absolutely feel it. However damn is Rondo a great game. As simple of a maneuver as the backflip is for Richter, having a twitch reflex move to avoid bosses with, combined with the item crash to eat through guaranteed hits, lets the more complex array of boss movements in Rondo all have distinct counters. It makes for the Classicvania that I think has the most honest back-and-forth, a combination of perfectly learning patterns to counter them and reacting to boss tells and actions to get your way out of tricky situations, making for the most fulfilling classic Castlevania game of its type! I mean, yeah, you CAN just blow through the game with Maria and tell Dracula hes really mean by throwing birds in his face, but while Richter is significantly weaker than Maria, thats hardly because of any weakness of his own! Richter is a fabulous realization of Simons template taken to its fullest, then broken over his knee in future appearances.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - For all the nice things I have to say about Simon, they only somewhat extend to Richter. Having a crunchier, classicvania-style moveset obviously works for Simon, putting all the heft he can into lobbing those axes or doing some rapid chain strikes sells the barbarian warrior very nicely. That doesnt work quite as well for Richters more traditional anime protagonist trappings. While a lot of Richters moves are directly lifted from his games, and even originated by him, a lot of them lose their impact when they are SUCH downgrades from the actual techniques he shows in-game. This isnt something like repurposing an RPG attack to work in a fighter - if youve got a 1:1 reference to another action platformer, and that reference feels significantly worse, its gonna be a disappointment. While Simon feels enriched by his appearance in Smash, Richter feels gimped. And I still say this thinking that the Belmonts are really good overall, a fairly strong realization of the characters in a platform fighter. But Richter really is just here to give lip service to Simon, would have loved to see his more agile moves given greater focus. And put in the backflip B-

Min Min - ARMS

ARMS is an interesting little experiment of a game. Taking the basic elements of boxing in reading your opponents movements, limiting and predicting their options, and going in for a flurry of punches, then translating it into an arena fighter and not making the ability to move around freely a detriment to the fighting. Its honestly a more accurate interpretation of boxing than the Punch-Out series, if one I personally find less enjoyable, and is one of those really neat Nintendo has a unique and novel idea that theyll never do something with ever again games that the Big N tends to throw out once or twice a generation. I did not play enough ARMS to tell you if Min Min is better than the goofy clown girl or the mad scientist lady I gravitated toward, but I can tell you that it was at least a really nicely realized time that managed to separate itself from other fighters by changing the way movement affects a fight. Its a unique little experiment that ends up being pretty damn fun, if not a great deal more than that.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - The fact that Min Min works at all in Smash Bros is surprising. ARMS is so antithetical to most fighting games, removing the simple idea of approaching from the equation a vast majority of the time and instead making yo block this mix-up an almost permanent focus. Smash Bros is an environment where that should NOT be transitive, movement is the major draw of Smash compared to other fighters, and its generally too simple to throw out as many quick commands as ARMS would allow for. But the simple two-arm layout mixing up specials and normals really does create a very elegant solution, a lot of great flow to Min Mins arms. There is no question that the design challenge of implementing Min Min was handled very well. Now, whether that was a good idea in the first place is less clear-cut, and I tend to lean on the no side for that. Min Min is pretty notoriously boring to watch, fight against, and even occasionally fight as, as a lot of her best options are more a rhythmic auto-pilot than anything. While the design decision to give her two identical arms allows her to function, it also makes Min Min an incredibly linear character, as the same options will cover a VAST majority of situations. I wouldve liked her arms to be a lot more situational, hitting more specific angles, be more based on conditioning and reads rather than haha chakram at ledge. Would it have made her a worse character competitively and less friendly to newcomers? Most definitely, but ARMS was never a game that had a great and immediate casual appeal, it was getting hooked onto what was under the hood that made it special. I really do respect the technical work and considerations put forth to make Min Min actually function in Smash. Things like her up smash being a reflector to further let her play her own game, a focus on kicks in short range, and just not being Spring Man are all greatly appreciated and smart decisions. I just find, of all the characters who can unga bunga, she is by FAR the least engaging, and one of the most your character is invalid now because of my basic gameplan characters on the whole roster. D+

Palutena

Meowth

Min-min was a mistake.

Thats right.