Lurker > Kamekguy

Min Min - ARMS

ARMS is an interesting little experiment of a game. Taking the basic elements of boxing in reading your opponents movements, limiting and predicting their options, and going in for a flurry of punches, then translating it into an arena fighter and not making the ability to move around freely a detriment to the fighting. Its honestly a more accurate interpretation of boxing than the Punch-Out series, if one I personally find less enjoyable, and is one of those really neat Nintendo has a unique and novel idea that theyll never do something with ever again games that the Big N tends to throw out once or twice a generation. I did not play enough ARMS to tell you if Min Min is better than the goofy clown girl or the mad scientist lady I gravitated toward, but I can tell you that it was at least a really nicely realized time that managed to separate itself from other fighters by changing the way movement affects a fight. Its a unique little experiment that ends up being pretty damn fun, if not a great deal more than that.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - The fact that Min Min works at all in Smash Bros is surprising. ARMS is so antithetical to most fighting games, removing the simple idea of approaching from the equation a vast majority of the time and instead making yo block this mix-up an almost permanent focus. Smash Bros is an environment where that should NOT be transitive, movement is the major draw of Smash compared to other fighters, and its generally too simple to throw out as many quick commands as ARMS would allow for. But the simple two-arm layout mixing up specials and normals really does create a very elegant solution, a lot of great flow to Min Mins arms. There is no question that the design challenge of implementing Min Min was handled very well. Now, whether that was a good idea in the first place is less clear-cut, and I tend to lean on the no side for that. Min Min is pretty notoriously boring to watch, fight against, and even occasionally fight as, as a lot of her best options are more a rhythmic auto-pilot than anything. While the design decision to give her two identical arms allows her to function, it also makes Min Min an incredibly linear character, as the same options will cover a VAST majority of situations. I wouldve liked her arms to be a lot more situational, hitting more specific angles, be more based on conditioning and reads rather than haha chakram at ledge. Would it have made her a worse character competitively and less friendly to newcomers? Most definitely, but ARMS was never a game that had a great and immediate casual appeal, it was getting hooked onto what was under the hood that made it special. I really do respect the technical work and considerations put forth to make Min Min actually function in Smash. Things like her up smash being a reflector to further let her play her own game, a focus on kicks in short range, and just not being Spring Man are all greatly appreciated and smart decisions. I just find, of all the characters who can unga bunga, she is by FAR the least engaging, and one of the most your character is invalid now because of my basic gameplan characters on the whole roster. D+

Unown - Pokemon 3: The Movie

I shouldnt have to say that Unown lacks any sort of hook on its own as a playable character. A collectable within a collectable, Unown is a functionally worthless Pokemon that only is particularly interesting as a group. Pokemon is a series focused on 1v1 encounters, so you will never actually see them as a group, instead you just get Hidden Power in a single flavor and watch at Unown proceeds to do absolutely nothing. Now, there are a lot of interesting things that CAN be done with Unown - Wishiwashi proves that group Pokemon are more than workable in an ability, Zygarde shows it with different distinct forms, and Magneton existed before Unown so I really have no idea why there isnt an Unown Swarm form that you get for completing the Unown Dex. Even if it just had four different versions of Hidden Power, that would at least be SOMETHING on a body thats potentially far beefier than the pathetic excuse Unown naturally has. And I say all this because the Unown Swarm is one of the most fascinating characters Pokemon has. Their Melee appearance does remove Beedrills gimmick, but something about the way Unown moves, the rapid fluxuating infinity of the various alphabetical pieces, is so great to look at. Plus unlike later Pokeball replacements, Beedrill to Unown is trading an anime reference for another anime reference, and it decides to trade it for one of the animes best. Millions of tiny entities from another dimension trying to understand the will of others, creating sentience beyond themselves, and simply trying to write stories and fulfill fantasies? AND giving James one of the best lines in the entire series (I havent seen this many strange letters since the last time I filed a personal ad is golden)? A lot of the more mysterious Pokemon get fully explored, but Unown remains incredibly etherial. Theyre their own, weird creation thats sort of just been forgotten about, never getting any sort of payoff or further lore. Unown is just there. And its cool and has a ton of potential. But everything they do with it is lame.

Lakitu - Paper Mario

To my knowledge, outside of Odyssey, Lakilester is the only playable Lakitu that retains its cloud? I can never get into generic Lakitu being playable in the Mario Kart series, he feels weirdly naked and unfinished just seeing him in a car. And he doesnt even throw Spiny Eggs, like, come on, at LEAST keep the theming consistent! Lakilister is actually a pretty fabulous party member in Paper Mario, mostly in how he interacts with the area boss, Huff N Puff. Most partners just completely shut down the area boss theyre fighting - Watt wrecks General Guy, Sushie makes Lava Piranha trivial, Bow makes Tubbas Heart well, actually beatable for most casual builds, that ones okay. But Lakilester has to use his low-damage AoE Spiny Storm to deal 1 damage to all of Huff N Puffs adds, clearing them without dealing more damage to the big guy and spawning more by smacking him too hard. Its not a self-explanatory mechanic at all, but gives Lakilester a unique niche as a screen clearer on the cheap for certain encounters. Considering how redundant a lot of Paper Marios partners can be, being one of the few who can stand out is really nice. He doesnt approach Bombette or Bow, of course, but hes solid and the slight movement speed increase he provides on the field is INCREDIBLY welcome.

Shovel Knight - Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope

Im actually very impressed by Shovel Knights implementation in Rivals of Aether. Being able to mix in the treasure hunting aspect of the game and tie it into the shop system is incredibly elegant. Im not super familiar with RoA as a whole, though, outside of the generally silly modding scene, so Shovel Knight classic it is! Shovel Knight does a fantastic job of tricking you into thinking NES games controlled a lot less rigidly than they actually did. Going back to DuckTales after playing Shovel Knight feels weird, Scrooge is simultaneously a lot stiffer when landing and a lot looser when flailing about in the air. But SK? He feels exactly like what you THINK those classics played like, just the right level of refinement and freedom while still requiring a bunch of precision. Im not nearly as high on Shovel Knight as most people - though I think Specter Knight has a fantastic base and I ADORE King of Cards, that ones everything I want - but the good game is good. Shovel Knight is able to combine ideas and feel from Mega Man, Castlevania, DuckTales, and other examples that arent as pronounced but are definitely tossed in there, and makes them into a free-flowing adventure that feels like a natural follow-up to the era rather than an homage trying to go REMEMBER THIS? like a ton of retro throwback titles. Plus I respect the huge amount of value in the Treasure Trove, like, damn thats some good value.

