#THE ATTACK ANIMATIONS INCORPORATING THE PARASOL

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OHHHHH NAVIA IS A FUCKING PULL

[guynamedultimax]

What if Kirby had a traditional fighting game?

Listen, I know I should’ve done more “FNF fighting game characters” but i doubt anyone cared for that, and even then I lost a bit of interest, so if you actually cared sorry about that, you can still come up with whatever you want for the characters I didn’t talk about!

That being said, I think all Kirby fans here know Kirby Fighters 2. Personally speaking most of it was just the same as Kirby Fighters Deluxe BUT there were five playable Dream Friends. FIVE. Priority to the Copy Abilities a bit too high, isn’t it HAL? Sometimes it feels a bit barebones if you ask me. So I’m here to discuss what would a non-platform Kirby fighting game be.

THE GAMEPLAY

It’s the same as any basic fighting game, there isn’t really that much that the Kirby franchise can offer to make the genre a bit more varied, and that’s mostly due to the fact that Kirby makes friends wherever he goes and combat is pretty much straightforward in these platforming games, the crazy stuff comes from learning specific moves with each copy ability/character in the games and that’s also true for this game.

THE PLOT

I have quite a few ideas for how this can go:

-It’s a “what if” re-telling of Kirby Star Allies where Hyness’ ritual (somehow) also causes space-time rifts across the entire universe to be generated, pulling in Kirby villains from previous games but also allies, which would ALSO explain Dream Friends in the game’s canon a bit more properly.

-It happens in an AU. Plot would basically be Kirby Battle Royale’s but instead of shooting a loadshit of Kirbies onto Kirby, Dedede would just call upon all of their friends to fight for that cake before things escalate and Dedede loses control of the tournament to greater evils, forcing him to work with Kirby to stop the threat, be it old or new.

-Another AU idea but this time it’s original/based on Milky Way Wishes. Galactic NOVA appears every thousand years above Pop Star’s skies, and everyone tries to fight for the right to get the wish. Villain wouldn’t necessarily be ONLY Marx though, most of the Kirby villains could easily win against him if they get to NOVA and get their wish granted. Which means yes, all plots happen at once and Kirby has to deal with everyone at once.

-The least interesting idea: it’s Kirby Fighters 2′s plot but without tag team duos and with all Kirbies replaced with the roster.

THE ROSTER

Now we’re about to have some fun.

RETURNING CHARACTERS: The Dream Friends (and Kirby, of course)

-First up, all Dream Friends are coming back. You don’t even need to change their movesets that much, just add/tweak things, but just for funsies (and for a specific reason too) we’ll also give them specific copy abilities or more than one to categorize them.

-Kirby is the specific reason. He has the same moveset as his Smash Bros incarnation, although he incorporates more copy abilities (and also super powerful stuff like the Star Rod that he usually uses in endgame fights) in it now due to being a traditional fighting game. And yes, he still has his inhale. Using it will have the inhale be replaced by another move in-game, the closest one to a “neutral special” in the opponent’s arsenal. His copy ability is therefore, Smash Bros. And since the game has multiple super moves, we can make his gimmicks from the Kumazaki games the super moves: his level 1 would be a random Super Copy Ability from Return to Dreamland (cutscene is random everytime but damage is always the same), his level 2 would be using the Robobot Armor to stomp foes around, ending with a giant ground pound/fist to the ground and his level 3 is Hypernova Kirby due to the inhale being one of his most unique properties.

-Meta Knight and Dedede will also have heavy Smash influences but they’ll also use techniques from most of their boss fights, such as Meta Knight splitting himself in four clones temporarily for an attack or Dedede actually pulling out an axe instead of his hammer for some attacks based on his Triple Deluxe incarnation. Their copy abilities would formally be Sword and Hammer but with heavy Smash Bros inspiration. Meta can also call in for the Meta Knights to help him in one of his unique super moves. They’d all be there except for Sailor Dee and Captain Vul (one’s an alternate costume and the other is never seen outside of dialogue text).

-Bandana Waddle Dee’s moveset incorporates both Spear and Parasol, but due to the Spear being his most used tool he’ll be categorized with that.

