Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

 MARIO & LUIGI: SUPERSTAR SAGA

Now, let us begin the Mario series' other beloved RPG franchise, the Mario & Luigi handheld series. The series is a set of five games created by AlphaDream, before they sadly went under. The games were quirky oddball games with a unique sense of humor to them that centered on Mario and Luigi working together as a tag-team and had a whole set of moves that required them working together. In the first game, we follow them as they journey to the neighboring Beanbean Kingdom, which has come under siege by the wicked witch Cackletta and her strange little minion Fawful.

Mario and Luigi mainly work together in these games, their movesets being entirely built on one another, though they do have a few solo moves such as jumping, using their hammers, and throwing fire and lightning from their hands respectively. Their moves outside of battle change based on who is in front, with Mario standing on Luigi's head and performing a spin jump or Luigi jumping on top of Mario to spring off of him; or Mario smacking Luigi with a hammer to bury him in the ground, or Luigi doing the same to make Mario short; or Mario lighting Luigi on fire to make them move faster, or Luigi electrifying Mario to pull him backwards. In battle they have moves based on each of these. They also have a couple of secret moves, Swing Bros and Cyclone Bros, both of which involve them spinning together, the first with Mario hurling Luigi at their enemies, the other with them forming a tornado and attacking together. Strictly speaking, this all could work toward a moveset on its own, I just worry a little bit about having Mario and Luigi working as a tandem team on a stage with a regular Mario and Luigi hanging around. I imagine they'll have to be stylized to work. It's a good thing this series has such an iconic art style in its own right.

As for our ally characters, we have a few regulars, like Princess Peach who does her standard "Damsel-in-Distress" thing, although at one point she does gain literally explosive vocabulary thanks to a curse from Cackletta. Bowser also hangs around, sometimes as an ally, sometimes enemy, sometimes with memory loss, sometimes possessed by Cackletta (the game's a bit of an experience for him). During his regular battles, he can stomp, breathe fire, and throw hammers at you. The royal family of the Beanbean Kingdom include Queen Bean, who you fight as a possessed boss once as she creates shockwaves and spits beans at you; and her son Prince Peasley, who flies around on a pillow, slashes around with his lance, flicks his hair a lot, and gives you a rose as a token of thanks (typical dashing prince-y stuff). He also gets cursed to turn into a dragon at one point. There's also Lady Lima, the queen's advisor. Then there's Toadsworth and the other Toads, who act as NPCs. Yoshi and Birdo also appear, Yoshis as NPCs, and Birdo as a minor boss, throwing kisses at you, spitting eggs, throwing bombs, and sucking you in.

A handful of NPCs who should also be noted here are the Border Bros, the Starshade Bros, the Hammerhead Bros, Cork and Cask, and the Jellyfish Sisters, each of whom primarily exist specifically to teach Mario and Luigi a specific type of move as covered above. As they basically are that move and that move alone incarnate, there's not much need to consider them. (A couple of BEEFy brothers in a later game on the other hand . . .). Then there's Blablanadon, a giant pterodactyl who carries you places.

Cackletta and Fawful are our main villains here. Cackletta is a wicked witch scheming to take over the Beanbean Kingdom, and Fawful is her strange little minion with a strange speech pattern and a huge fan following. When you first fight Cackletta, she can cast lightning, transform herself to look like others, fly around in a flying chair, fire laser blasts, use curses to transform others, and create duplicates of herself that turn into bats when hit. After she is seemingly killed, her essence possesses Bowser, changing him into Bowletta. Fighting as Bowletta, she can breathe fireballs and a regular stream of fire, call down shooting stars, and suck you in. When you enter her body, you'll find and fight her essence, which will attack with her claws, balls of light, and laser eyes. Fawful on the other hand focuses more on his seemingly alien tech. He has a special hat that can fire bean gas, fly, fire blasts, and suck you up. In battle he can also shoot lightning from his antenna, tuck into a dome and shoot lasers from it, and spawn a circle of laser balls.