Richter Belmont - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

You could really go either way with Richters two major appearances. Symphony breaks what a Belmont can be and makes Richter one of the most unbelievably fun and powerful characters to trounce Draculas Castle with. The sheer velocity of his kicks, dashing around with no fear of anything in your path, a litany of screen nukes to melt bosses or anyone else with, Richter is an absolutely brilliant reward and secret for mastering Draculas Castle. This IS the most powerful Belmont, and you absolutely feel it. However damn is Rondo a great game. As simple of a maneuver as the backflip is for Richter, having a twitch reflex move to avoid bosses with, combined with the item crash to eat through guaranteed hits, lets the more complex array of boss movements in Rondo all have distinct counters. It makes for the Classicvania that I think has the most honest back-and-forth, a combination of perfectly learning patterns to counter them and reacting to boss tells and actions to get your way out of tricky situations, making for the most fulfilling classic Castlevania game of its type! I mean, yeah, you CAN just blow through the game with Maria and tell Dracula hes really mean by throwing birds in his face, but while Richter is significantly weaker than Maria, thats hardly because of any weakness of his own! Richter is a fabulous realization of Simons template taken to its fullest, then broken over his knee in future appearances.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - For all the nice things I have to say about Simon, they only somewhat extend to Richter. Having a crunchier, classicvania-style moveset obviously works for Simon, putting all the heft he can into lobbing those axes or doing some rapid chain strikes sells the barbarian warrior very nicely. That doesnt work quite as well for Richters more traditional anime protagonist trappings. While a lot of Richters moves are directly lifted from his games, and even originated by him, a lot of them lose their impact when they are SUCH downgrades from the actual techniques he shows in-game. This isnt something like repurposing an RPG attack to work in a fighter - if youve got a 1:1 reference to another action platformer, and that reference feels significantly worse, its gonna be a disappointment. While Simon feels enriched by his appearance in Smash, Richter feels gimped. And I still say this thinking that the Belmonts are really good overall, a fairly strong realization of the characters in a platform fighter. But Richter really is just here to give lip service to Simon, would have loved to see his more agile moves given greater focus. And put in the backflip B-

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

How do you feel about the idea that Pianta should have been the final unlockable character in Mario Party 9 instead of Magikoopa? That's what I thought when I played that game.

I mean, I'm happy for Magikoopa/Kamek getting more rep in general, but I do love Pianta. Ever since they decided they would just become the mafia in TTYD, it's been a great Mario species. And then Superstar Baseball solidified that love forever.

Marth - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Elegance personified. Thats easily what I would call Marths design in Smash Bros. Fire Emblem is a very tricky series to implement into Smash Bros, very simplistic and based around getting in single, solid hits on enemies as you pray that RNG is in your favor and let you get out as unscathed as possible. Marths tipper does a brilliant job of placing the ducking in and out of enemy range nature of Fire Emblem into Smash Bros so naturally it almost seems unremarkable; Marth can fight at any range, of course, but there IS a way to fight his foes optimally and you WILL be rewarded for figuring it out. Everything else about Marth is made to reflect this incredibly clean fighting style, full of very sharp, sudden animations that carefully cover space and limit foes moves. And they even throw in little bits of Fire Emblem flair, his dancing blade repping the colors of the weapon triangle in his moveset and counter being designed as a way to implement the turn-based nature of FE ( not very well IMO, but its there!). Marth is not himself in Smash Bros, he IS Fire Emblem, built around its mechanics and feel and made to work in a fantastic shell for a platform fighter. I know that hes a very basic character, but hes incredibly clean and feels good, and you need a more straightforward design for some of these characters. Marth is a fantastic choice to be that, and of all the characters Ive seen hovering around Melees upper echelons for decades now, hes usually the one I like to see in motion the most. Admittedly thats partially because Fox is so common, Fox is also great but rooting against the favorite is so easy to do, but still, props to the guy for selling his entire series on feeling good to play alone! My only request is like could you give him the Fire Emblem? Maybe? I know thatd be based on FE3/FE12, but I think the Fire Emblem might be important for a character who embodies Fire Emblem! And its a cool looking shield, too! A

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light - Rapier. You might as well boil down Marths entire personality and existence to that one weapon. The more of a novelty effective damage against cavalry and armor is, the more Marth shines. The instant you start spreading things out, introducing other interesting units, Marth starts losing his luster. He is a very function character, existing to serve the purpose of being a guy who recruits a lot of people to his army and getting to wield the good weapons that make him good. And in FE1, that works out for him, Falchion making the whole final chapter a joke and power trip as a reward for Marth enduring his hardships. The guy has zero personality other than ohhhh my friends, my friends tell me I can do this pleeease I love you allll, feels like the Hamlet of power of friendship protagonists his self-confidence is so selectively low. And dont get me started on FE11 Marth, oh noooo you had to solve a trolley problem at the start of the game and the depression made you not even able to beat Medeus on your own. Marths an NES character, and not even a particularly impressive one, whos never been able to develop past the basic trappings he was established with. Hes good in those basic trappings, and is as interesting as stale white bread the further he goes from that.

Sheik - Super Smash Bros 4

Sheik really is just okay so what if we had a ninja in Smash And to her credit, shes a very good ninja character! Everything in Sheiks kit flows very nicely, theres a great rhythm to all of her attacks, and as the years have gone on, that toolkit has been better refined to remove the chaff and really get at the heart of what makes Sheik great, This comes to a head with Bouncing Fish, a fantastic move that feels great to use, animates incredibly well, and serves as both a clever extension of Sheiks natural movement options and as an easy finisher that even casual players can enjoy. Sheik just feels like she WORKS in Smash Bros, and was designed explicitly for game feel first and foremost (which is very likely considering her being tied to Zelda initially). I dont agree with spoiling a game just three years after its release as a gameplay mechanic, but eh, its not like Smash wouldnt go on to be even more egregious with spoilers. I do think Ultimate did a bit too much to nerf Sheiks overall potential, Sheiks always been a character whos had to rack up a ton of small hits, but the amount of work she has to do in Ultimate is a bit ridiculous and really reduces her casual appeal. But its a cool ninja and I think she does the job a bit more solidly than Greninja! However this is a character that has basically nothing to do with the Zelda series. Sure, we eventually got a deku nut in there in a weird grenade form (and I guess a bit in the grounded Vanish ainmation?), but like wheres the harp? Hell, I didnt even know Sheik existed until Melee, and the VERY FIRST THING I saw of the character was a harp. Why is that nowhere in a taunt or, better yet, actually in the moveset? Its THE thing about Sheik, its like making a moveset for Tom Nook without money, or Steve without a pickaxe; like yeah you can do it, but the character is associated with and defined by one thing. That thing should probably be there! B

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Hyrule Warriors Legends - Has harp. Am happy. I am really running out of much things to say on these Warriors spin-off characters; they do the Warriors thing good and I didnt play very much because Warriors is not my thing. Really, it does everything flavor-wise that I would want Sheik to do in Smash - maybe create buffs for herself or set traps to follow up rather than just pure elemental fury if you want to differentiate her from Zeldas spellset, or just get Zelda better spells, maybe? I dunno, its good, I feel the flavor of Zelda in general has to be re-examined in Smash, so much that can be done there.

leaving it there for now, perhaps more later. these 'actual roster member' ones always take so much longer!

Ryu - idk I play balrog and pretend ill pick up juri every game but never do

I dont feel qualified to say which of Ryus appearances is the best one (not V), hes not a character I follow from game to game to know the nuances of. Instead, I would like to praise what Ryu represents in general - consistency. Ryu is an absolute workhorse insofar as Street Fighter goes, someone who absolutely NEEDS to be at least playable in every single appearance as he represents the purest, most straightforward tempo that your chosen Street Fighter game is made to represent. Ryu is like picking rock in rock paper scissors; youre not choosing to play with the meta aspects of the game at all, youre choosing the default, but its rock. Rock feels good and it wins good. I know that he usually ends up inferior to Ken in most numbered entries, if not directly competitively than certainly casually by the time the ken flowchart came into effect, but theres a simple, disciplined elegance to the character of Ryu that makes him feel really good. All of his tools are straightforward, fulfilling their individual purposes and not much more, but all of them are good. He really is the character that sticks the closest to his Street Fighter 2 basis; Ryu will, of course, develop combos as games necessitate, but how he goes about them and what tools he uses to get them should always remain very easy to grasp, akin to those powerful single counter-hits in SF2. Hes never a character Ill decide to main, and there are definitely shoto variants I prefer over him (Demitri from Darkstalkers especially), but Im always happy to pick him up and go a few rounds. I guess I do like the purity of SF2 if you forced me to pick, but Hell if I could tell ya which version off the top of my head.

