Hellen Gravely

HELLEN GRAVELY

Years after Luigi's Mansion proved a fan favorite and cult classic, fans longed for a sequel. One came out in 2013, but was met with mixed reviews as it departed heavily from many of the things that made the first game so beloved. So it comes as no surprise that when a third game that returned to many of the established tropes of the first game while incorporating the better elements of the second was released in 2019, it was received with much acclaim. The story saw Mario, Luigi, Peach, and several Toads taking a vacation to a luxurious hotel, only to find it run by a suspicious woman with devious plans.

This woman was Hellen Gravely, a ghost and longtime admirer of King Boo. She released him from his last portrait and constructed the hotel as a trap in order to impress him and win his favor. She would act as a recurring boss throughout most of the game, alongside her faithful cat Polterkitty.

As a fighter, Hellen will be high in defense like most ghosts, and her moves will rely heavily on her keeping herself out of trouble and letting other elements, like her cat and her turrets, do most of the fighting. Her moveset will pull from her own boss battle, Polterkitty's battles, and the various elements of the hotel itself.

Likelihood rating: Probably not.

Second Chance: Hellen Gravely

HELLEN GRAVELY

And now we come to the final standard Mario roster entry for now: Hellen Gravely. Hellen first appeared as a secondary antagonist in Luigi's Mansion 3, the proprietor of the Last Resort hotel and a Harley Queen/Misa Misa-style simp for King Boo. I initially turned her down because her own boss battle is very simple in terms of Smash potential, as she mainly just uses a stationary machine that fires lasers in certain directions. She does come out a couple times and attack you with a mirror, but that's about it.

However, something I have gotten better at over time, is recognizing that that's not necessarily all there is to a given character, especially a character like her who created the entire hotel as a trap for Mario and Luigi, meaning that entire hotel can offer up things for us. There is also her cat, Polterkitty, who fights you frequently, but is also fairly simple, just attacking with claws mostly. All together, I think I have to say . . . 

YES

Here is the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Polterkitty

She will send out Polterkitty to act on its own, taking on its monster form and stalking players. She can call it back with a second button press.

Side B: Mirror

She will hold out her mirror, which will reflect all energy blasts that come her way but stronger.

Up B: Ghostly Warp

Her elevator could be factored in here, but I'm going to go with her ability to warp between walls and floors instead.

Down B: Laser Turret

She will cause her laser turret to rise from the ground and fire lasers in a circular pattern for a short time.

Final Smash: Portrait

Mirroring King Boo's, she will summon up a giant picture frame that will swallow up those on the stage. The portrait will then be hung in her hotel's lobby.

Entrance: The hotel's elevator will open and she will come out.

Taunts: Up, she will raise her hands in a prima donna way. Side, she will hug one of the King Boo body pillows you can find on her bed in the hotel. Down, she will notice her face is messed up and fix it really quick.

Kirby Hat: Her big poof of hair.

Kart: A kart based on the luggage carts from the hotel.

Special Move: She will cause a turret to appear and fire a laser in a circular pattern across the track.

Spirit Battle: On Last Resort, with King Boo.

Victory Screen: She will present the portrait of her opponents to King Boo.

Losing Screen: She will appear trapped in one of her own portraits.

Color Swaps: Her standard appearance, her "ugly" unkempt appearance, a King Boo-themed outfit, a Polterkitty-themed outfit, wearing a bellhop's uniform, a blue outfit based on a security guard, a green outfit based on the gardener, a white outfit based on the chef.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we have yet another "Why wasn't that an echo? That would have been an easy echo?"

Mario Series Assist Trophies

Here's my list of assist trophies. These are mostly arbitrary. I basically put together a list of characters that didn't make it in, and narrowed them down to a handful I thought could bring something distinct to the table if summoned. They are:

a.       Biddybugs: a line of them will appear and fly back and forth across the stage for a while. They won’t do any damage, they’ll just get in your way.

b.       Bird: It will fly up to one side of the stage, release its piercing cry and swoop across the stage to the opposite side, mimicking its Super Mario Land 2 battle.

c.       Bullet Bill: Bullet Bills will fire regularly from both sides of the stage for the next twenty seconds or so.

d.       Bully: it will come out and do what it does best, charging at the first person it sees and slamming its full weight into them.

