Smash Universe

Friday, September 6, 2019

Character Sheet: Goomba (Main 3D Games)

GOOMBA

Now that we're done with all of the major 3D Mario titles, I think we need to now go through and update our characters, starting with revisions for any characters included so far that appeared in any of these games. Out of the 24 so far, 17 need revision:

1. Mario
2. Luigi
6. Pauline
7. Princess Toadstool
8. Toad
9. Yoshi
10. Bowser
13. Koopa Troopa
13e. Dry Bones
14. Shy Guy
15. Goomba
16. Piranha Plant
17. Boo
18. Lakitu
19. Hammer Bro
20. Chargin' Chuck
21. Magikoopa

Alright, let's talk about the Goomba, one of Mario's most iconic nemeses. The Goomba appeared in every game covered in this section except for Super Mario Sunshine, where they were almost sorta replaced by Strollin' Stus, who served more or less the same function. Their role in almost all games remained the same, acting as the most basic of all Mario enemies. A few notable exceptions are worth talking about, so let's go.

In the Super Mario Galaxy games, Goombas tend to go spinning like a top whenever Mario spins into them, and often sport helmets or pumpkins on their heads, protecting them from harm. They also gained a cousin (I guess?) in the form of the Octoombas, little alien-looking dudes who bounce around and spit rocks at people. They don't look enough like Goombas to make me entirely comfortable with including anything representing them here, but it's worth noting. In Super Mario Odyssey, however, Cappy can captured both Goombas and Paragoombas and can use them to fly, walk across ice, and stack them up to reach high places. Now, that's some potential. (Could it be? A character who won't slip around on Summit?)

Here is the moveset as adapted so far:

Standard B: Headbutt
Same as before

Side B: Kuribo's Shoe

Same as before

Up B: Paragoomba

Same as before

Down B: Stack Up

I feel this one's a bit more iconic now than the brick throw from before. Basically, every time Goomba hits Down B, he'll pop out another Goomba underneath him, with a limit of five. These additional Goombas will stick together unless knocked away by a sufficiently strong attack. This will add to their reach, hitboxes, and weight, changing up how they play with every additional Goomba.

Final Smash: Goomboss

Same as before. He still hasn't appeared, but hey!

Entrance: Descends by parachute

Taunts: "I'm a lonely Goomba, stuck between two pipes." Still would be fun. The little hop around and squeak from Super Mario 64 too.

Next up: Let's see what new Piranha Plant brings to the table.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Character Sheet: Shy Guy (Main 3D Games)

SHY GUY

Okay, technically speaking, Shy Guy has no business being revised in this section. He did not appear once in any of the five games covered, at least in his standard form. However, in Super Mario 64, two enemies appeared who are . . . related to Shy Guy, and thus need to be at least considered for his moveset. First was Fly Guy, a Shy Guy with a little propeller on his head that hung around areas like Shifting Sand Land and breathed fire at you. Second was Snufit, a little Snifit but with the body of a Boo, I think? It hung in the air in Hazy Maze Cave and spit pellets at you the way normal Snifits do. And, there we are.

Here is the moveset as it stands:

Standard B: Snifit

Side B: Autobomb

Up B: Fly Guy
A propeller pops out of Shy Guy's head and spins him upward, acting much like the propeller powerup in some of the "New" Mario sidescrollers.

Down B: POW Block

Final Smash: Armies of Subcon

Entrance: Enters through a Subcon door

Taunts: Not much yet, not much character shown.

Next up: Let's cover Goombas, who actually got quite a bit this time.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Character Sheet: Dry Bones (Main 3D Games)

DRY BONES

Today is Dry Bones. Really nothing changed here. Dry Bones appears in the Galaxy games and Odyssey, and the only things added was the ability to fly with wings (something that already existed as an echo of Koopa Troopa), and a strange cousin of theirs that seemed to literally eat matter and erase it from existence. As I'm not sure how to effectively work that into a Smash moveset, we really don't have any major changes to consider.

So, here's the moveset as it remains from before:

Standard B: Bone Throw
Does he still count as an echo if Koopa's standard B is different now?

Side B: Shell Spin

Up B: Para Bones

Down B: Fall Apart

Final Smash: Dry Bowser

Entrance: Starts out in pieces before reassembling

Taunts: Giving a thumbs up and making the iconic Dry Bones rattling sound, one arm dropping off for a second, etc.