-Marx is the first character with Unique as its own copy ability due to his arsenal being entirely based on his boss fight. Inhaling Unique characters doesn’t always allow Kirby to get copy abilities but when it happens he usually has their most basic move replacing the inhale. Gooey is in the same situation, but i have no idea what would Kirby get from him as an ability since he’s technically player 2 in the Dark Matter trilogy’s first 2 games. Rick, Kine and Coo would technically be categorized as Unique only because they have Fire, Water and Wind in their moveset. You could say they’d be stance characters while Marx is a zoner and Gooey a rushdown character.

-Dark Meta Knight is categorized as Mirror, and Adeleine (with Ribbon as an assist of course) is Artist. Daroach would be Animal, which is missing since its debut in Squeak Squad, as far as I can remember, but he naturally still retains his moveset of calling the Squeaks to help him.

-It’s pretty easy to categorize Magolor as ESP, and Taranza as Spider, while I have no idea what would Susie’s ability be even. Spark? She is mostly around in the Robobot Armor to be fair. The Three Mage-Sisters would be treated equally to the Animal Friends

THE NEWCOMERS

-NAGO, CHUCHU & PITCH: The other set of Animal Friends. I theorize a moveset revolving around the Cleaning ability like in Star Allies would be easy to make, although it can also incorporate moves from other abilities that have been in Dream Land 3.

-CHEF KAWASAKI: I think it’s safe to say this one is pretty easy to do just like the returning Dream Friends. He has a unique moveset in comparison to Chef Kirby that also has him use Kirby’s Final Smash from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

-LOLOLO & LALALA: Aside from pushing boxes and Gordos they can be the Ice Climbers of the game, and most importantly one of their super moves could have them fuse into their original form in the anime to reference that further.

-SHADOW KIRBY: A clone (in terms of moveset) for Kirby that lacks the inhale ability and has more attacks based on his appearances in Amazing Mirror (and also on Kirby’s unique ability to split in four in these games) and the Kirby Fighters spinoffs. Simple as it is.

-THE MIDBOSSES: They all play the same as their fights too, so doing a paragraph for each of them would be a bit redundant. I chose to add minibosses in because most of them are pretty iconic among Kirby enemies and some of them are also technically friends of Kirby’s. I picked Bonkers (whose coconut throwing and some special moves could make him different enough from Dedede if you ask me), Mr. Frosty (also because we don’t have an Ice-based character in the game), Buggzy (which I can see being the ultimate grappler), King Doo (because we don’t actually have a Waddle Doo in the roster and he’s technically not only their king but also the most unique of them) and Grand Wheelie (look, I like Wheel as an ability ok? it’s like playing as Sonic in a Kirby game)

-KNUCKLE JOE: Taking stuff from both his Star Allies moveset and his Assist Trophy from Ultimate PLUS a few references to the anime and you have the ultimate Shoto character in the Kirby franchise. Ryu mains, this is the character for you.

-GIM: Look, my three favorite abilities are Yo-Yo, Wheel and ESP, in no particular order, so I HAD to include him and the Grand Wheelie. Magolor covers for ESP enough. This lil fella looks more unique than most of the generic Kirby enemies and even among the copy ability ones he’s always been a bit of an oddball due to being a robot. The trickshots you can do with this copy ability make Gim perfect to camp, so he’d be a pretty good zoner as well.

-TAC: He’s been a Helper in Super Star where he also has an unique moveset. Expanding on it and on Tac being generally a copy ability thief could mean more copy abilities can be implemented in a moveset, probably even more than what Kirby can do. Also his design just screams potential to me.

DLC FIGHTERS

WAVE 1: Spinoff Dream Friends

Cuz these guys have been done dirty by Star Allies’ devs. Elline would be the other Artist character in the game and call for Claycia’s assistance in specific attacks. Prince Fluff would play mostly just like Kirby himself did in Kirby’s Epic Yarn and implement specific transformations in some attacks, ending with the tank one from the end of that game. Then we have Gryll. If you know how to make a Tetris/Puyo Puyo based character in a fighting game then good for you, I absolutely don’t know how. What I KNOW however is that she has a float like Peach’s in Smash Bros and I-No’s in Guilty Gear.

WAVE 2: Dream Villains

These guys would all play exactly like their boss fights. Hyness and Sectonia would remain mostly unchanged while Haltmann in terms of moveset is the same as Susie, just without every non-Robobot move that she has.

