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.