Next up: Let's cover the Shy Guys, who don't strictly appear themselves, but gain a couple of offshoots in Super Mario 64 to consider.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

Character Sheet: Koopa Troopa (Main 3D Games)

KOOPA TROOPA

Today, let's check out the Koopa Troopa again and see if they bring anything new to the table. The main Mario enemies make appearances (sort of, see: Sunshine) in all five games covered here, though none of them make major appearances the way they did in the sidescrollers.

In 64, the Koopa Troopa only made a handful of appearances as an enemy, which Mario could knock out of its shell and take the shell for a joyride. A specific Koopa named "Koopa the Quick" could challenge Mario to a race, lending credence to them being speedy fighters. In Sunshine, Koopas themselves did not appear, rather a pair of offshoots appeared, each with a unique ability. Electrokoopas could charge their shells with electricity and send them spinning at enemies, while Snooza Koopas would flip themselves over to crush enemies beneath their shells. In both Mario Galaxy games, they return to their quadrupedal forms, and their shells help Mario swim and can be used as projectiles. Finally, in Odyssey, they mainly act as NPCs, challenging Mario to a few races again.

Here is the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Shell Projectile
This one mirrors Mario's usage of the weapon in the Galaxy games. The Koopa will whip out a shell (likely not their own), and send it flying forward as a high speed projectile in a straight line. This also echoes the shell's usage in the Mario Kart series.

Side B: Shell Spin

Remains the same and somewhat mirrors Squirtle's move.

Up B: Paratroopa

Also remains the same.

Down B: Shell Tuck

Also remains the same, acting as more of a defensive move than anything.

Final Smash: King Koopa

I guess I'll keep the 8-Bit King Koopa final smash as nothing else really fitting has presented itself so far.

Entrance: Starts out in his shell, before emerging using the standard animation

Taunts: Giving a thumbs up and making the iconic Koopa sound, stepping outside of his shell and looking it over while in his underwear, maybe sleeping like a Snooza Koopa.

Next up: We'll see about any updates to his echo fighter Dry Bones!

Monday, September 2, 2019

Character Sheet: Bowser (Main 3D Games)

BOWSER

Next up, let's deal with Bowser, who acts as the main villain in all five games covered in this section and has radically different boss fights in all of them, as well as some cutscene moves to consider a little.

Bowser is still a heavyweight, moving moderately slowly, but not too bad. He still maintains most of his abilities from before, including his propensity for breathing fire and slamming down hard enough to break stuff. In 64, Mario faces him on large round platforms surrounded by floating mines. In this fight, he can also charge toward the player, tip the entire stage, and create shockwaves with his stomps. In Sunshine, he hangs out in a giant hot tub and doesn't bring anything new to his repertoire other than his enormous size. In the first Galaxy game, he fights you on a small planetoid, punching at you with a spin, curling up into a boulder, and spinning in his shell. In the second game, he spends most of it as a giant, flying around a planet, throwing meteors at it and punching it with shockwaves. In Odyssey, he uses a special hat with punching gloves, throws boulders around, and swipes with his tail. He can also be captured by Cappy, with most of his basic moves, plus his claw attack currently used by Smash. All of these can contribute to all sorts of moves, so we'll see what we can do.

Here is the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Fire Breath

We'll keep Bowser's fire breathing ability, as it is the one constant in all of his boss fights and any moveset without it would feel incomplete.

Side B: Boulders

For now, I'm holding off on giving Bowser his claw ability that normally fills this slot, as I've only seen it used once so far. Instead, I will combine moves from Galaxy, Galaxy 2, and Odyssey, having him toss out boulders matching all three of those moves which do heavy damage.

Up B: Koopa Klown Kar

We're going to keep the Koopa Klown Kar for now, at least until Bowser Jr. has built up enough moveset specifically using the Kar to accurately call it a moveset.

Down B: Slam Down

And we're keeping his slam move, complete with the shockwaves produced during all but Sunshine's boss battles, as it really works for him.

Final Smash: Giant Bowser

This one is basically his Final Smash from Ultimate, except that it more matches its usage in Super Mario Galaxy 2, floating as a giant in the background, before punching at the players. No word yet on whether this will produce yellowish meteors you can buttbash into his face.

Entrance: Bowser will land in his Koopa Klown Kar.

Taunts: His evil laugh from Super Mario 64, many of his taunts from Odyssey and other games, holding up a captive something or other, the list goes on.