WAVE 3: Clash of Blades

THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S ALL ANIME SWORDFIGHTERS. They all pull from their boss fights, but Morpho Knight is gonna be a bit more unique compared to Galacta, Dark Meta and Meta Knight, having in the swordfighter equivalent of Akuma’s Raging Demon. Meanwhile, Dark Matter Swordsman and Galacta Knight are completely faithful to the source material, but they’d probably be a bit nerfed due to Galacta’s universe-breaking powers. (you can bet that if we get the remaining legendary heroes who sealed Void Termina in future games they’d be their own separate Wave 5 DLC pack)

WAVE 4: Revival of Old Faces

Nightmare and Drawcia are back and they’re here to stay! Their movesets don’t really need that much changes. Void however is an entirely different beast. He’d be a mix of Kirby, both Zero incarnations and Dark Matter. His design wouldn’t just be giant orb that switches between Kirby and Dark Matter faces, he’d be Kirby-sized and with legs and stubby lil arms like the pink puffball. And you can bet your ass he’d be broken as fuck.

SKINS

If a character’s appearance changed across the series’ history (like Marx Soul, Girl Blob Gooey, Shoppe Magolor, Mecha Knight, Dark Taranza/Taranza in the Super Kirby Clash games, Masked/Shadow Dedede, Anime!Knuckle Joe, Parallel/Pres. Parallel Susie, EX versions and so on) they’d just be an alternate skin/palette swap for the specific character. Multiple characters of the same species with little changes (like a normal Waddle Dee or Sailor Dee, or literally all Kirby colors including Keeby) are the same. I’m also debating on how Dark Mind would be a skin for Nightmare or if there’d be a skin inspired by him for the Dark Matter Swordsman. Zero and Zero Two would probably be turned into palette swaps/outfits for Void (imagine a white Kirby cosplaying as Zero Two that’d be so cute lol).

ATTACKING ASSIST CHARACTERS

Characters who appear in other characters’ attacks. Like the aforementioned Squeaks, Meta Knights and Claycia. Normal Dark Matter would appear in DM Swordsman’s attacks in some capacity outside of the eye laser and the Gordo Throw would return from Dedede’s previous Smash incarnations alongside the Waddle Dee Throw from Brawl. And naturally Magolor can call in the Lor Starcutter for one of his super moves. I am actually considering giving Tac the ability to throw random items/enemies at opponents, with the Bomber being one of these. It’d be a very RNG attack with the Bomber being the best outcome, blowing on the opponent’s face.

HELPERS

All characters in the game can be called on for an Helper attack, that can help you in some form against the opponent by either damaging or tampering with the opponent or by having you get healed or with some buff. Outside from the playable roster enemies that give you copy abilities would also be Helpers, but the specific ones I’m not so sure on.

BOSSES

Characters you can fight in Arcade mode, in Story mode or in a specific Boss mode. There’d also be a Ganon’s Fury (Hyrule Warriors) inspired mode where you’d play as the bosses pitting them against each other. I specifically picked Dyna Blade, Whispy Woods, Landia, Star Dream, Kracko, Great Edge, Pyribbit, Ice Dragon, Fire Lion, Masher, Grand Mam, Metal General, Kibble Blade and Pon & Con.

STAGES

There’d be quite a lot of stages, but I haven’t thought out specific ones except for Green Greens, Butter Building, a Ripple Star stage, one for Dedede’s castle with stage cameos by Tiff, Tuff and Escargoon from the anime and every final boss’s fighting arena.

THE MUSIC

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is gonna be nothing compared to this one. We’re getting all the important music from all pre-Kumazaki games, all music from Kumazaki games and spinoffs, and online arrangements with focus on orchestral (Desolo Zantas), metal (GaMetal, of course) and EDM (Acid Notation, Qumu and various others), including stuff like Itoki Hana’s vocal arrangements. We’re going all out on this one.

Aaaaand that’s it. Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Stay hydrated.