Best Smash Appearance: Smash 4 - Ryu is, sadly, the fighting game character who I think suffers the most in their transition to Smash Bros. When he was the sole novelty of the more traditional fighting game mechanics identity in Smash 4 and was overtuned to Hell, this was more forgivable, but SO much care was put into making him game-faithful to Street Fighter II that he ends up feeling really off doing just basic platforming. This isnt quite a case like Snake, where his weakness in platforming is the point so he has to rely on his tools and wits, or Kazuya, who is also weak in this regard but is brutally overpowered in other areas to make up for it, Ryu is just SF2 Ryu for the sake of being SF2 Ryu, and I dont think moving around with him has ever felt particularly good in any sense. He does what moves youd expect of him, has a good out of shield game as he should with the shoryu, and has more traditional combos, but the way he actually interacts with the systems of Smash Bros feels clumsy. The character exists to serve their identity and gimmick first and the actual flow of Smash Bros second (an issue with a lot of Smash 4s designs, admittedly), and while I think its been made to work okay in Ryus case, I think okay is really his cap. Terry has shown how to really make a fighting game character blend with the feel of Smash Bros insanely well, and in his wake, Ryu proves that its not that fighting game characters are inherently clunky in Smash. Its that hes failing to adapt to it. A lot of great work here, and there is some real juice behind his moves, but I feel like you need to focus on what Ryu actually DOES as a platform fighting game character now that were past the novelty of him being in the game. C-

Bayonetta - Bayonetta 2

Weird day to be writing this up with the Bayo 3 news on Hellena Taylors statement, but here we are! The Bayo games are probably my least favorite of the trio of Revengeance/Bayo/DMC. It all comes down to their defensive play; I love the feel of the parry directly correlating to the rhythm of the battle, and Dantes just dont be in the way gives a real feel of mastery where youre outthinking your opponent to do as stylish a combo as possible, or are actually using Royal Guard. Bayos dodge as a middleground between the two approaches feels less satisfying to me, a more generous window than parrying giving the same reward as Dantes flippy dippies. I do think that Bayo 2 generally being easier lets you lean into this more, really makes it a solid spectacle (and the shooter/auto scrolling segments were less annoying), but yeah, just not my favorite character action series. With that said, none of that particularly affects Bayonettas character, which is brilliant from an action standpoint. A purely dominant heroine inviting an obvious power fantasy with demonic climaxes to her combos that look absolutely fabulous and feel great to pull off - while I dont appreciate the flow of bayonetta as much as I could, the STYLE is absolutely infectious. Character action games live and die on the charisma of their main character, and Bayonetta has that in spades.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - I mean, when you singlehandedly kill the singles scene from your first game and arent gimped to absolute death like Meta Knight was, the alternative kind of has to be your best showing, right? A lot of good work went into making Bayonettas combos carry just as in her games, and I have absolutely no issue with how they function on paper. Air juggling you like youre in Marvel is how Bayonettas general flow SHOULD go. The issue that I have with Bayonetta is.. well, look at Dante from UMVC3. He gets ALL of his moves from EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME, some of which are super specific, but a lot of which create for incredibly visually distinct combos. Bayonettas combos FEEL right, but the lack the pizzaz and flexibility that the witchs massive arsenal would lend to her. There are a lot of hyper specific moves that Bayo should be able to pull off in a free-form combo, but doesnt and simply settles for a rather straightforward ladder right out of the Mario textbook. Shes a character who should have paths and variants that suit her positioning and match-up experience, like Marths Dancing Blade but with more flexibility and specific set-ups, but sticks to following a single, predictable route every time. If Bayos combos are lookin like Luigis but slightly elevated, something has gone wrong. Bayo also, sadly, lacks any sort of climax to her moves, most strings simply aiming to drag the opponent up high and bop them off into the skies. And if theres a character who should be climaxing, its Bayonetta! The Wicked Weaves SHOULD alleviate this, but all of them but the boot are pretty underwhelming in their actual power to smack things away and arent typically seen in her actual combo game, often being regarded as some of the least essential parts of her kit. I feel like the baseline animations and core of Bayonetta are generally pretty solid here, but shes lacking a certain level of pizzaz to the end that makes her appealing beyond the desire to do big combo and being very pretty. And shortening her taunt in Ultimate was an absolute crime. D+

Sorry this is an incredibly busy week for me. Hopefully by the end of it I'll be able to do more, just a lotta things stacking up suddenly.

Ron Swanson (Parks and Recreation)
Hades (Disneys Hercules)
The Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Walter White (Breaking Bad)

Spock as a painting in Super Mario 64 labeled "Dire, Dire Spocks"

Man that Samurai Jack fourpack is basically as me-centric as one could get. Gonna suck for me no matter who gets out of it, all fantastic stuff.

Pianta - Mario Superstar Baseball

Pianta is perhaps the most interesting development in Mario Superstar Baseball history. At a casual level, and at the very beginning of the meta, he was undoubtedly the worst character in the game. A power-based character who only had the same batting stat as Mario, low trajectory meaning he very rarely hits home runs as his balls are more apt to line drive, no pitching potential, low speed, AND his bat has a weird sweet spot that is later in his swing than most characters, meaning that batting with him has to be a learned skill compared to the rest of the cast. Pianta was a meme, the idea that some day, he will rise up from the depths of mediocrity and become meta relevant laughed at and lobbied about, tossed only on teams looking to through or BM.

He then rose up from the depths of mediocrity and became meta relevant.

Pianta is a pull hitter, meaning that he naturally gains more power hitting to the opposite field of his handedness. Pianta is a right-handed batter naturally, but you can swap the handedness of any Mario Superstar Baseball character before the game. Leftie Pianta pulls toward right field, which just so happens to be marginally more shallow than left field, and that small change is JUST enough that Red Pianta, specifically, can clear home runs. Not only that, but his low trajectory means that hes hitting pop flies a lot less often than contemporaries like Wario and Bowser Jr, making him more reliable to at least get on base, if not slamming the ball home. Five variants of Pianta (Blue Left/Right, Yellow Left/Right, Red Right) were utter jokes, but Left/Red Pianta? He was the Pink Menace, And players quickly discovered that he didnt just play a mean second base, he potentially played the best 2nd Base in the whole game. Piantas a big body, like DK, and also has the Laser Beam ability, denying runs by tossing the ball home with multiplicative force. However, Pianta ALSO has the second best throwing arm in the game, behind Petey Piranha, meaning that he is THE fastest denial tool in the game. Other 2nd Basemen tried to outdo him - Daisy, Wario, even Birdo. And while Birdo did offer more consistent outs, Pianta is an absolute general of the basepaths, a purely defensive wall, and shockingly from his worthless origins, a paragon of consistency. It says a lot that even though he has anti-chemistry with Petey, undoubtedly the best catcher in the game, making him occasionally throw errors way off the mark to the plant, Pianta is STILL the primo 2nd base choice in the meta. This would be an incredible cinderella story BUT THEN Pianta goes and adds onto it! The Falcon Pop was discovered, a near guaranteed singles star hit if your character had both the Pop Fly star ability and could properly hit the ball in a jammed/poor contact state, AND was right handed.

