Category: Smash Speculation

A long, long time ago, there was a little purple video game machine known as the GameCube. It was home to may a whimsical game, but none quite as lovable and absurd as Chibi-Robo!, a game about doing chores as 10-centimeter-tall robot.

~ Chibi-Robo ~

I’ll put this right up front: Chibi-Robo is my number one most wanted Smash Bros character. I know that I’m coming up with all sorts of wacky ideas in the coming weeks about characters I’d like to see included as playable fighters, but if Chibi-Robo made it in to the mix I’d never ask for anything again.

Like I said, Chibi-Robo is a 10-centimeter-tall robot. He also has a (comparatively) massive plug hanging out of his butt. This may not seem like an ideal fighter. But things are not always as they seem in Smash, and I don’t think anyone’s heart would be broken if Cheebo was scaled up so that he would stand a chance against the rest of the brawlers.

The cord, though? That’s going to be a big part of the character. A handful of fighters have their own weird gimmicks; in fact, most of the Smash Bros 4 newcomers have a unique element to them. Cheebo’s is his plug. First and foremost, it’s going to add some weight to the otherwise lightweight robot. This is important, because he’s going to look like a light character (he’s made out of recycled aluminum, after all), but move a little slower and have a little more knockback resistance than you’d expect.

I have more to say about the plug, but smash attacks come first, yes? Forward smash is going to be the Chibi-Blaster, which I thought might be a special, but putting it on a smash instead allows for more creativity with those special moves. Chibi-Blaster works exactly the way you’d think. Up smash will have Chibi-Robo flip open his head and shoot out a little firework. Down smash can just have Cheebo spin around and sweep his opponents’ legs with his plug.

As for special attacks, Cheebo’s down special will be somewhat of a variable attack. Executing down special once will have Chibi-Robo hoist up his plug. From there, he can throw it forward or upward a short distance, and then it’ll snap back behind him. If you do down special again while holding the plug, Cheebo will plug it into the ground (a socket will appear from nowhere) and power up. Over time, Cheebo’s attack power will slowly diminish, and plugging in will fill his batteries. You could probably even use it to get a temporary boost if he’s already full. The stamina drain is essentially the same as the way that Pokémon Trainer had to cycle his Pokémon in Brawl, but it’ll be unique now that Pokémon Trainer no longer exists.

Cheebo’s neutral special would shoot his little buddy Telly Vision out in front of him. Telly could have multiple effects, to make him more than just another projectile attack. Telly might rush forward and attack, for example, or maybe he’d grab a fighter and suspend them in the air, rendering them unable to do anything for a moment. Maybe sometimes a Chibi-Tot would pop out instead and run around in circles, causing damage to anyone it touches, or actively chase another fighter. I’m sure there are other things that could happen, but I’m at a loss at the moment.

Side special would have Chibi-Robo Pull out his spoon and give his opponent a good whack. There isn’t a lot to this attack other than causing more damage and stronger knockback. In comparison, most of Chibi-Robo’s normal attacks would employ use his toothbrush. It makes a certain amount of sense, as the toothbrush has the softer bristles for light attacks, and the spoon is harder metal for knocking foes away.

Up special really couldn’t be anything but the Chibi-Copter. And it’s just what you think it is. The copter pops out of Cheebo’s head, and propels him straight up into the sky. Then it slows down and makes Cheebo float back down to the ground. Hitting anyone with the blades on the way up will cause damage, but on the way back down, contact would cause the blades to retract and make Chibi-Robo fall at normal speed again.

Chibi-Robo could also have a unique blocking animation, using his mug for protection instead of the usual bubble shield. It might be a little too hard to animate smoothly though, so I’m not too sure if that’s a good idea or not. It’d be pretty cute though. Maybe it would just be a taunt, like Snake’s cardboard box.

To be honest, I haven’t come up with a final smash for Cheebo that I like yet. I was thinking that he could summon a bunch of his friends, or perhaps Giga-Robo? Maybe Drake Redcrest flies in and shoots up the place? That might actually be better for an assist trophy though. I kinda like the idea of Cheebo flying up to the top of the screen as Spydors invade and attack the other fighters, then Chibi-Robo just lets loose with the Chibi-Blaster, damaging anyone he hits and clearing out the spydorz. Yeah, you know what? I like that. Let’s go with that.

I feel like I should be elaborating a little more on Chibi-Robo, since he’s my number one wanted Smash character, but what I’ve already written should be enough to give you a pretty clear picture of the fighter that I’m envisioning. I really don’t see Cheebo being included as a fighter, but weirder things have happened (ROB, Wii Fit Trainer), so I won’t lose hope until the game is finally released and I’ve unlocked every playable character.

Previous: Yarn Kirby

Next: Ganon

Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Super Smash Bros, is also creator of Kirby and was the director of many of the earlier games in the Kirby series. Kirby has been a fighter in Smash since the start, and each sequel seems to take a few more cues from Kirby games than the last. Smash has no shortage of love for Kirby, so why not introduce a second Kirby into the fray?