[thecreaturecodex]

Qlippoth Lord, Pale Night

Image by E. M. Gist, © Wizards of the Coast. Accessed at the Fiendish Codex I Art Gallery here

[Commissioned by @justicegundam82. Pale Night was originally referred to in Milton’s Paradise Lost (which popularized the name Demogorgon, incidentally), and was a bit of world building that crept in Planescape before being fleshed out by James Jacobs in the “Demonomicon of Iggwilv” articles for Dragon Magazine and the Fiendish Codex I. She’s an obyrith in those sources, and the obyrith are pretty much a one-for-one analogue to the qlippoth, except that Pale Night is referred to as “Mother of Demons” in FCI. I played with that ambiguity in my take on her flavor text.

I also wrote this before, but edited after, @arachcobra suggested the Parasol Initiative as the organization devoted to making hybrid monsters. Maybe Pale Night is their divine patron.]

Qlippoth Lord, Pale Night CR 23 CE Outsider This hazy figure appears as a diaphanous sheet draped around a lithe humanoid female. Hollows in the sheet suggest the contours of eyes and other facial features, which seem to shift unsettlingly.

Pale Night The Veiled One, Mother of Chaos Concerns forbidden knowledge, hybridity, mutation Domains Chaos, Evil, Knowledge, Madness Subdomains Corruption, Entropy, Insanity, Memory Worshippers iconoclasts, transmuters, motherless tieflings Minions chernobue and behimiron qlippoth, chimeras, mutants Unholy Symbol a white sheet before a star field Favored Weapon net Devotion tell someone a secret intended to hurt or disturb them, and threaten them harm if they tell anyone else. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against mind-influencing effects. Boons 1: touch of idiocy 2/day; 2: confusion 2/day; 3: legend lore 2/day

Pale Night is a creature that seemingly breaks the rules—something between a demon and a qlippoth, seemingly comfortable with both creatures in both worlds. As such, she represents the flow of information and bodies between discreet categories and into disturbing ambiguity. This ambiguity extends to her appearance. Creatures see her as the silhouette of an attractive female member of their own species, if their species has female members and a generally fertile and comely specimen of their species if they do not. Her true appearance is an abominable mystery—simply revealing it to the world is a difficult task for Pale Night, and those who survive the mental onslaught have literally no memory of what they saw.

Pale Night’s touch shatters minds and warps self-image—those who succumb to it find their exterior forms reflect their innermost fears and desires, becoming strange and terrible mutants. She “collects” creatures that interest her, be it for their rarity, bravery or physical markers, by transforming them into literal images of themselves. Her favorite tactic is to ride inside the body of a powerful demon or qlippoth, then abandon their form for one of her strongest foes after having had time to gauge their prowess.

Being intermediate between demons and qlippoths means that Pale Night is often feared by both. Despite her qlippothic origins, she is allies with both Lamashtu and Baphomet, ensuring that only the most suicidal Abyssal powers oppose her directly. The nature of her relationship to Lamashtu is obscure—the Mother of Monsters appears to respect Pale Night as a colleague, but the two maintain their distance most of the time. Pale Night is ancient even by the standards of qlippoth, and there are those that whisper that she was the entity that encouraged daemons to introduce sinning souls to the Abyss and create the first demons. As such, the most militant of qlippoth lords, such as Chavazvug and Yamasoth, would gladly see her destroyed.

Pale Night’s demesne is a tower of bone in the middle of Baphomet’s maze—its ever-shifting location and the protection of the King of Beasts is obstacle enough to keep all but the most dedicated enemies or petitioners from her door. Her cult is all but unheard of in mortal realms. Most of her devotees are lone figures seeking her blessings to uncover unspeakable secrets, or the creators of various hybrid abominations. Motherless tieflings, those pathetic and horrible planetouched born of qlippothic influence, make up the majority of her followers.