The Pink Menace is the absolute best Falcon Popper in the entire game, his sour spot massive enough that he will almost never hit the ball too far, and his natural power causing the ball to cruise into the gap without fail. There is now a debate on what HANDEDNESS Pianta should be in order to achieve optimal play, something that NO other character in the cast could even pretend to have to the same degree. Pianta has gone from the most useless character in the entirety of Mario Superstar Baseball into its most multi-faceted, able to perform some roles better than nearly anyone else, squeak by as the weakest character that you can reliably expect a home run from, and is a character who now sees almost every single game, guaranteed. Man has a NARRATIVE. Freakin incredible.

Will get to Ryu and Bayo later, could only manage these ones on breaks today.

Pyukumuku - Pokemon Sun/Moon

I dont really want to talk about in-game Pyukumuku. Its a defensive Pokemon, and as fun as Shuckle and Wobbuffet can be as gimmicks (and by fun I mean destroying someones fun, which is the fun in Wobbuffets case), youre almost never gonna play a pure defense Pokemon in-game. There are exceptions for excellent defenders who can double as attackers or have nasty gimmicks, like Cloyster and Skarmory, but Pyukumuku just spreads statuses, dies, and tries to take whatever eventually killed it with it. I respect the idea of an annoyance that you have to choose what to sacrifice to get rid of, but that kind of strategy is always only gonna work in a competitive environment since just hit things is typically the better strategy for most single-player Pokemon ventures, even challenge runs where that changes to okay status, THEN hit things. Instead, lets talk about how Pyukumuku is an amazing Pokeball Pokemon. Its not even that strong, but its SO much fun to use. Just a giant cartoon hand that passively wallops any bad guy it happens to zoom near made out of innards, one that you can hold around and toss at opponents? That is so much fun, and far less disruptive than something like the Cucco. Pyukumukus just a fun little guy, ADORE when it waves goodbye to you to let you know its done, always a delight to see it even if it wont win you the game, because its just that great of a little buddy. Hope it stays forevermore.

Mew - Pokemon Red/Blue

I think there is exactly one Pokemon that embodies the spirit of Pokemon better than Mew, and that Pokemon is Magikarp. Magikarp is everything that Pokemon is: believing in yourself, finding potential in every creature, bonding with your friends to unlock their potential, using your team to the fullest to compensate for a weaker party member until they become strong, memes, and the ultimate payoff of your own, special monster whos glad to wreck up the place. Mew isnt that, Mews barely in the game, but nothing sparked the imagination more that the possibility of obtaining Mew. That damn truck in Vermillion Harbor should be absolutely nothing, but it was immortalized because hey, its unique, Mew HAS to be involved, right? And if not, okay maybe its just that were missing a step to actually move the truck, what else can we do? Having gotta catch em all as your slogan and then having a mysterious, uncatchable, etherial force that you could only get by either fully immersing yourself in Pokemania and making a pilgrimage to the local holy Toys R Us or breaking down the very world you live in and pulling the progenitor out of realitys bleeding wound made it absolutely legendary. No force captured the imagination quite like Mew - how powerful it could be, how many other Pokegods were lurking in hidden gardens, how many Pokemon really were there in this world? It barely even mattered how Mew actually played (which was good - its a fast psychic type of course its good) compared to what it was. Mews mystique is something that only stuff like W.D. Gaster can ever truly replicate in the modern age, and it really was a special time. Love it holding up that role in Smash Bros, too - it does nothing, but the fact that it exists is cooler than that.

Sukapon - Joy Mech Fight

https://youtu.be/RxryBRYuGno

You fool. I own the second-largest Joy Mech Fight video in the Western world (coming for you, 14 year old DeceasedCrab Lets Play). Youve not just suggested a mere assist trophy, but one of the few characters that I can safely say I am factually one of the most qualified people in the world to talk about.

Bragging aside, Sukapons great. I love that they preserve his sound effects, his goofy facial animations, and make him hit like a truck. The JMF robots are supposed to be huge death machines clanking against each other with enough force to reasonably take over the world with, so giving Sukapon that power as he goofily cartwheels around is great. Joy Mech Fight is the perfect little beginner fighting game - no walls, no differentiation between highs and lows, no real combos. Just an infinite stretch of neutral and reads to make getting blown up or making a huge comeback equally possible. Sukapon is perfectly equipped to be the face of this - essentially serving the Mega Man roll of being a regular silly robot converted into a combot to fight his brothers and recruit them to his side. And hes great at playing with the games mechanics, having a projectile thats also a teleport AND a burst movement charge move in the Sukapon roll. He can even active it in the air or stop it mid-charge specifically to read jumps! Sukapon remains goofy while still being a very defensive, keepaway style opportunist, but one who can go flying across the screen and play with rushdown options at a moments notice. Hes just a great, silly little guy who Id really, really love to see in Smash. Hes not Nintendos first fighting game character, but hes their first GOOD fighting game character. JMF is still really, really fun. Highly recommend.

Skull Kid - Hyrule Warriors Legends

Its kind of weird how Skull Kid has become THE name of yeah this should be the next Zelda character in Smash Bros, huh? The combination from how the triforce trio has worn down anyones patience for a character even remotely related to them ruling out Impa to how Ghirahim was pretty much ruled out the instant he was made into an Assist Trophy, Mindas time seemingly passed, no one who rightfully wants Marin is loud enough, and no one but me actually wants Tingle. So you have hey we like Majoras Mask, and he was in Ocarina of Time too so hes a legacy character! And I mean, hes definitely cool in just color palette and design, would definitely be unique in feel, but I think hes a weird rallying cry. Like, yeah, we want the possessed husk of a child whose main character trait is feeling regret for succumbing to his desire to make friends turning so violent and warped to go back to being possessed AND fight Ryu from Street Fighter! Skull Kid is a character who works a lot more narratively for me, a good arc thats worth following and represents the healing nature of Majoras Mask. I feel like tossing him in is just a little weak compared to reworking Young Link to represent the masks? Almost feels like a compromise to avoid the symptom of too many Triforce users without diagnosing the root disease of there are only fhree original movesets between seven characters, and two of them used to be one character. I also think hes got one of the weakest Assist Trophies, Dialga and Palkias wacky warping powers arent all that fun to me outside of the time freeze, and Skull Kid is stuck with well I guess we stop playing the match now powers. I like the character, but I think both his place of where the fanbase wants him to be AND where he ended up in Smash is a bit warped. Just let Skull Kid live his life, toss Happy Mask Salesman in the AT spot you could definitely make something great out of that including still having Majoras Mask in there, and build from one of the dozens of better Zelda reps. His appearance in Hyrule Warriors is much the same but dropping the moon as an attack is fun, cant deny that.

Hubert J. Farnsworth (Futurama)
Vito Corleone (The Godfather)
Scarecrow (DC Comics)
Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal series)

Iago (Othello)
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (The Shawshank Redemption)
Lord Havelock Vetinari (Discworld)
Willy Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)

pjbasis posted...

are there any playable smash characters that havent been done

I think this is everyone left based on my count (though I don't have MUCH more to say on echoes where the primary fighter was already done):

Sheik
Dr. Mario
Marth
Olimar (technically but Ive said pretty much all I wanted to in Alph)
Villager
Palutena
Ryu
Bayonetta
Dark Pit
Dark Samus
Chrom
Richter
Ken
Min Min

Let's just toss a bunch of "would be neat to see 'em get in/a higher seed" ones and see what sticks.