~ Yarn Kirby ~

There are already two Links in Smash after all: regular Link and Toon Link. Both even have the same abilities, though with a few slight differences in speed, weight, and what have you. Yarn Kirby here would be a completely different character from Kirby. Kirby’s Epic Yarn just plays so differently from any other Kirby game, it’d be hard to argue that Yarn Kirby doesn’t deserve a spot. Of course, if you really can’t stand the thought of having two Kirbys, Yarn Kirby could just as easily be swapped out with Prince Fluff, who is the second-player character in Kirby’s Epic Yarn.

The biggest difficulty in implementing Yarn Kirby would be in the fact that he’s a mostly see-through character, and that might make it very easy to lose track of him in a game like Smash, where there can be a lot going on on the screen at any time. The image above shows Kirby and Fluff on patches, but in the game proper, they don’t have that backing to them. The best solution I can come up with for this problem would be to make their yarn outlines a little thicker. Maybe there’s a more creative way to do it, or maybe the best way is to just pop ’em in as they are and let the players sort it out.

Yarn Kirby’s main method of attacking in Epic Yarn is a yarn whip that extends from his body. This would likely figure into many of his regular attacks. Maybe the whip would factor in more to Yarn Kirby’s smash attacks instead, and he’d have a more standard set of fighting moves as normal attacks. If nothing else, it would definitely work as a tethered grab attack, like Link’s hookshot or Samus’ grapple beam.

Smash attacks, as with Classic Wario, would make use of Yarn Kirby’s many transformations. However, I’d give him something a little different for his neutral special: bead toss. Kirby’s Epic Yarn has you gathering piles upon piles of beads, and I think that having Yarn Kirby chuck them as a projectile weapon would be a good basic special attack. Beads come in all shapes and sizes in Epic Yarn, and in Smash, the bigger beads would do more damage, and a star-shaped bead might have a stronger knockback effect.

Yarn Kirby transforms into an adorable little car when he runs in Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and that should definitely remain a trait of his Smash character. He also has a monster truck transformation, and I think that would make a pretty cool side special. I’m not sure what kind of special properties this special move would have, but maybe it doesn’t need any. It could just be a really big hit, not unlike regular Kirby’s hammer special.

The up special would obviously be Yarn Kirby’s rocket transformation. It would take a second to charge up, then create a big poof of smoke as it blasts off, damaging anyone it rams into. The flames coming out of the thrusters would obviously burn anyone who touches them. The rocket should be able to be directed left or right after it takes off, but always maintain a vertical course. The original rocket shoots stars, but that might be unnecessary for Smash.

Finally, Yarn Kirby’s down special would be the weight. Just like regular Kirby’s stone attack, it would simply drop down and smoosh anyone below it. No frills, just a straight-up butt slam attack, but cuter. If you need to mix it up, I don’t know, maybe have him turn into the surfing penguin thing and do a wave attack like Squirtle’s surf. Maybe on the ground, it’d produce a small wave and crash into enemies that are straight ahead, while airborne it could ride a wave at a downward angle. I’m thinking watery version of the Falcon Kick, here.

Final smash seems obvious: Tankbot. I’m worried that it would end up being a little too much like another Landmaster, so let’s try something different, okay? UFO! Now, the UFO in Epic Yarn works a little differently than the standard UFO copy ability, which I don’t think would work overly well in Smash. So let’s have the Yarn UFO with Copy UFO’s beams and such, yes? Yarn UFO would be able to fly around the screen freely, blasting opponents with its high-powered beam. The UFO’s armor is strong enough to withstand any attacks, giving Yarn Kirby a short period of invincibility. It’s a little bit like Super Dragon Yoshi again, but at least it’s not another Landmaster.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn wasn’t one of the Kirby games that Masahiro Sakurai had a hand in personally, but it is a beloved entry, and quite possibly the more adorable video game ever made. Seeing Kirby get an alternate representation based on his yarn form would be great, and subbing in Prince Fluff to diversify the character roster further would be just as good. I’ve got no beef with Fluff. Hopefully one of these characters makes the cut; it’ll make Smash feel that much more like pants.

Previous: Classic Wario

Next: Chibi-Robo

Okay, so for week one of this project, I’m going to cheat and choose an existing character. Sort of. Phoning it in right out of the gate; is there any other style which is so unquestionably mine?

~ CLASSIC WARIO ~

Yeah, so Wario made his big Smash Bros debut in Brawl, but he wasn’t really Wario. At least, he wasn’t Wario the way I know him. Perhaps to give him a more unique flavour, Wario came to Smash dressed up in his biker duds from the Wario Ware Inc series. Along with this came a bunch of weird attacks, like biting his opponents and blasting out deadly farts. This is all well and good, and I have no intent to suggest that Biker Wario should be kicked out, but I think that there should be an alternate Classic Wario to choose from.

In Brawl, it’s possible to change Wario’s costume from his biker gear to his familiar purple overalls. This doesn’t change how he plays, but I think that it should. Classic Wario would, for one, move less erratically than Biker Wario. The current character shuffles around in alternating poses, giving the impression of old sprite animation, not unlike how Mr. Game & Watch moves. Classic Wario would move smoothly, like the rest of the cast.