e.       Coin Coffer: it will randomly wander the stage, coins popping up behind it. Anyone who manages to KO it will receive a large bonus in their points at the end of the match. Coin matches I’m sure you can figure out.

f.        Hellen Gravely: she will pose in the background and send her cat to do her dirty work. The cat will roam the stage and attack various fighters.

g.       Huckit Crab: the crab will randomly wander the stage for a little while, picking up rocks and chucking them at players for light damage.

h.       King Totomesu: he will stand on one side of the stage and spit fireballs across it, jumping occasionally.

i.         Lava Bubble: it will pop up at random spots, leaping out of the stage floor and back down just like in the games. A fiery lava effect from the games will appear a split second before it leaps as a warning to players.

j.         Magmaargh: it will lurk in the background just behind the stage for a few seconds before lunging and leaping over the stage, severely damaging any fighter it connects with. This will repeat a few times.

k.       Penguin: it will waddle out and then slide on its belly across the stage a few times, tripping up anyone it bumps into.

l.         Pidgit: it will fly up and cross back and forth across the stage, acting as an extra platform.

m.     Polterpup: he will sniff around the edges of the stage, finding hidden items and delivering them back to his summoner for use.

n.       Rocky Wrench: at random spots, his manhole will appear, rattle for a split second, before he pops up and tosses a wrench. He will then tuck back in and his manhole will appear in a different spot.

o.       Spawny: he will glitch and fire off a few blasts of his warping beam in random directions. Anyone hit by the beam will have their controls scrambled for a little while.

p.       Scuttlebug: it will dangle from the top of the screen, hanging around until it is collided with, at which point it will drop and attack the nearest fighter.

q.       Swoop: it will flutter up and hang from the bottom of a platform. At random intervals, it will take off and divebomb a character, doing light damage.

r.        T-Rex: it will let out its stunning roar and then rampage across the stage, similar to the Rathalos assist trophy.

s.        Viruses: they will latch themselves onto nearby opponents. The opponents will soon take on symptoms of the different ailments the viruses represent.

t.        Wingo: he will teleport himself to the background and flap his wings hard enough to whip up a hurricane, blowing anyone with high enough damage off the stage to faceplant on the screen.

You could probably come up with others. For instance, I forgot about Fuzzies when I first made this, but everything I could think of them doing was basically already done by the Viruses and the Biddybugs

Luigi's Mansion 3

LUIGI'S MANSION 3

Today, we cover Luigi's Mansion 3, the long-awaited third installment of the franchise and one of the most recent games I'll be covering here, at least until Origami King comes out. Luigi's Mansion 3 sees the game somewhat return to the original game's roots while incorporating some of the better bits of Dark Moon. The story features Luigi and his friends: Mario, Princess Peach, three Toads, and Polterpup, all take a trip to a luxury hotel where they have won an extended stay. The hotel turns out to be haunted and is part of a revenge scheme by King Boo and the hotel's own Hellen Gravely.

Luigi is once again our main playable character, this time equipped with the Poltergust G-00, which again can suck in ghosts and launch them out if needed, but can also shoot out a plunger to grab far-away items, blast him up into the air, and allows him to use Super Suction, a high-powered mode for sucking in larger obstacles. His flashlight also comes with the flash ability as before, and he gains the ability to slam ghosts around to weaken them so he can capture them easier. He can also turn paintings into reality again. His most notable new move however is Gooigi, an ectoplasmic clone of Luigi that can walk through tight spaces Luigi can't get through, but dissolves in water.

E. Gadd returns as Luigi's main line of support, once again having invented everything he uses. Mario, Peach, and the Toads all act as our damsel-in-distress characters that Luigi has to rescue, and Polterpup just generally plays around on screen, sometimes guiding you to important objects in your quest, sometimes stealing things. He is a good boi, in general.

King Boo is our main villain, his boss fight being similar to his fight in Dark Moon. He can fire a laser from his crown, trap people inside of paintings, call down lightning, bounce and create shockwaves, and throw bombs. He also uses his tongue a lot more this time, smacking it out across the stage and sweeping it back and forth. Needless to say, I don't think he's an echo fighter anymore. Hellen Gravely is the second main villain, who clearly REALLY wants to be King Boo's Harley Quinn/Bellatrix/Misa Misa. Sadly, her boss fight is rather underwhelming, with her just floating and shooting lasers at you. She does have a cat, Polterkitty, who can transform into a monster, but mostly just slashes at you. Boos also appear, performing a similar function as before.