Arcane
Donkey Kong Country
Freakazoid
Hajime no Ippo
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Kaguya-sama: Love Is War
Pinky & The Brain
Popeye the Sailor
Primal
Sam & Max: Freelance Police
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
Spy X Family
The Cuphead Show
The Venture Brothers

The Joker (Batman)
Barry Burton (Resident Evil)
John McClane (Die Hard)
Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk: Room 215)
Booster Gold (Justice League)

Strongly request Mr. Satan bonus match vs tournament winner.

Dabura (Dragonball Z)
The Devil (The Devil Went Down To Georgia)
The Devil, y'know, from The Bible (SnapCube's Real Time Fandub of Shadow the Hedgehog)
Satan/The Devil (Cuphead)
Mr. Applegate (Damn Yankees)
Darkness (Legend)

Yusuke Urameshi (YuYu Hakusho)
GOB Bluth (Arrested Development)
Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
Booster Gold (Justice League)

Noki - Mario Superstar Baseball

Man I miss when we got oddball picks like Noki in Mario spin-offs; probably the only time the character is ever gonna get any spotlight, and its entirely because of Sunshines recency at the time of Superstar Baseballs release, but I like when Mario gets to throw in newbies that were only relevant for the recent entries. And Im not talking about the Roaslinas, Petey Piranhas, and Paulines of the world - I want more playable Lumas, Sprixie Princesses, and Honey Queens in the world. Anyway, Noki is in the same camp as Dry Bones as pretty good at everything, but while Dry Bones has more offensive utility, Noki is a bit more focused on defense. Shes one of the few characters with both a speed proficiency and sliding catch, making her probably the most viable replacement for Yoshi in left field, and generally pretty okay in any position you stick her in. Shes Piantas only chemistry partner, so if you want the Pink Menace to be ever so slightly more viable at hitting a home run, her small boost to his power if shes on base WILL matter and get him over the fence. Green Nokis also a very solid line drive star hitter, and Red Noki and ok Falcon Popper but Nokis bat is a bit shorter and less powerful than most, so shes only ok if she doesnt have a star available. And while has has Pianta chemistry, she has no other positive chemistry bonuses and negative chem with Petey. Still, shes an all-around player in the same vein as Mario or Dry Bones, just ultimately less valuable, as what she excels as it usually either unnecessary or Yoshi is so dominant that ANYONE is a poor replacement. Viable enough to see some games, but definitely an 8th or 9th draft slot pick after youve rounded out the rest of your squad.

Tom Nook - Super Mario Maker

The costume mushroom was such a fun little novelty. Both a fun thing to unlock and an actual way to flaunt an amiibo collection, AND you got some really fun crossovers with it, too. Actually getting a Game Center CX reference across the ocean has been a treat! I still think that Nook shouldve been the rep for Animal Crossing over Villager, I know theres always a bias toward the player character/avatar, but everyone wanted Nook back in the day, he WAS the icon of early Animal Crossing, and as many murderer villager memes were fun, better have my bells Nook wouldve been such a good novelty, setting up furniture as traps, managing money. Just a lot of potential that strays away from everyday life, but plays more into the management sim core of Animal Crossings actual mechanics before its vibe. I love that hes a legitimately hard-working, caring businessman who does want the best for both his customers and employees, yet EVERYONE takes him as a crooked two-timer with some insidious plot because good land owners simply dont exist. Keeps the character nice and multi-faceted, always fun to see, always a great symbol of the franchise, and the post-Isabelle reveal bit where hes staring sadly at a computer screen is just delightful. I dont quite get why his house blows up in Villagers Final Smash - I get the idea of paying him to construct a house and that it NEEDS a flashy ending because free real estate doesnt do much damage, but I feel like hed be better served as an assist trophy tossing out items, similar to Isabelles previous role but perhaps with more adding random furniture to the stage temporarily. I want more out of Nook, basically. Everywhere. Hes great, he deserves it.

Soma Cruz - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Almost entirely because I prefer the boss fights, theres no damn touch screen mini-game after each boss, and you get the Black Panther soul as a reward for getting on the True Ending path instead of it being a random drop, Black Panther is such an insanely fun reward that makes completing Aria a delight. Anyway, Somas probably the only Castlevania character who can reasonably give Alucard a run for his money when it comes to best playable vania character. And I hold Castlevania protags in higher esteem than most; Richter, Maria, Shanoa, JONATHAN CHARLOTTE, even Eric, all really fun characters to be. Whereas Alucard is every single broken idea that the devs had and then some as long as you got the right drops, Soma is a much more streamlined experience; still a ton of experimentation and a lot of broken souls, but it feels more complete and considered. They had four prior games to iron out all the bugs, Soma is Alucard without jank or that really fun backdash but I have to admit I really like SotN FOR the unpolished jank and the everything and the kitchen sink approach to what Alucard can do! From a pure game design standpoint I like Soma more - his powers have a more natural progression that lets him explore the castle more easily, Power of Dominance is a lot more elegant of a system and fits in more with his flavor than Alucard getting random drops and artifacts, the overall setting and set-up of his character is a bit stronger than Richter really screwed it up, Alucard can you go fix it? - but hes a far more gradual power fantasy while I feel broken with Alucard almost immediately after Slogra & Gaibon go down, and I think I prefer Alucards mindless, ever-varied destruction in this case. Somas still excellent, if a bit bland as a character for my tastes when hes not considering being evil, hes just a step behind his ex-son for me. I do love how he leans more into being a summoner, though - always the coolest kind of character for a game as centered around combat with weird enemies as the corner scratcher Castlevanias, and he plays with that novelty to the fullest. Cool way of getting his spirit, too, bit of an unnecessary spoiler but Hell if Sakurai ever cares about that!

Eevee - Pokemon Stadium 2

https://youtu.be/R9BWt3v2Y2Y

Theres something so delightfully demented about this music. Its such a fun, quick test of reflex game, and just little things like the disappointed clunk sound Eevee makes as you bonk against the closed bucket and the way the tempo shoots up for the final round makes it feel so good. Most of the Pokemon Stadium mini-games are winners for putting Pokemon in weird and occasionally violent situations, and this is a solid one of em.

Anyway Eevees pretty much always great in whatever game it appears in. Red and Blue its an auto-include amongst most teams once you get it, if only because Hell if youre gonna use any other Gen 1 electric type, I love how its made to be more or less effective against your Pikachu depending on how you fight the rival at first in Yellow (if he beats you in the lab, he doesnt consider Pikachu a threat so he evolves Eevee into a Vaporeon, if you beat him twice he thinks electrics are the way to go so he goes Jolteon, 1-1 or you skip the Rt 22 Rival and he goes Flareon), Gen 2 essentially banishes evolution stones to Kanto so youre encouraged to get Espeon or Umbreon and theyre both great, XD has it as a starter, Lets Go Eevee its apparently broken but I dunno I never finished that one, BIG FLUFFY GIGANTIMAX EEVEE. Lil dudes just a great time every time. Its never been my absolute favorite line, but its one Im always glad shows up and has a great gimmick. I like his modern voice too, where he goes yeeeeee boi when you pet him. Fabulous. Smash Bros Eevee I get why its there, Eevee deserves to be repped, but I cant help but think a random evolution wouldve been a better gimmick for it. As-is it just is a slightly more effective but slightly less funny Fletchling or Starfy.

