Second Chance Quickies

SECOND CHANCE QUICKIES

Today, I'm going to try something new, to see if it will get me through faster. If it works out, something similar will probably be how I do second chance runs in the future, but if not, it'll be back to the drawing board. Let's begin:

MECHA-BOWSER

Mecha-Bowser is a prolific enough boss for me to slightly question whether or not there's enough across the board. In his first appearance in Sunshine, he fired bullet bills and breathed fire, an easy Standard B and Side B, so that's those. His head came off and flew too, which is a maybe on an Up B, something like Bowser Jr. popping out of his Klown Kar. Mario Power Tennis adds in Bob-Ombs, which are a little iffy, being another character, but a sketchy Down B if we were desperate. Galaxy's version I barely count, so no. The Mario Kart arcade games have him breathing fire. So no. Mario Party: Star Rush, though, is interesting as it adds in a few things like the ability to fly around on rockets (Up B), the ability to shoot spike balls from its back (much better Down B), and it shoots plasma balls (if we wanted to switch out the Bullet Bills). Have a Final Smash based on the Pinna Park fight and we're all there. The answer is . . . YES.

WINGO

As the boss of the game, I have to give him one more due. So, his big thing is that he teleports around (Up B) and blows strong wind (Standard or Side B). This takes up most of his battles, so its easy to overlook things. Still, at the top of the fight, he will also drop giant turnips that will do damage and he will strike with lightning in certain spots. Those two moves can easily take over the other two main slots. That just leaves us with a final, and he could simply grab someone and carry them offscreen, rope in Draggadon, or use Cookatiel's boiling pot, since the games do like connecting the two. Heck, I'd be willing to toss in Cookatiel as a color swap, with some of their moves. In the end, I have to say . . . YES.

PAPER LUIGI, PEACH, AND BOWSER

This was a request, and so I'll honor the consideration. The struggle here is that, outside of the paper gimmick, there's not much difference between the paper forms and the regular forms. I will also say, most are represented in the color swaps for the characters previously listed. I am willing to make them named color swaps if necessary, and . . . I would toss in the boon that half of Mr. L's color swaps should be Paper Luigi. I believe that's something I overlooked, so that's my bad. Now, they could all be echoes not color swaps, naturally. However, I would point out that all three characters do have existing echoes already: Mr. L for Luigi, Peachette for Peach, and Dry Bowser for Bowser. And given the choice, I'd much rather represent those three over the Paper version, and am mostly satisfied with the skins as they are. More attached to Mr. L, and Peach and Bowser's being named though, that is a concession I'm willing to make. The answer is . . . NO.

BABY MARIO & BABY LUIGI

We do already have Mario & Luigi in a Mario & Luigi series specific moveset, apart from the several other versions of Mario and Luigi, so why the heck not couldn't we do the same with Baby Mario & Baby Luigi. Let's say the Baby Mario set over in the Yoshi roster represents baby abilities from that, while this set is specifically the duo from Partners in Time. Some of the most baby-central moves include the Baby Drill, which can function as a Down B, the Baby Pump, which is an easy Standard or Side, Baby Spin or Baby Toss are a nice Up B, and the Baby Cakes can be a goofy taunt or can be worked into the moveset too. Toss in things like the hammers, the shells, or a Chain Chomp, and we have more than enough for a full four. Then a final smash is literally any one of the Bros. Attacks. I think this is an absolute . . . YES.

NASTASIA

Really only reconsidering her because she is such an important part of the plot of Super Paper Mario, and one of my favorite characters within it, and so it feels weird for her not to be here. However, there's still very little. She hypnotizes, meaning I guess you could make a Ditto-esque concept, but its not as clean as she's not the shapeshifter, and you'd basically just be playing the other character, except she'd be standing in the background or something. So, no, her ability is better served as an Assist Trophy. My answer is . . . NO.

TV DONKEY KONG

This means specifically the Saturday Supercade version, as that version of Donkey Kong is such a far cry from the big ape we know and love that it feels really weird for him to just be "part" of the regular Donkey Kong, especially when we did make separate characters for the TV versions of Mario and Luigi and so on. I won't do the same for characters like Pauline and Donkey Kong Jr. as there's so little to their game counterparts as is that I might as well just put those together. Throughout the series, there's a lot of ways Donkey Kong uses to escape his pursuers. Just as a matter of example, we have the barrels (a staple of DK, I know, but still) as a Standard, the net Mario and Pauline are using all the time (that he uses back on them) as a Side, the trampoline from the circus episode as an Up, and his juggling act as a Down or something. Heck, he swings on ropes and trapezes a lot, so there's a couple Up possibilities too. Final Smash, the scaffolding from the show could appear and he could toss a bunch of barrels down, recreating the scene. DK uses other things for his Final Smash, so might as well. The answer is . . . YES.

SWANKY KONG

I forgot to add him to the list last week, but I still want to look him over. He's basically the only Kong not there. In his first game, he runs a quiz show, which changes very little in the game boy counterpart. In the second, he runs a game parlor where you throw balls at Cranky Kong. That's a Standard B at least. In the game boy counterpart, its more of a race collecting items, but there's not that much there either. And finally, he did appear in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where his kart slipped on a banana peel and he possibly died. He has a kart, at least. No, I guess not. My answer is . . . NO.

And that's it. Obviously, I didn't get too much into the entrances, taunts, Kirby hats, etc. but most of those were general extrapolation anyway, so I think we'll let those rest for now. Maybe do something quick for them later. I don't know if I liked this way better or not. What did you think? Anyway, as this was so much more work to do, and unforeseen circumstances resulted in a really late upload, I'm going to put up the character cards on our four YES's tomorrow. See you then.