Among our bosses is the recurring thief Popple, a spiritual successor of sorts to Croco, an underhanded but ultimately cowardly thief who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong. He spends much of his time with a companion, relying on their muscle to get by while doing little himself. That said, in battle, he will ram into you, steal things from you, perform Bros. Attacks with his partner that often lead to himself getting hurt, and throwing items out of a money bag (similar to Croco). If his partner is defeated, he will run away. The Koopalings all appear as well and each battle you. Iggy will spin really fast, Morton will stomp, Lemmy will split himself into multiples and breathe fire, Ludwig will spin in his shell, Roy carries a time bomb, Wendy travels around between pipes and throws rings, and Larry plays ping pong with you, basically.

Other bosses include Tolstar, a greedy bully who charges you money and throws spike balls at you; Hoohooros, a statue that fires lasers; Dragohoho, Prince Peasley in a dragon form who spits projectiles; the Chuckolator, a being made of soda with a sword and shield that will send waves and bubbles of soda after you; a big Mom Piranha who will whip you with vines and spawn babies; Trunkle, a tree that will suck you in and split into multiples; Hermie III, a, shiny, hermit crab that decorates its shell and pinches you; and Jojora, an ice spirit and one of her four giant snowwoman friends who throw giant snowballs.

Standard returning enemies include: Koopas, Goombas, Fighter Flies, Bullet Bills, Dry Bones, Rexes, Spinies, Wigglers, Shy Guys with spears, Snifits, Viruses from Doctor Mario, mechanical Chomps, Bloopers, Piranha Plants, Lakitus, Cheep Cheeps, Boomerang and Hammer Bros (and Yo-yo, Chomp, and Limbo variants), Magikoopas, and Boos. Brand new enemies include: Beanies, basic enemies that can sometimes grow wings; Sharpeas, which are basically Spinies; Sworms, little worms sticking out of the dirt; Fuzzbushes that spit Fuzzies; Eekers, living beakers that fight with fire; Oho Jees, who freak out; Oucher Glasses, living hourglasses; Malibuts and Starkisses, who live in the ocean; Clumphs, big caveman things with clubs; and Glurps that vomit pink clouds.

The game mostly takes place within the Beanbean Kingdom. Before you get there, you do see Mario's House, Peach's Castle, Toad Town Square, and the Koopa Cruiser. After that you enter the Beanbean Borderlands, making up Stardust Fields, Hoohoo Village, and Hoohoo Mountain, before coming to Beanbean Castle and the town around it. After that you explore the various sections of the map, including Chucklehuck Woods with Chateau de Chucklehuck and the Chuckola Reserve, where they brew Chuckola cola. Then you visit Woohoo Hooniversity before falling to Oho Oasis in the Oho Ocean. (Yes, almost all of these places are different words for laughter). Then you get to Teehee Valley, Little Fungitown, Guffawha Ruins and the S.S. Chuckola in the desert, before freeing the ship into Gwarhar Lagoon. Then you enter the Winkle Realms and their Colosseum, and then finish in Joke's End and Bowser's Castle.

Items, besides things like hammers and your suitcase that you carry with you, tend to feature things like mushrooms and beans, restoring health and fight power respectively, and the famous Chuckola Cola of course.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Paper Mario: run, jump, hammer, flowers, confetti bag, 1000-fold arms, pull, punch, boot car

Mario & Luigi: jump, hammer, fire and lightning, spin jump, high jump, mini Mario, Luigi dunk, dash, tickle, Swing Bros, Cyclone Bros

Luigi: Mario Kart

Princess Peach: explosive vocabulary

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant, stomp, throw hammers

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar

Kamek: spell, broomstick

Birdo: blow kiss

Olivia: all origami based moves, Vellumental transformation

King Olly: fold, Vellumental, grow giant, paper airplanes, hammer fists, sword arms

Prince Peasley: floating pillow, rose, hair, slash with rapier, turn into dragon (other bean-related stuff, easily best gimmick rep)

Popple: steal, dash, failed Bros. Attacks, throw items from bag, run away

Cackletta: lightning, transform, flying chair, lasers, curses, bat duplicates, possess, fireballs, shooting stars, suck you in, essence.