And for posterity (and these are all good but I dont adore kinds of Pokemon to me), Vaporeon > Espeon > Jolteon > Leafeon > Glaceon > Sylveon > Umbreon > Flareon. Combination of how much I like the design and how much I like them in battle, with Flareon falling down because of that weird Pokemon Stadium animation where he shakes his ass at you.

Dio Brando (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Apollo Creed (Rocky)
-
Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)

Tiki - Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem

New Mystery is among my preferred handheld FE games to replay, but damn does it butcher Tiki. Divinestone with limited durability AND changing the way that Dragonstones work from laguz-like transformations into basic weapons really limits all the fun flexibility that the original had. FE3 Tiki is awesome - effective damage against the final boss potentially trivializing that fight, able to transform into a wyvern to just become a flying unit with the BEST mobility in the game on command, extra fun in experimenting with the magestone and icestone to shred other dragons. She has a level of almost game-breaking flexibility that is only held back by how mid-late you get her. They really nail making the manaketes feel special in this game - Xane is likewise an amazing unit, probably my favorite in FE12 and favorite ditto type character in general, with apologies to Shang Tsung and Mokujin. Tiki has that Eevee-like appeal of so, so much fun potential and it gets almost totally discarded outside of FE3. Awakening seems to just double down on the whole divine dragon thing, and thats become her calling card, from FE12 to Warriors to even Tokyo Mirage Sessions. I do LIKE her being brought back for Awakening, its always fun when a game pulls a Rydia and you get to see how the passage of time affects a child character, but shes really more of a novelty there than anything else. Anyway, shes too good of an Assist Trophy, like, definitely one of the mindless well I guess I win the stock now choices on a solid 70% of stages. I get that you should have some win the lottery options and shes definitely important enough for Fire Emblem that she SHOULD be in Smash (shes playable in five games as part of the main story and matters in all of them, thats pretty good why does Corrin have to be here and not her), but shes sadly just kind of big dragon in a world where Rathalos also exists.

Hitmonlee - Pokemon Fire Red/Leaf Green

Hitmonlee is a surprisingly fun Pokemon to use in pretty much every generation other than Gen 2. Sure, the guy gets walled hard by Gastly, but hes had novelty through almost all of his appearances. Gen 1 hes got the only fighting type moves in the game actually worth a damn other than Seismic Toss, and its fun to just hit the button and watch opposing health bars melt sometimes. He has absolutely zero utility, but hes a fun unga bunga and is actually semi-functional at what he was designed to do, something that I think only him and Poliwrath pull off out of all the Gen 1 fighting types. Gen 3 grants him the Limber ability, making him an incredibly effective check against paralysis and letting his huge attack stat and simple game plan benefit tremendously from the Choice Band. Diamond and Pearl give him the Reckless ability, which lets Lee get EXTRA damage off of Hi Jump Kick, something that wouldnt immediately become more valuable than Limber, but emphasizes his Gen 1 role even further, especially now that he has Sucker Punch to swipe ghosts with. Gen 5 introduced the gems and the Unburden ability to make him a tremendous late-game sweeper, and from there, Lees had all the tools he needs to at least be fun. Fire Red is basically just tossed up there because its one of the few games where he has good in-game availability. Hitmonlee is one of those rare Gen 1 Pokemon whos never truly had the spotlight to himself, but has remained pretty damn fun whenever he shows up. And yeah, I miss him in the Pokeball. HEYAAAA. TETETETE is such a fun vocalization, Scizors got nothing on him.

Mario Baseball Profile: Mario - Mario is Mario. I know thats a boring answer, but when you think of Mario being good at everything, but not quite GREAT at anything yeah, thats exactly how he plays. Mario has Sliding Catch and Wall Jump as abilities, making him second only to Toadette as a right fielder with a great diving range, good speed, and, yknow, the necessary Wall Jump to be a right fielder. He also doesnt have abysmal chemistry with Waluigi, so the lanky purple mans resurgence as a 1st baseman hasnt hurt his viability in the same way it has Luigis. Marios bat is good, its not a home run hitter most of the time, but hes got a consistent singles bat that most would dream of having access to. And considering Toadette is absolutely abysmal at the plate, this does give Mario an argument for being the best all-around wall jumper in the game. His Star Hit is pretty middle of the pack, a line drive thats set on fire so its highly unlikely to be caught by anyone except Yoshi; its easier to hit with than Luigis, but is less consistent and has a lower scoring potential than a good Luigis hit. Its good, but usually not worth spending two stars on, and not a game-changer like DK, Birdo, or even Diddy Kong could be. His pitching is fine, but not remarkable enough to put him on the mound instead of in the field. Standard as it is, Mario is just good. Hell probably see every game because hes just a good extender of consistency and helps bridge the gap between your power hitters, but hes not exciting. Hes just Mario. He does the Mario thing.

Fletchling - Pokemon X/Y

I dont get the Fletchling line. You already had a bunch of fire birds, what possessed you to make an even more boring one as the mascot of France? Moreover, why did you name the final stage Talonflame? Like, thats a name that a 4-year old gives to their Fakemon, and not even their favorite, just one of the random birds or dragons they invented. Anyway, Fletchling is interesting because of Gale Wings and thats it. For whatever reason, they decided making flying-type moves all have +1 priority wont be THAT big of a deal, and it ended up being an absolutely massive deal. It was nerfed into the ground in Gen VII by making it only active at 100% health, but in X and Y? Where you could freely abuse that? Oh man, this line was STUPID. Not even necessarily in a fun and mindless way, just sort of as a matter of course that youd almost always have to deal with. I liked Fletchinders role as sort of an underpowered middleground, was fun to run on my Banjo-Kazooie themed UU team, but Talonflame was omnipresent for a good while and Fletchling was similarly EVERYWHERE in Little Cup. I actually think Smash is where I like it the most - its just a little hitbox that hops around mindlessly, and if you get combod into oblivion by it, its your own fault. Its such a silly little thing, a minor inconvenience that can sometimes make some incredible plays by virtue of just sticking around for a long time and accidentally contributing to a win. Its a great Pokeball summon, its just sadly a low-tier bird in the grand scheme of things. Pikipek and Rookidee are great follow-ups to it.

Princess Peach - Super Smash Bros. Melee

Peach is a really difficult character to get right in a fighting game. This is a character who finds power in traditional femininity, weaponizing the cutesy and the domestic because thats just what she enjoys and still managing (or at least trying) to be powerful in spite of the stereotype around those actions. Smash actually does a really fantastic job of this - Peach doesnt ever feel limited by her stature, she mixes it up with the rest of them with decidedly strong strikes. Her float gives her not just unique combo routes that sets her apart as a really interesting rushdown character, but a regality in how she approaches that makes her beating your face in seem effortless to her. The sound design on her frying pan is fantastic, that thing feels SO satisfying to hit with, and shes so perfectly serene even in the heat of battle that it feels especially humiliating to lose to her. Here are trained fighters, warriors, dark kings, small lost children, weird animals, super fighting robots - all easily dismantled by the graceful strikes of the princess. Peach is portrayed as POWERFUL in Smash in a way that her own series rarely gets to capture. My one major issue with her moveset is Toad. Now, Im happy to see Toad, but I think her signature move being let someone else protect her kiiiind of goes against everything else the moveset is proving: Peach IS capable in her own, absolutely uncompromising way, and shell embarrass the Hell out of you for underestimating her. Plus, the little guy using an ability hes never shown before and, like. Come on. Toad has NEVER protected ANYTHING successfully in his life. I love the guy, but come on, she would be safer if she asked to be kidnapped and tried to run away in the confusion than letting TOAD save her. Also Im a much bigger fan of her Melee moveset than when the hearts and rainbows and sparkles were added - yes it gives her a stronger identity toward that traditional femininity and empowering that, but I kind of liked the subtlety of that coming across in her movement and her smacking the shit out of you anyway. Peach is really solid, though, and while I will never be able to play her, Im very happy shes here. B+