Pale Night           CR 23 XP 820,000 CE Medium outsider (chaos, extraplanar, evil, incorporeal, qlippoth) Init +18; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect good, detect law, Perception +38, thoughtsense 120 ft. Defense AC 39, touch 35, flat-footed 24 (+14 Dex, +1 dodge, +10 deflection, +4 armor) hp 429 (26d10+286); fast healing 20 Fort +19, Ref +29, Will +24 DR 20/epic and lawful; Immune cold, death effects, electricity, mind-influencing effects, poison; Resist acid 30, fire 30; SR 34 Defensive Abilities incorporeal traits Offense Speed fly 80 ft. (perfect) Melee incorporeal touch (20d8 plus 2d6 Cha drain) Special Attacks corrupting influence, embrace, horrific appearance (DC 34), part the veil Spell-like Abilities CL 23th, concentration +33 Constant—detect good, detect law, mage armor At will—greater dispel magic, greater teleport, telekinesis (DC 25), unhallow, unholy blight (DC 24) 3/day—blasphemy (DC 27), quickened confusion (DC 24), greater possession (DC 28), insanity (DC 27) 1/day—dominate monster (DC 29), freedom, greater restoration, imprisonment (DC 29), legend lore, polymorph any object (DC 28), summon demons and qlippoth Statistics Str -, Dex 38, Con 32, Int 25, Wis 28, Cha 31 Base Atk +26; CMB -; CMD 53 Feats Alertness, Blind-fight, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Hover, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Mobility, Quicken SLA (confusion), Spring Attack, Weapon Finesse, Whirlwind Attack Skills Bluff +39, Diplomacy +35, Fly +47, Intimidate +35, Knowledge (arcana, history, nobility) +29, Knowledge (planes, religion) +32, Perform (sing) +32, Perception +38, Sense Motive +38, Spellcraft +29, Stealth +39, Use Magic Device +32 Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Common, Draconic, Protean SQ qlippoth lord traits Ecology Environment any (Abyss) Organization unique Treasure double standard Special Abilities Corrupting Influence (Su) Any non-outsider living creature reduced to 0 Charisma by Pale Night must succeed a DC 33 Fortitude save. On a successful save, they are merely comatose. On a failed save, the creature is transformed—it gains the mutant template, its alignment becomes chaotic evil and its Charisma is immediately restored to normal. A creature so transformed cannot be returned to normal without a miracle or wish, followed by an atonement spell to change its alignment. The save DC is Charisma based. Embrace (Su) As a standard action up to three times per day, Pale Night can attempt to embrace a Large or smaller creature with a touch attack. A creature so touched must make a DC 33 Fortitude save. Success means the creature is stunned for 1 round; on a failure it is made incorporeal and placed under temporal stasis. A creature so affected can only be restored with a freedom, miracle or wish spell. The save DC is Charisma based. Horrific Appearance (Su) A creature that succumbs to Pale Night’s horrific appearance is stunned for 1 round and staggered for 12 rounds as its internal organs become animate and rebellious. A creature that succeeds its save is merely staggered for 1 round. A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected by Pale Night’s horrific appearance for the next 24 rounds. Incorporeal Touch (Su) The damage dealt by Pale Night’s touch is a mind-influencing effect, similar to a mind thrust spell. A creature touched must make a DC 33 Will save. If it succeeds, it takes half damage and no Charisma drain. If Pale Night so chooses, she can deal damage, Charisma drain, or both with her touch attack. The save DC is Charisma based. Part the Veil (Su) As a full round action once per day, Pale Night can reveal her true appearance. All creatures within 30 feet that can see her must succeed a DC 33 Fortitude save or be immediately slain. Creatures that succeed this save are instead affected by a mental block spell that lasts for 23 rounds, or until the creature succeeds a DC 33 Will save on its turn. The save DC is Charisma based. Summon Demons and Qlippoth (Sp) Once per day, Pale Night can summon a combined CR 20 of demons and qlippoth with a 100% success rate. This is the equivalent of a 9th level spell.

[deebormzone]

Revving up the Disappointment Engines

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

There’s a presentation for it tomorrow morning. One character reveal is guaranteed. I am excited.

HOWEVER. I know from experience that it’s best to set one’s expectations real, real low. As such, here’s my take on who tomorrow’s presentation will reveal.

It won’t be too disappointing, no matter what happens. Generally speaking, any addition is a good addition. The only bad announcements would be a delay or something to do with microtransactions.

Much of the Smash Direct will probably go over different game modes, since we haven’t heard a single thing about those yet. Classic Mode, Break the Targets, Event Matches, that sort of thing. A stage maker would be big, but there are so many stages already that I don’t care much. A story mode would be HUGE, but pretty unlikely. Story or no, I’d love a platform game like Melee’s Adventure Mode, Brawl’s Subspace Emissary, or Smash 4′s Smash Run. Speaking as a monster who lives in a hole, single-player content is very important to me.