Fawful: flying hat, bean gas, laser blasts, suck up, antenna lightning, dome, laser ring

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins

Toadsworth

Koopalings: spin, stomp, multiples, breathe fire, shell spin, time bomb, pipes, rings, ping pong

Koopa Troopa

Goombas

Shy Guys: spears, laser Snifits

Hammer Bro, Boomerang, Yo-yo, Chain Chomp, and Limbo versions

Spike

Dry Bones

Buzzy Beetle: laser beam

Monty Mole

Cheep Cheep

Thwomp

Chain Chomp

Ninji

Pokey

Boo

Piranha Plant

Mechakoopa

Blooper

Chargin' Chuck

Wiggler: stomp

Virus

Lakitu

Magikoopa

Bosses:

Earth Vellumental

Water Vellumental

Fire Vellumental

Ice Vellumental

Colored Pencils

Rubber Band

Hole Punch

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Gooper Blooper

Handaconda

Tolstar

Hoohooros

Dragohoho

Chuckolator

Trunkle

Hermie III

Jojora

Stages:

Peach's Castle

Overlook Mountain

Shogun Studios

Scorching Sandpaper Desert

The Great Sea

Shangri-Spa

Bowser's Castle

Hotfoot Crater

King Olly's Origami Castle

Beanbean Kingdom

Koopa Cruiser

Hoohoo Mountain

Beanbean Castle

Chucklehuck Woods

Woohoo Hooniversity

Oho Ocean

Teehee Valley

Winkle Realms

Joke's End

Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Beans

Chuckola Cola

Various Incidental Items

Thanks for reading! Next up, we cover the forgotten middle child, it seems: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time!

Paper Mario: The Origami King

 PAPER MARIO: THE ORIGAMI KING

So, this really should have been part of the previous section, but hey, my timing and Nintendo's timing didn't exactly line up so to speak, so we're doing it here. Paper Mario: The Origami King is a brand new title in the Paper Mario series that, while not quite being a return to form for the series, is the closest we've gotten in a long while, introducing new characters that were at least as layered as those in the 64 game and giving us a pretty solid story with some genuinely great humor and emotion thrown in, while also using some of the creativity prevalent in the later Paper Mario games, so, I like it. It's a good game.

Paper Mario: The Origami King tells the story of how the Mushroom Kingdom was taken over by a tyrannical dictator made of origami, who folds others into origami, somehow brainwashing them in the process. Mario must join forces with new allies and old enemies to free the castle from the ribbons that bind it and overthrow King Olly's tyranny.

So anyway, Mario is of course our main character once again, doing a lot of his basics like running, jumping, and smacking with a hammer, but he also has a few origami-oriented moves as well (which will likely add to his companion Olivia's moveset more than his own, just like with Kersti and Huey before her. These include a bag full of confetti from which he can pull a burst of confetti to fill in holes, as well as the 1000-fold arm technique that extends his arms out to ridiculous lengths with which he can pull sections of wall or unleash a massive punch. In battle he can also use items to fight like fire flowers and so on. A few other smaller items come up here and there like the boot car he can use to cross the desert and so on.

Olivia is his main companion, the sister to King Olly, from whom Mario seems to get most of his origami moves, so like Kersti and Huey, I think it's fine for her to inherit them. She can also fold herself into one of the four Vellumental beasts you fight throughout the game upon your defeat of them, supplying her with a solid final smash at least. Your other companions who kind of help you in battle include Bobby the Bob-Omb (sniff), Professor Toad (who actually made me reconsider Captain Toad a bit (more on that later)), a handful of random other Toads, and a random Spike and Goombone at one point. None of them really do that much in battle, their attacks being more or less basic tackles and so on. Bobby does, um, blow up at one point, and Professor Toad will dig up items with a shovel, so there is that.

A few returning characters hand around the game, some even as "partners" at points, but I wanted to group them all here. Luigi appears frequently, driving his Mario Kart at the beginning, and then just at random points trying to find the key to get into the castle. Princess Peach spends most of the game folded into origami and thus working for King Olly, while Birdo does her standard weird cameo thing again, putting on a performance for you at one point. Finally we have Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Kamek, who all act as additional allies to you. Bowser spends much of the game folded into a tiny square form, but can still breathe fire. At the end of the game, he grows gigantic to take on King Olly for you. Bowser Jr. and Kamek do a lot of their standard Klown Kar and magic spell thing. Other allies include the giant tree Ol' Grandsappy and the pirate Captain T. Ode.