Mario Superstar Baseball Profile: Peach - Peach is perhaps the most cursed player in the entirety of Mario Baseball. Thats not to say shes a bad character - far from it, she actually has many excellent traits - but a combination of multiple factors ensure that she will NEVER see a game unless you really, really like Peach. Her chemistry tree is fairly awful, being low to awful with every single power hitter in the game, except Pianta (who shes average with and is the weakest home run threat) and Bowser Jr (who is not a home run threat except on the Bowser team which Peach is never going to be on), making her a liability on most teams when throwing to the most popular 1st and 2nd basemen and catchers in the game. She has the Quick Throw ability, one of only two characters in the game and is completely outclassed by Daisy in that department. And Daisy is already a niche pick for infield, making Peach, what, the 5th or 6th pick for a dedicated 2nd Basewoman? Her bat isnt horrible, but its hovering around that Diddy and Dixie range of you can make it work, but youre not relying on them to get on base. And being compared to those two is a major problem. Peach is, in theory, a great pitcher, as she has strong curve on her balls. The issue is, she is not a better pitcher than Boo, Dixie, Diddy, or Waluigi, but pitches similarly enough to them that she doesnt have a niche like Dry Bones or Goomba do. Peach offers nothing to your team composition from a chemistry standpoint, and in every single position she could fill, she is 5th or 6th best at best, at which point there is always someone who is better at batting, or has a niche somewhere else, or can play another position well while waiting to be backup pitcher. Peach isnt bad, and in fact feels pretty good to play as when youre just starting to play the game. Shes just unviable.

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Super Mario 3D World - Peach is a weird grab bag of appearances. Shes a great character in Mario RPG but absolutely miserable to play as, simply being a fantastic healer who should never reasonably die in any given playthrough. Mario RPG is an easy game, but Toadstool utterly trivializes it. Shes a lightweight in early Mario Kart which makes her a viable character to play as, but shes gotten lost in the crowd ever since she became a middleweight in Double Dash. Super Princess Peach is fine, I suppose, a slow and casual platformer to breeze through until you have to track down every single Toad to fight Bowser and then youre combing every single stage for secrets. Her Paper Mario appearances tend to be fun diversions, but thats more for the context of what shes doing rather than any input from Peach herself (though her fight against Mimi in Super Paper Mario is quite good for that games standards of boss). Its really the float that enables Peachs gameplay identity to come to the forefront, making Mario 2 and 3D World always her most fun appearances. Being able to casually break levels open is a joy usually reserved for Knuckles and Dixie Kong, but Peach gives you juuuust a taste of that magic, while still requiring a tighter sense of gravity than the DK and Sonic series tend to offer (at least for Knuckles - Classic Sonic and gravity are pretty tight). The speed boost offered to all characters in Bowsers Fury especially really solidifies this, Peach able to absolutely BREAK some levels with fast enough glides, and it feels great straining this game that was clearly not ready for the speed boost, but is dealing with it anyway. So yeah, I guess that one, its fun. Still would like to see her a bit more fully realized as an RPG character, though, thatd be really fun.

Awww thanks, I really appreciate that. I ended up spending a solid 10 days just writing a ton of scripts, and thoroughly burnt myself out on writing ANYTHING else. Finally have my head above water insofar as that goes, though, so in we go to... whatever scraps of Nintendo characters are left, I suppose.

Riki - Xenoblade Chronicles

I havent actually played much of Xenoblade Chronicles. Hit the combat, realized oh no, Im gonna be doing this a LOT, and then decided experiencing it through a Lets Play that I only half remember was the way to go. Im the kind of person who needs to finish EVERYTHING in a zone before I am able to move on, and Xenoblades combat loop and side quests spell disaster for my ability to do anything productively. I did just pick up Xenoblade 3, though, and thats on the docket as soon as I finish this replay of Tropical Freeze - everything Ive seen makes it seems like a lot more my speed insofar as customization in combat goes. In any case, Riki is a character Im like, perfectly youre fine about? Like haha, its funny that the childish-sounding mascot character is a loving father in his 40s or 50s or whatever. Its a cute subversion, and past that, Riki fulfills his role as support well. He pretty much does the same in Smash, think he was a fun pull for Xenoblade in general, definitely the most distinct amongst the cast. I do kinda feel bad that he took Tingles function, I miss Tingle a lot, but Riki fulfills his purpose well enough. Sorry I dont have more to say on it!

Robin - Fire Emblem Awakening

Robin is a great poster child for Awakenings reclassing systems. Strategist/Grandmaster is such a cool unique path, and its actually really nice and clever how base GM falls off drastically by endgame. Having this fantastic base to rebuild Robin from the ground up from and making them HAVE to reclass to stay as excellent as they used to be at the start of the game is really smartly done. I dont praise a lot of Awakenings decisions - they saved the series but also made it focus really hard on aspects I care about less than a great level curve and cruel but not unfair map design - but Robins implementation is definitely a strong point for the game. Their incredible flexibility also makes them the most freeform aspect of the child-raising system, which Im not a fan of turning eugenics into a gameplay system, typically dont like using any of the kids other than Lucina as I prefer the reclassing system be the focus and I like Lucina having inheritance as a unique thing for her rather than being simply the cream of the crop of a BUNCH of bonus units. And I even think Robins place in the story is nice and clever, the eventual role they play is telegraphed pretty obviously, but still executed nicely and explains why their presence is so pivotal and central to Awakenings story. tl;dr, I got a bunch of complains about Awakening, but Robin tends to come out on the better end of most of them.

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - I am INCREDIBLY split on how theyve handled Robin in Smash. On one hand, I love that theres a Fire Emblem character that actually represents core elements of the series. Using magic in order to serve different roles with different tomes, utilizing weapon durability in exchange for much stronger weapons, having a slower character who actually has to use strategy as they bait enemies to approach - all of these are really good, and Robin definitely represents the player-customized unit the best out of their contemporaries. They even feel good to use, Arcfire being a solid expansion of PK Fire, Thoron feeling really good to throw out, and the Levin Swords range and strength is absolutely nothing to sneeze at. On the other hand, I do not like that Robin suffers from playing the game at a basic level. In sort of a reverse-Lucario situation, as soon as you start throwing out attacks with Robin, you start losing your ability to feel strong. I could understand this if Robin were a character with absolutely phenomenal options, but Robin just kind of functions like a regular character who sometimes stops being able to play the game? No individual move in Robins kit is particularly oppressive, their only real flourish is Thoron which, while good, isnt SO good that it needs to not only be limited, but also be attached to three other projectiles, one of which is arguably better than it. And while the Levin Sword is good yeah, its a slow character with good disjointed aerials. Thats not special, thats just Ike with breakable weapons. As much as Robin props themselves up as a strategist, strategy is incidental in their moveset. Hero is a better resource management character, Snake is a better strategy character, Diddy is a better opportunist (even if he shouldnt be) - Robin doesnt translate Fire Emblem into Smash Bros. They translate Breath of the Wilds durability. And yet theres still stuff here, the base of the character is solid, the IDEA of the character is there. Robin is everything that they should be, theyre not WRONG. Theyre just highly undertuned. C+

The Sheriff - Toy Story

Its.a good retro pull and I love the idea of making older bits of Nintendos history unrealistically strong. Sheriff is a horribly disruptive Assist Trophy, but Im not as overwhelmed by him compared to others Id describe as almost guaranteed match-changers. He does a simple thing, you can predict it, but its really good and really hard to work around. Plus I like the dumpy little jingle as he walks around.