Next up: Let's cover Bowser's most iconic minion, the Koopa Troopa.

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Character Sheet: Yoshi (Main 3D Games)

YOSHI

Next up is Yoshi. Now, for the main 3D games, Yoshi tends to have a bit of an "every other" absentee status. In Super Mario 64, he only appears at the very end, and only talks to Mario for a bit and isn't really playable in any real sense. In Super Mario Sunshine, he is playable and can be ridden around by Mario at various points. In Super Mario Galaxy, he is absent entirely, but in Super Mario Galaxy 2, he returns allowing Mario to ride him at various points throughout the game. Finally in Super Mario Odyssey, he doesn't appear until the post-game, and can be captured instead of ridden.

Yoshi retains his average stats of been quick and light, with his flutter jump and his tongue as his main weapons. We see him eat and spit enemies as projectiles on numerous occasions, though his ability to turn an enemy into an egg has still not been seen at all. In Sunshine, he had the ability to eat fruit and then spray a torrent of fruit juice from his mouth. In Galaxy 2, he could use his tongue to flip around little flower things in the air, and use various fruits to give him superpowers: the red peppers made him run really fast, the blue berries made him inflate and rise into the air (similar to the Power Balloon from his original game), and the yellow berries let him illuminate invisible platforms. As a capture, he could also stick to walls using his tongue and spin around in a circle.

Here is the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Swallow

Same move as before. No turning into eggs yet.

Side B: Fruit Juice

Yoshi will fire a spray of fruit juice from his mouth, just like in Super Mario Sunshine. This will function much like Mario's Down B FLUDD move in current Smash.

Up B: Inflate

Yoshi will eat a blue berry and inflate like a balloon, carrying himself upward as air streams from his mouth. This references the move in Galaxy 2, but also pays homage to the Power Balloon of Super Mario World.

Down B: Ground Pound

Same as before.

Final Smash: Super Dragon

Same as before, but now fully representing the fire breath and wings of Super Mario World, as they are no longer part of his regular moveset.

Entrance: He hatches from an egg.

Taunts: That cute little dance he does when he completes a level would be a pretty good one. Honestly, a lot of his cute movements and behaviors would work.

Next up: We'll go over Bowser, taking into account his boss battles from these last five games.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Character Sheet: Toad (Main 3D Games)

TOAD

Today, let's go over Toad again. Unfortunately, much like Peach, Toad does very little in-game during these games that we can build off. In Super Mario 64, we find them in random corners of the castle and they hand out tips or stars. In Super Mario Sunshine, the species is expanded on, displaying red, blue, yellow, purple, and green variants of the species, as well as an older Toad named Toadsworth. In Galaxy, they have formed the Toad Brigade, with the main red-spotted one taking up the moniker of Captain Toad, but all still acting mostly as NPCs. This role remains the same in Galaxy 2. And in Odyssey, they once again act as NPCs mostly, with the Captain hiding out in various locations for Mario to find, and Toadette being introduced for the first time for our purposes.

Really, there's nothing here to work with. A few cosmetic changes to be sure, but nothing as far as gameplay. The Toad Brigade's ship certainly could add something, but it's not much for fighting really. Although, through this we for sure have almost the entire eight color swaps filled: the basic red-spotted one in his blue vest, the red-spotted one in his red outfit, the blue one, the yellow one, the green one, the purple one, and the Captain Toad look. The eighth might pay allusion to Toadsworth or Toadette, but as Toadsworth would replace Toad as Peach's standard B, and Toadette works more as an echo, it would only be similar.

Let's see what we can do:

Standard B: Pick Up and Throw

Same as before, still an iconic move from Mario 2.

Side B: Kart

Functions much the same as the previous move, but with a go-kart (maybe the one from Mario Maker 2) to ride instead.

Up B: Super Jump

Still the same mega jump from Mario 2. It fits well.

Down B: Treasure Chest

And I still like this move, despite maybe the problems that come with random effect-based moves.

Final Smash: Slot Machine OR Toad Brigade

The same one from before, with the controller affecting the outcome of the slot machine OR the full Toad Brigade marching onto the stage to wreck some stuff.

Entrance: He arrives aboard the Toad Brigade's ship.

Taunts: "Thank you, Mario, but our Princess is in another castle." That whistle bit at the beginning of the Toad Brigade's leitmotif. "Alright."

Next up: Let's see what we get from Yoshi.