King Olly is the main villain of the game. He is very similar to Olivia but he does have some things of his own. Most likely he and Olivia will be echoes to each other. He can fold others into origami, he can fold into a vellumental just like his sister, he becomes a giant to fight bowser, he throws paper airplanes at you, smacks you with giant hammer fists, and can turn his arms into fists.

The bosses in the game are mostly divided into two groups: the four Vellumentals who you defeats in order for Olivia to gain the form of, and the Art Supplies who work for Olly. The Earth Vellumental is a giant turtle that whips up a sandstorm and can cause earthquakes. The Water Vellumental is a dragon that summons water spouts and tidal waves. The Fire Vellumental is a giant Fenghuang bird (like a phoenix, kinda) that breathes fire. And the Ice Vellumental is a polar bear that will freeze, rolling to a spiky ball, and drop chunks of ice. Olly's art supply bosses include a colored pencil kit that fires colored pencils as missiles or fires them all together as a rainbow cannon; a giant made of rubber bands that will flick its bands and tie you up with them; a hole punch that, well, punches holes and then spits the little paper remains at you; a tape dispenser that sticks you with tape and rolls around once the dispenser is destroyed; a pair of scissors that cuts you (duh); and a stapler that staples things together. Two other bosses include Gooper Blooper, who does the standard thing of slapping with tentacles and spitting ink; and a giant paper hand/snake thing called Handaconda that tries to grab you.

Most of the regular enemies you face (both regular, origami, and the giant "Paper-Macho") include Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Shy Guys, Snifits, Hammer, Fire, Boomerang, Ice, Sledge, and Sumo Bros, Spikes, Dry Bones, Buzzy Beetles (with a Paper Macho version that fires a frickin' laser beam from its front), Swoops, Scaredy Rats, Monty Moles, Spinies, Cheep Cheeps, Thwomps, Galoombas, Sidesteppers, Goombones, Chain Chomps, Ninjis, Piders, Pokeys, Boos, Crowbers, Piranha Plants, Dino Rhinos, Nippers, Mechakoopas, Bloopers, and Chargin' Chucks. little paper cutout soldiers are really the only new ones.

The game is mostly divided into six different sections, but with different areas within. We start with Toad Town and Peach's Castle as the central hub area. Overlook Mountain is the first major area, with Whispering Woods, Picnic Road, and the Earth Vellumental Temple being major areas leading up to it. After that you cross over to Autumn Mountain and the Water Vellumental Shrine, before heading down the Eddy River to Shogun Studios and the Big Sho' Theatre. After that you cross through Breezy Tunnel and out to Scorching Sandpaper Desert, including Shroom City, Fire Vellumental Cave, and the Temple of Shrooms. The Great Sea is your fourth area, a huge sprawling area with a ton of random islands, an abandoned ship named The Princess Peach, and the Ice Vellumental Mountain. After collecting all four Vellumentals, you head up to Shangri-Spa, a spa in the clouds with a number of special springs like the Spring of Jungle Mist and the Spring of Rainbows. Once you get through that, you have levels in Bowser's Castle, Bowser's Airship, inside a volcano called Hotfoot Crater, and finally into King Olly's Origami Castle.

There are a number of items floating around the game, some more or less just tied to whatever's going on in the game, like a camp speaker and a manhole hook, and others are more basic, like mushrooms and flowers.

Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Paper Mario: run, jump, hammer, flowers, confetti bag, 1000-fold arms, pull, punch, boot car

Luigi: Mario Kart

Princess Peach

Bowser: folded, breathe fire, grow giant

Bowser Jr.: Koopa Klown Kar

Kamek: spell, broomstick

Birdo: blow kiss

Olivia: all origami based moves, Vellumental transformation

King Olly: fold, Vellumental, grow giant, paper airplanes, hammer fists, sword arms

Toad: a lot of basics, dig up coins

Koopa Troopa

Goombas

Shy Guys

Hammer Bro

Spike

Dry Bones

Buzzy Beetle: laser beam

Monty Mole

Cheep Cheep

Thwomp

Chain Chomp

Ninji

Pokey

Boo

Piranha Plant

Mechakoopa

Blooper

Chargin' Chuck

Bosses:

Earth Vellumental

Water Vellumental

Fire Vellumental

Ice Vellumental

Colored Pencils

Rubber Band

Hole Punch

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Gooper Blooper

Handaconda

Stages:

Peach's Castle

Overlook Mountain

Shogun Studios

Scorching Sandpaper Desert

The Great Sea

Shangri-Spa

Bowser's Castle

Hotfoot Crater

King Olly's Origami Castle

Items:

Mushrooms

Flowers

Various Incidental Items

Thanks for reading! Next up, we begin the Mario & Luigi series with Superstar Saga!

Super Smash Bros. Universe: Super Mario RPG Roster

SUPER SMASH BROS. UNIVERSE

SUPER MARIO RPG

The Mario RPGs are, or were, a wonderful thing, with so many wonderful characters that would fit wonderfully into a Smash-style setting. As you might expect, the RPG game offered up a positive deluge of new characters to add to our series, so much so that they barely fit within the regular Mario roster, and so, I elected to create an entirely new roster, just for them. And here it is!

1. Paper Mario

2. Mr. L

3. Geno

4. Mallow

5. Flurrie

6. Tippi & Pixls

7. Kersti

8. Huey

9. Merlon

10. Star Spirits

11. Smithy

12. Kammy Koopa

13. Sir Grodus

14. Count Bleck

15. Dimentio

16. Yaridovich

17. Axem Rangers

18. Lord Crump

19. The Shadow Sirens

20. O'Chunks

21. Mimi

22. Croco

23. Booster

24. Jonathan Jones

25. Valentina

26. Jr. Troopa

27. Doopliss

28. Rawk Hawk

29. Francis

30. Culex

Boom! Thirty characters, and that's only the first half of the RPGs (and we all know there's a few coming from the second half). Following Culex will be a navigation option back to the main Mario roster. All the rest of Mario's companions from the first two games are also playable, but as color swaps of the species they are, so can be accessed that way.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for going on this journey with me! Next up, we will begin the Mario & Luigi games, but first, a certain sixth Paper Mario game timed its release just horribly and this situation must be amended.

Yoshi Series Roster, Updated

SUPER SMASH BROS. UNIVERSE

YOSHI'S ISLAND SERIES

Today, we have one single character to add to the Yoshi series roster, all thanks to a little thief named Ms. Mowz!

1. Yoshi
2. Yarn Yoshi
3. Baby Mario
4. Baby Bowser
5. Kamek
6. Shy Guy
7. Bandit
8. Ukiki
9. Tiny Mouser

Following Tiny Mouser will be a navigation option to the Mario series roster, followed by a random button.

Next up, we compile a comprehensive Mario RPG roster!

Super Mario Series Roster, Updated

SUPER SMASH BROS. UNIVERSE

SUPER MARIO SERIES

Today, let's update our roster for the Super Mario Bros. series. Now, if you've been following this series, you may have noticed we had, um, quite a few newcomers this time around, enough to fill an entire roster on their own, you might say. Well, that's exactly what I did. The Mario RPGs brought in so many new and unique characters that I decided to create an entirely separate roster just for them, just like the Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario rosters. The Mario roster will still have a handful added, but most of them will appear on the other roster.

1. Mario
2. Fursuit Mario
3. F.L.U.D.D. Mario
4. Luigi
5. Vacuum Luigi
5e. Professor E. Gadd
6. Princess Peach
7. Princess Daisy
8. Rosalina and Luma
9. Pauline
10. Cappy
11. Toad
11e. Toadette
12. Bowser
12e. Dry Bowser
13. Bowser Jr.
14. Shadow Mario
15. The Koopalings
16. Wart
17. Tatanga
18. Wanda
19. Perry
20. Sprixie Princess
21. Koopa Troopa
21e. Dry Bones
22. Goomba
23. Piranha Plant
24. Boo
25. Cheep Cheep
26. Blooper

27: Bob-Omb
28. Lakitu and Spinies
29. Monty Mole

30. Spike

31. Hammer Bro
32. Chargin' Chuck
33. Wiggler
34. Chain Chomp
35. Ghost
36. Honeybee
37. Boom Boom
37e. Pom Pom
38. Birdo

39. Mouser
40. Petey Piranha
41. King Boo
42. The Broodals

Following after the Broodals, will be navigation options for the Mario RPG, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and Wario rosters, alongside the Random button.