But a new character is always the big draw. One character will be appearing for sure, big animated trailer and all. One Echo Character is also fairly likely (and if we’re especially unfortunate, the one new character will BE an Echo). More than one new character seems pretty unlikely, so don’t count on it. I’m guessing there will be six new characters for a final total of 70 on the select screen, and even that might be too generous. Point being, Grandmaster Sakurai is going to draw these reveals out as long as possible.

So who will it be?

All my most wanted characters are completely ridiculous impossible choices, which I’ve accepted. My best hope is for somebody interesting. It’s a fair hope, since there are so many interesting options. Of course, there are also some uninteresting options, so I’d better get ready for one of them. Let’s go over some possibilities.

Man with spring instead of arm: SPRING MAN

Spring Man is the safest guess and also one of the least exciting. His punch extend, and that’s it, somehow managing to have a moveset even less interesting than an anime swordsman.

Really, I better get used to this possibility, because it’ll be him tomorrow for sure. Main character of a big new Nintendo IP for Switch, a character from a series about fighting. Plus, for the first new character reveal, they probably won’t go with a bombshell third-party. It’ll be someone safe and basic, and Spring Man is truly the safest and most basic.

I’m sure Soccer Guy will give him an interesting moveset. Maybe incorporating some stuff from ARMS. Like... those bombs that appear mid-game, or something. He can do it.

Part of the issue is that every other ARMS character is more interesting than the mascot. Slime creature Helix, metal gladiator Mechanica, karate noodle Min Min, and Master Mummy, who is automatically interesting by being a mummy. Even Ribbon Girl is a touch more interesting than Springo.

Anyway, Spring Man comes first here because I’m sure he’ll be the reveal. This is my Official Prediction. Of course, there are other lukewarm possibilities, like:

Gremlin who poke with stick: BANDANNA WADDLE DEE

This is a basic Kirby enemy who is incredibly popular for some reason.

Really, I shouldn’t be too hard on this guy. I just haven’t played the games in which he’s important, except maybe Kirby 64, and no one is sure if that was really him. It’s one of the problems of being generic, people have trouble recognizing you.

Plus, he has decent moveset potential thanks to his spear and other Waddle Dee tools, like the parasol. It’ll be a bit weird to me, getting such a basic dude in with so few character slots available, but if it does end up happening, I guess it won’t be so bad.

Mulched tree plumber hero: PAPER MARIO

Paper Mario has a lot of possibility, some good, some bad. He could easily be an Echo, but he has enough options to be a full character, too.

The most heartbreaking option would be a full character reveal based heavily on Sticker Star. That’s probably the worst possible reveal (does that guarantee it will happen?). Even if he’s not fully stickerized, there’s no way his Final Smash won’t be one of those Objects. Probably the fan.

Any content from Paper Mario one or two would be fantastic, but I almost don’t want to consider that because it definitely won’t happen. I guess I could stand the occasional sticker if he’s otherwise based on Thousand-Year-Door. I GUESS.

Girl next door, haunted mansion, etc.: ASHLEY

Ashley is okay. I’m generally pro-witch; there’s a lot of moveset potential there. Her personality (”I literally do not care about anything”) is alright, too. This would be coming off of the release of Warioware Gold, so the timing’s right.

The other fat reptile: KING K. ROOL

Now this is interesting. K. Rool has a lot going for him. He’s got a wacky fighting style including guns, thrown weapons, and boxing, and he’s a villain, which is always fun. Plus, I heard he’s inexplicably popular in Japan.

This could be a pretty hype guy to announce, but he hasn’t been seen in a while. That, and it might be a little weird to reveal another villain who’s similar to the Riddler.

Human-shaped energy squid: DARK SAMUS

This is a likely Echo Fighter. She’s not really that interesting- just a villain who eats a lot of blueberry jam- but actually being Metroid Prime is worth a point or two.

Secretary of cross animals: ISABELLE

Another possible Echo, although if they wanted to they could give her a unique moveset based on office work and building public works atop enemies’ heads. I’d like that.

Various Pokemon Representing the Most Recent Generation

Decidueye would be most likely. “Archery bird” has a lot of good moveset potential. Incineroar could be a cool grappler, but seems a bit basic. Primarina might be the most interesting due to not having legs, so they’d have to give it a really weird moveset. There’s also been talk of Lycanrock (boring), Necrozma (maybe TOO bizarre), and Mimikyu (I’ll take it).