Classic Wario has a pretty deep pool of moves to choose from, making it hard to narrow down exactly what should go where. I’d suggest that his smash attacks make use of his various hats from the first Wario Land game. Up smash would shoot out the bull horns, maybe even getting your opponent stuck to them to perform a throw or follow-up attack. Side smash would have him charge forward with the Jet Hat, and the burner in the back would hurt anyone who touches it. Down smash would use the Dragon Hat to have Wario lay a flame across the ground around him. It’s kind of hard to describe, but imagine Samus’ up smash, but along the ground.

Classic Wario’s special moves would be a little harder to pin down. I’d imagine that they’d use a number of his transformations from the later Wario Land games. Up+B, I think, would make use of Vampire Wario’s bat mode. Obviously, this would have him poof into a bat and fly upward. I don’t know if the bat would cause damage, but maybe you’d just be able to fly around as the bat for a few seconds instead of making it an actual attack.

Down+B is the really hard one. The best fit I can come up with is Fat Wario. Like so many other characters, it’d be a butt-slam type move. I guess it’d work a little like Bowser’s Down+B while on the ground, propelling Wario slightly forward before the stomp. The move would probably have a little lag, as Wario would have to chomp down on an apple or a donut before bulking up and doing the slam. Of course, you could also just give him a standard butt slam, but it’d make more sense to wedge a transformation in there.

The side and neutral specials have many options, but a lot of them are fairly similar. Frozen Wario would fit well as Side+B, turning Wario to ice and having him slide along the floor. Any opponents hit have a chance of being frozen, though I’m not sure exactly how Wario would be unfrozen. To keep the move useful, Wario would probably be able to jump/break out after a certain distance. Staying true to the games would only cancel the move when Wario hits a wall, but that would make it a very suicidal move.

Finally, the neutral special would be Flaming Wario, igniting Wario’s butt and causing him to run forward in a panic. The player could control Wario’s direction and jump, and burn anyone he comes in contact with. After being on fire for a couple seconds, he’d be completely consumed by the flame, and his mobility would be reduced. A couple seconds later, the fire would go out and Wario wold shake off the ash. Any contact with the big flame would cause increased damage.

For the sake of laziness, they could probably keep Wario Man as Classic Wario’s final smash. If you want me to really stretch, maybe give him the King Dragon hat from Virtual Boy Wario Land. Giving Wario the ability to fly and shoot fire, it would probably be very similar to Yoshi’s final smash. Or instead, it could cover the screen in a red and black Virtual Boy-esque overlay, and have Wario jump onto a foreground platform while something damages all the fighters left on the main playfield.

The model for Classic Wario already exists in Smash, all they have to do is give him his own set of moves to make him a unique character. Of course, that is the most complicated part, but I think it would be worth the effort. The current Wario just doesn’t feel like Wario, you know?

Previous: Overview

Next: Yarn Kirby

The days are very slowly creeping by as I wait for the release of the newest Smash Bros games. Of course, the wait is made all the worse by it actually being two waits: one to the 3DS version on October 3rd, and the other to some undetermined time in December for the Wii U version. Truth be told, I’m not totally keen on playing Smash on my 3DS, but I’m sure my mind will change once the game is in my hands.

Information has been trickling out bit by bit through Nintendo Directs and via Masahiro Sakurai’s Miiverse posts. Much like Brawl’s Dojo website, each weekday, a new screenshot is posted on Miiverse, showing off a game element such as moves, items, or stages. Sometimes it’s just a little thing like a certain stage hazard, but on occasion, entire characters have been revealed through Miiverse.

Just yesterday, three characters were revealed in this fashion: Lucina and Robin from Fire Emblem: Awakening, along with the return of Captain Falcon. Now, I don’t know anything about the Fire Emblem series, but Ike managed to quickly become one of my favourite fighters in Brawl, so I’m not going to write these two off even though they’re not immediately interesting to me. Lucina seems to be a clone of Marth, which is ho-hum, but Robin is both a mage and a swordsman, and looks like he (or she, as the character can be gender-flipped) could be a really neat character to play.

All of that is besides the point though. What I want to do here is come up with a bunch of characters that I’d like to see introduced in this edition of Smash Bros. Partly because I’m a giddy fanboy, and partly because it’ll help me pass the time until I can actually play the game and learn the complete character roster.

I don’t have quite enough solid ideas to make up a weekly feature that’ll last until the game’s release, so I won’t promise to post regular updates (because I’m sure you care so much), but I am going to try to make this the new weekly feature. Starting tomorrow. I don’t quite have my ducks in a row even for my first post yet, so check back tomorrow, and every following Wednesday until September 24th if you want to see the depths of my insanity as reflected through Super Smash Bros.

(Keeping in mind that the game releases on Sept 13th in Japan, so any “speculation” made after that is pretty moot, but I’ll be avoiding spoilers until I actually have the game.)

Next: Classic Wario