Next up, we have an update to the Yoshi roster as well.

Character Sheet: Culex

 CULEX

Are you guys excited? I'm excited. You should be too. You know why? Cause today we get to cover all the freakin' amazing characters from Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario (pre-TOK) series, and even the not so amazing ones too. Here's the full list:

1. Cheep Cheep

2. Bob-Omb

3. Spike

4. Tiny Mouser

5. Mouser

6. Paper Mario

7. Mr. L

8. Geno

9. Mallow

10. Flurrie

11. Tippi & Pixls

12. Kersti

13. Huey

14. Merlon

15. Star Spirits

16. Smithy

17. Kammy Koopa

18. Sir Grodus

19. Count Bleck

20. Dimentio

21. Yaridovich

22. Axem Rangers

23. Lord Crump

24. The Shadow Sirens

25. O'Chunks

26. Mimi

27. Croco

28. Booster

29. Jonathan Jones

30. Valentina

31. Jr. Troopa

32. Doopliss

33. Rawk Hawk

34. Francis

35. Culex

And now, at long last, we come to the very end of our Paper Mario newcomers. It's been a long but fun road, filled with some of the very best characters the Mario series ever created, and that sadly, because of . . . well, certain decisions, we may never really see in a game again. And that hurts, but we still have their games, so, I suppose it's not all bad. I think it's only right to finish the game with one of the most notoriously hard bosses in all of gaming: Culex. Culex appears in Super Mario RPG as a secret optional boss you can face by going through a specific door in Monstro Town. He claims to be a powerful warrior from another world, who came to this one in search of a worthy challenge. Many let's players like to take him on as a challenge and devote a full episode to that alone. And I, for one, am so glad he made his case.

Culex's main gimmick in battle is that he fights surrounded by four elemental crystals, the Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water Crystals, each able to perform a different kind of elemental attack (so he's kind of like the Avatar that way). The Earth Crystal's main earth moves are Sand Storm and Boulder, though it confusingly uses other elemental moves. We'll focus on those for now. The Fire Crystal can use Corona, Flame Wall, and Flame, while also having a couple of draining moves. The Water Crystal actually uses primarily ice-based moves like Crystal, Ice Rock, Blizzard, and Solidify. The Wind Crystal uses primarily electricity-based attacks like Lightning Orb, Bolt, Electroshock, Static E!, and Light Beam. Culex himself can also use attacks like Shredder, Flame Stone, Dark Star, and Meteor Blast. He also has visible wings and dark crystal-like energy visible around him.

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Elemental Crystal

This move switches between the four crystals floating around Culex, cycling through Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind. He will start with Fire naturally, but each element changes up the way he plays and what he is weak or strong against and can change certain moves.

Side B: Boulder/Flame Stone/Ice Rock/Lightning Orb

Basically, this is a primary offensive attack based on each element. Basically whichever crystal is up front, he will thrust forward and a projectile of the element in question, striking the opponent for maximum forms of damage.

Up B: Sand Storm/Flame Wall/Blizzard/Static E!

Likewise, a similar move across the board, but will have different effects. Basically, he will launch up on his dark wings, launching a storm of the element up front around him as he does so. Earth will whip up a harrowing sand storm, Fire will be a wall of flames, Water will whip up a blizzard, and Wind will cause an area of static, stunning any nearby.

Down B: Blast/Mega Drain/Solidify/Light Beam

This one's more of a status altering move and will have widely different effects based on the crystal. Earth's will just be a straight-up offensive move, lighting up an area of explosion. Fire will sap health from an opponent and give it to Culex. Water will freeze an opponent solid for a few seconds. Finally, wind will put an opponent to sleep.