It’s hard to get too excited about another Pokemon, though. Since they represent whole species, Pokemon characters don’t really have much personality of their own. Plus, it would feel like using a treasured Smash slot on a character who has to get in to meet corporate requirements, which is crappy.

Of course, a character like that is most likely to be revealed at the first Smash Direct. Ah well.

8.8.8

A few people have noticed that the date for this Direct has a lot of eights. Could be nothing, but it could also NOT be nothing. And, if it doesn’t mean nothing, here are three things it mightn’t not mean:

Echo Fighter Octoling. Octolings aren’t big-name, highly-requested characters, but they’re cool enough. They might not fit with the game’s release schedule, though; I hear the whole roster is decided years in advance, and Splatoon’s Octo Expansion was fairly recent.

Octopath Traveler content. That’s a big new Switch exclusive that sold really well. (I’ve been playing it in parts- it’s okay.) I guess it’s possible, but it’s third party. Plus, the game is about eight different main characters, so Sakurai might not be able to pick one, or to mash all eight together in one moveset. Still, a character would be cool if it was a wacky one like Merchant, and not a basic one like Soldier.

Heihachi, from Tekken. This would be because “hachi” is Japanese for “eight.” It’s a stretch, but you never know. Namco’s been on board for a while, after all. They made Smash 4, and might have helped make Smash Ultimate...? I should know this. Anyway, despite being a simple martial artist, I would be fine with Heihachi. I liked his moveset in Playstation All-Stars, combining simple attacks with stances, combination moves, and a few miscellaneous thrown objects. Also, I laff any time Smash Bros gets a big-name character who was, or was supposed to be in All-Stars.

DANTE

Some people have been saying Dante will get in. I don’t know why.

Sure, I guess.

in summary:

I expect a lot of talk about single-player content, one Echo reveal, and one new character. Probably Spring Man.

With that, my expectations are correctly tempered. Now, even if the announcements tomorrow are just okay, I’ll be able to play the prediction game.

Good luck to everyone! I hope that, even if somebody I don’t care for gets in, it makes somebody else’s day.

[clickbliss]

Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo Review

by Amr (@siegarettes)

Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo 

Developer: City Connection, Psikyo

Publisher: NIS America

Switch, PS4

Compiling six shooters from developer Psikyo, Shooting Stars Bravo follows an evolution in their philosophy of creating shooters. Shooting Stars Bravo is split between two series: the mythical Japanese themed Sengoku Aces, and the colorful fantasy of the Gunbird series. Each series follows a similar trajectory, with a no-frills first entry, peaking at the second, then going to wildly different places with the third. They each get to that point in unique ways, with wildly varying results. 

The Sengoku Aces series makes up the first three games in the collection, confusingly named Samurai Aces, Tengai and Sengoku Cannon, due to localization quirks. They don’t immediately seem connected thanks to name and gameplay changes, but each keeps a similar theme and returning characters. 

Samurai Aces is the least interesting of the package, simply taking the format of Psikyo’s Strikers 1945 military shooter series and swapping it into a mythical Japanese series. Similar to Strikers, the opening stages have a randomized order each time you play. Characters even pilot fighter jets, which provides a surreal contrast to the setting. There’s not much else to say here. It’s a no-frills vertical shooter with a primary shot, charged shot, limited use screen clearing bombs and multiple characters to vary up your approach. It comes off as functional more than anything, and while it’s competent enough to be enjoyable, with a few excellent between stage quotes from the characters, it’s dragged down by an overall average formula. 

Thankfully, Tengai, its sequel, varies it up and provides a much more interesting approach to the Sengoku Aces setting. The most immediate change is the switch from a vertical to horizontal format, with a greater emphasis on the setting and characters. Tengai leans heavily on Shinto and Buddhist imagery, even incorporating digitized photography of temples into its detailed background art. Characters are no longer represented by ill-fitting jet planes, but fly through the air themselves and fire magical spells. The charge shot has a little more utility here as well, where in Samurai Aces it often felt as if using could get you in trouble. Its an excellent shooter, fast paced and well balanced, while still keeping the straightforward playability Psikyo games are known for. The only real slight against it is that the character art, while better rendered, exudes a powerful horny energy, no doubt assisted by Psikyo hiring a prominent hentai doujin artist this time around. 