In this game, we see the return of Portrait Ghosts, sort of. More like boss ghosts with personalities and roles similar to the Portrait Ghosts from before, generally with one for every floor. The hotel's steward is the first, throwing suitcases at you. Chambrea is a maid who uses dust to make you sneeze. Kruller is a security guard armed with a flashlight and water gun. Chef Soulffle is the hotel chef who attacks with vegetables and a skillet. Amadeus Wolfgeist is a pianist who possesses the piano and audience chairs to attack you. King MacFrights wears a suit of armor and tries to joust with you. Doctor Potter is a mad botanist who makes giant plants grow. Morty is a movie director who just wants to finish his movie, and you should let him. Ug is a caveman who possesses a giant T-Rex to attack you. Clem is the hotel mechanic who controls the boilerworks in the hotel. Serpci is an Egyptian queen who attacks with snakes and giant sand fists. Nikki, Lindsey, and Ginny are a trio of magician sisters who use hats, magic wands, and cards to attack and can flip things upside down. Captain Fishhook is a pirate shark (I wonder if he's related to Jonathan Jones?) who will bite and attack with a hook and can also possess the ship you are on. Johnny Deepend is an Olympic swimmer who will throw beach balls at you. And finally, DJ Phantasmagloria is DJ at a nightclub who throws records and uses sonic blasts to attack you.

Our ghosts include variations of five different types. Goobs are the basic type, similar to Greenies and Gold Ghosts before them, and will generally pop out and scare you and play with whatever happens to be nearby. Hammers are giant square-headed ghosts that slam and punch really hard. Oozers are basically Hiders from Dark Moon in that they like to hide then pop out and scare you. Slinkers like to pull of jumpscares and will try to grapple you, and finally Trappers have a pair of blue tongue. They will grab you with one and spank you with the other.

The game takes place entirely within a massive hotel, with each floor having its own theme. If I were to choose one location for the game, it would be the entire hotel itself, but each floor is a possibility as well. The floor's theme generally corresponds to the ghost inhabiting it, including the boiler room, basement, lobby, restaurant, shops, music hall, castle, garden, film studio, museum, pyramid, magic show, pirate ship, gym, club, and finally Hellen Gravely's office, or as I like to call it, her creepy stalker shrine to King Boo. (That ghost's face is everywhere! She even has a body pillow and bath toys of him. Seriously, King Boo, run fast).

Items include treasure again, elevator keys to the various floors, and of course, E. Gadd's inventions, including the Virtual Boo (nice reference!)

Now, let's see what we've got:

Characters:
Luigi: vacuum, suck up, flashlight, fire, water, ice, Game Boy Horror, examine, inflate balloon, flash, DS, Dark-Light device, slam around, plunger, super suction, blast up, Virtual Boo, Gooigi
E. Gadd: made all the stuff, Pixelator, polish
Gooigi: walk through walls, melt
Mario
Toad
Princess Peach
Polterpup: steal stuff, sniff out things
King Boo: paintings, warp reality, control Bowser, crown laser, trap in paintings, lightning, bounce, spike balls, roll, energy gates, fireballs, slam and sweep tongue
Bowser: stomp, breathe fire, ice, throw spike balls, charge, floating head
Boo: float, hide, bombs, get bounced
Hellen Gravely: hotel, shoot lasers, Polterkitty
Ghosts (general): jumpscare, punch, grapple, banana peels, ground pound, drop bombs, roll bowling balls, skeletons, serve food, play with objects, hide, sneak, spit mud, possess, levitate, mirrors, twin tongues

Bosses:
Chauncey
Bogmire
Boolossus
King Boo
Possessor
Poltergeist
Three Sisters
Big Boo
Hellen Gravely
Polterkitty
Various Ghosts

Stages:
Luigi's Mansion
Professor E. Gadd's lab
Evershade Valley
Gloomy Manor
Haunted Towers
Old Clockworks
Secret Mine
Treacherous Mansion
The Last Resort
Various Floors

Items:
Treasure
Medallions
Mario's Things
Elevator Keys
Virtual Boo

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll cover Super Princess Peach!