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?