Final Smash: Dark Star

I felt this one was fitting of him. The animation's a bit silly looking, so I wonder if it might not be visually updated a bit to reflect the character, but as the strongest magical attack in the game, it's only fitting it be the Final Smash of the strongest boss in the game. (Also, not to be confused with a certain villain from a certain RPG series who may or may not have a chance of getting in in the next round of this blog series).

Entrance: Appearing from a shadowy dimensional rift seems appropriate.

Taunts: He has a few great one-liners. I like "Will you accept my challenge?", "En garde!", and his matter-antimatter spiel.

Thanks for reading! Now, let us put this all together into a roster, shall we?

Character Sheet: Francis

 FRANCIS

Are you guys excited? I'm excited. You should be too. You know why? Cause today we get to cover all the freakin' amazing characters from Super Mario RPG and the Paper Mario (pre-TOK) series, and even the not so amazing ones too. Here's the full list:

1. Cheep Cheep

2. Bob-Omb

3. Spike

4. Tiny Mouser

5. Mouser

6. Paper Mario

7. Mr. L

8. Geno

9. Mallow

10. Flurrie

11. Tippi & Pixls

12. Kersti

13. Huey

14. Merlon

15. Star Spirits

16. Smithy

17. Kammy Koopa

18. Sir Grodus

19. Count Bleck

20. Dimentio

21. Yaridovich

22. Axem Rangers

23. Lord Crump

24. The Shadow Sirens

25. O'Chunks

26. Mimi

27. Croco

28. Booster

29. Jonathan Jones

30. Valentina

31. Jr. Troopa

32. Doopliss

33. Rawk Hawk

34. Francis

35. Culex

Here's another character that I don't particularly care for, but include in the interest of fairness, as he did make a case for himself. Francis is more or less the main boss of chapter three of Super Paper Mario and is basically every negative stereotype of a nerd rolled into one. He's constantly spouting technobabble and is completely out of touch with reality, and he lives in a castle filled with cat robots dressed in French maid outfits, and spends all of his time blogging about "Well, actually" sorts of things. He is first encountered in the game when he captures Tippi, believing her to be a butterfly to add to his collection, requiring our heroes to invade his castle to rescue her.

Being a chameleon, he can turn invisible and catch things with his tongue, both of which can easily be used in battle. He also uses a camera to flash and stun you. As mentioned above, he also has a castle full of cat robots dressed in French maid outfits, some of which he uses in battle as bombs. Some of these can fly or can be jumped on to get higher. Finally, we have Swoon.exe, a dating simulator that Francis uses to talk to Peach, as he is incapable of speaking to girls without it. (All negativity aside, I actually enjoyed the dating simulator and all the gaming references in Francis's room).

Here's the moveset I came up with:

Standard B: Camera Flash

Francis will use this to stun an opponent. His tongue might also be used, but I felt that could work just fine for any and all of his grabs, so it works.

Side B: Meowbomb

He will set one loose and it will move forward until it encounters an enemy at which point it will explode. If it does not encounter anything, it will explode after a few seconds.

Up B: AirMeow or Meowmaid

Either of these would work. First an AirMeow would carry him up into the air, something similar to Olimar's current Up B, or he would bounce on top of a broken Meowmaid and use it like a spring.

Down B: Invisibility

He will turn invisible. That's basically it. He will remain invisible for a few seconds, or until he takes damage.

Final Smash: Swoon.exe

So, I'm not sure how it would work, but I feel like his dating program is literally the best and only option for his Final Smash. Possibly, one character would get sucked into a cutscene of the simulator, a question would pop up with two different answers. One possibility would be that both answers are wrong and get you booted from the stage, or that one answer would get you booted and the other has a chance of doing damage to Francis himself. Probably the first one, if I'm being practical here.

Entrance: Dropping his invisibility with a "Neerrrr!"

Taunts: Obviously his nerdy "Neerrrr!" statement, maybe spouting some random nerd fact, sweating in front of a Meowmaid, so on.

Thanks for reading! Next up, we'll finish off with the big bad secret boss we've all been waiting for, Culex!