After the highs of Tengai, Sengoku Cannon comes as a bizarre and disappointing followup. It retains the horizontal format (and horny character designs) of Tengai, but tries to evolve it by adding a further story emphasis and multiple attack options. Attacks are split between normal shots, strong shots, bombs and the titular cannon attack. Cannon attacks fire off a huge burst which increases in score multiplier as you hit enemies, while your other attacks fall more in line with the style of modern shooters, with wide shots used to control the screen, and strong shots concentrating power for stronger foes. With bombs of course, providing a unique screen clearing attack. 

It never finds a good balance for all these options, coming off as kind of haphazard in action. That continues elsewhere, with enemy patterns and movement speed feeling ever so slightly off. Sengoku Cannon doesn’t even have the benefit of flashy pixel art like its prequels, instead utilizing a mix of sprites with low resolution 3D backgrounds, which look even worse here than they did originally on the PSP, thanks to the higher resolution bringing out their lack of detail. 

The Gunbird games offer up a more consistent level of quality. Gunbird 1 and 2 generally stay closer to the usual Psikyo vertical shooter style, but they give it a unique dungeon punk flair and fantastic character art that brings to mind Tatsunoko productions like Yatterman or Time Bokan. You fight through castles adorned with turrets, shoot down blimps and face off against massive mechanical knights. Each are presented with lush, detailed pixel art and plenty of cute animations to show off. Gunbird 2 in particular ups the ante on the art, with even more detail, including tiny humans that populate each area and scramble as you destroy the area. The only real downgrade is the character art, which is still great for the main cast, but less striking for the main villains you chase down throughout the story. 

The return to the usual vertical shooter approach, with a combination of bombs, shots and charged shots isn’t initially as exciting as the latter approaches in the Sengoku Aces series, but it’s better balanced overall and as I played on I began to appreciate how each character changed my approach and used their unique quirks. Gunbird 2 is the most successful here, thanks in part to adding a charge meter that allows you to decide how long to grow your charge shot before cashing in, and a “NICE BOMB!” mechanic that rewards you for hitting with points for hitting a bomb close to as many bullets as you can.  It’s got that unique balance that makes it fun to return to both for casual sessions and more serious score attack runs. 

Gunbarich, the final game in the collection, is the most left-field of all of them. It’s not a shooter, but a breakout pinball hybrid instead, starring Marion, Gunbird’s main character. Its color and tone feel more in line with something like Tatio’s Bubble Bobble or Parasol Stars, with bright colors, cheerful music and silly boss designs. It retains the vertical playspace, but instead of shooting you control Marion as she rallies a pinball towards the top of the screen, attempting to smash every block. By timing your hits you can flick the pinball back at higher speed and cause more damage, as well as protect yourself from enemy shots that cause you to become paralyzed. It’s a unique hybrid that provides a novel approach to a genre that can easily become stale, and it’s worth playing just to see how it iterates on the style. 

As a collection of games, Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo is excellent. The Gunbird entries are undoubtedly the stronger games, though the first two Sengoku Aces games play a good supporting role. The only outright bad game in this collection is Sengoku Cannon, which is more due to its unevenness than any spectacular failure. What holds Shooting Stars Bravo from being out and out excellent is how barebones the package itself feels. The menu is simply a collection of icons used to boot up each game, which are unchanged from their digital download versions. There’s no extra features, and controls and display settings need to be changed individually from within each game. It’s generally fine, if not ideal, especially if you’re playing some of the games in vertical mode, then have to navigate the menu on its side, since there’s no option for vertical menus, like in the SNK Anniversary or Namco Museum compilations. 

By far the worst slight against this collection is the choice to use a high resolution font to replace all the text in certain games. It doesn’t fit at all with the original aesthetics of each game, stands out against the lower resolution pixel art and looks garish and bland. There’s no option at all to disable it, which is bewildering. Other than that, the option to view Sengoku Cannon’s 3D at its original resolution, universal control options, and nicer menus would have made it feel like more of a premium package than a simple bundle. 

As it is Psikyo Shooting Stars Bravo collects several excellent shooters that cater to both casual and serious play, each with their own interesting, if not always successful, ideas on how to iterate on Psikyo’s shooter philosophy.