Anyway Strange Things on the Genesis.

https://youtu.be/Unh2dAEHtZo

Damn the Genesis is trying so, SO hard to pull this song off. It remixes the silly song of haha your life and reality is falling apart around you and turns it into one of the most fun and upbeat starts to an adventure that you can possibly get. Does it sound like the sound chip is gonna explode any second? Oh, constantly. But that just adds to the charm, giving it such a determined GRIT to contrast the upbeat jazz going on all around it. Of all of the music that was Genesisified over the years, I think this and Smooth Criminal definitely came out the best, weirdly enjoyable on their own terms rather than being desperate emulations of what they were following. That extends to Toy Story as a whole, really - the game was WAY too ambitious for its own good, throwing everything at the wall from various camera perspectives to gameplay types to digitized voice lines while forgetting to give The Sheriffs drawstring a good hitbox and making him way too big to be reasonable. But despite the rough edging on The Sheriff I mean I dont think its a great game, but its one that absolutely endears it to me.

Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)
Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Grim (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)
Charles Barkley (Barkley, Shut Up and Jam Gaiden)

James Sunderland (Silent Hill 2)
Aya Brea (Parasite Eve)
Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal series)
Taskmaster (Marvel Comics)

Peach actually has a significant durability advantage here if we give her Lazy Shell (which is debatable as that's a universal piece of equipment rather than Peach-exclusive but, for the sake of argument, sure let's give it to her). Having that plus Calm Vibe essentially gives her passive regeneration and a sky high defense that DK CAN pierce, but not fast enough to outpace. Adding in her spells, especially the ones causing sleep, and it should be a win for Peach.

The issue being, while DK can't take out Lazy Shell Peach, she can't take out DK, either. Neither her vibes nor her MP is an infinite resource, and while I'm sure Psycho Bomb could deal SOME damage, Lazy Shell not only reduces her attacking power, but also her speed to the point where any sort of athleticism she's shown would be nullified. Eventually, the Lazy Shell becomes a walking coffin, as DK (unlike Culex) does not need to rely on a finite source of MP to win the day. At some point, DK could just pick Peach up, throw her in water, and she'd likely drown from being unable to breathe or swim up with the heavy armor on. Or would discard it and get one-shotted by DK.

That, unfortunately, is her win condition. Peach's durability is nowhere near enough to survive DK's punch without Lazy Shell, and even given a full power crit frying pan or psycho bomb, isn't gonna be enough to fell DK on the off chance she gets off Sleepy Time into her best stuff. It isn't impossible for Peach to win... but DK wins many, many more times than he loses, and Peach has zero guaranteed paths to victory.

Hubert J. Farnsworth (Futurama)
Sly Cooper (Sly Cooper)
Max (Sam & Max)
Calvin's Dad (Calvin and Hobbes)

Let's at least get him higher.

Yes

Marty McFly (Back to the Future)
Lord Havelock Vetinari (Discworld)
Dr. Horrible (Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog)
Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)

Re: Omori, I think it's worth going through for a few more hours. I think there's this big expectation after Undertale for all of the "quirky Earthbound inspired depression RPG's" to be these constantly subversive and clever works, and Omori is a bit more sincere and straightforward than a lot of its contemporaries. Stuff like STAB YOURSELF WITH THE KNIFE seem like they should be big moments the game is looking to get a reaction out of you for being EDGY and SO DEEP, but I find those contribute more to a whole than being particularly shocking in and of itself (definitely thought it was overly edgy the first time I played, as well). The game shows its hand at how it's gonna progress after you clear the first major area (the space-themed one), and I think that's the point where you can probably get a more definitive grasp on whether you vibe with Omori's storytelling. Because it's going for a particular theme, and I think it tells a story with that theme in a very nice, if somewhat "webcomic" if that makes any sense for writing style, way. Don't think it's something that'll resonate with everyone, but I found it pleasant enough and there were a few moments that I really loved and made me value the game pretty highly. Like, low Top 100 for me, probably.

And nah, Age of Calamity chugs no matter what Switch you're playing it on. It can run at a smooth framerate... just not on any version of the Switch, ever.

Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development)
Kenzo Tenma (Monster)
Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (The Shawshank Redemption)
Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors)

If Conker can beat a terminator, Donkey Kong sure as Hell can.

John McClane (Die Hard)
-
T-Rex (Dinosaur Comics)
Kyle Hyde (Hotel Dusk: Room 215)

The Joker (Batman)
The Prince (Prince of Persia)
Goro Majima (Yakuza)
Barry Burton (Resident Evil)
DEATH (Discworld)
-

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
DEATH (Discworld)
-
Booster Gold (Justice League)

While I do agree that it isn't instant vaporization, DK can punch, like, 16 times per second. I do not think Ganondorf has ever had to experience being punch drunk and concussed before, with the punches simultaneously burning his immortal soul. I think DK coulda stabbed him a little better than Saria or whoever did, too.

Donkey Kong, Easily

One of the lesser-known facts confirmed by Returns is the property of DK's golden bananas. Specifically, that they are not ordinary bananas, but are contained with a life essence that can bring the inanimate to life, as seen here when used to revive the Tiki Tak Tribe via their leader, Tiki Tong. This can be seen here via Colonel Pluck's weird grape-squashing homage:

https://youtu.be/GEoimj4cKQM

This actively justifies why eating 100 bananas gives DK an extra life; they are life. This is further corroborated by the golden banana in the Golden Temple, which sends DK into nirvana upon tasting it. Donkey Kong does not need light arrows; Donkey Kong is the light arrows. And past his immortality, I've yet to see a non-calamity Ganon who's impressed me enough to beat DK's reflexes. Plus he'll probably be shocked that something is actually gonna hurt.

Mario Baseball Profile: Donkey Kong

If all things were even and offense and defense were valued equally in baseball, Donkey Kong would undoubtedly be the greatest player the game has ever seen. There is nothing that DK cant do. He has a fantastic bat, having a middleground between Toadsworth and Hammer Bros similar focused contact zone bats where he can viably hit home runs, but also can deliver some of the most consistent singles hits in the entire game. On top of that, he has one of the best specials in the game, the Banana Ball, hitting a VERY strong line drive that tends to curve right in between the middle and left fielders thats hit too fast for most to react to. Yoshi can gobble up Diddys Boomerang Ball thats hit with less stank fairly routinely, but not only do you have to adjust Yoshis position specifically to combat Donkey Kongs banana (sacrificing him as a left fielder if DK decides to just pop instead), its more a 50/50 rather than a guaranteed out. This makes Donkey Kong an incredible choice for captain, as not only is his star hit valuable, he also has a fantastic chemistry tree. While some like the princesses, Mario and Magikoopa dont love Donkey Kong, theres no one who outright has negative chemistry with the big ape, and hes generally well liked enough that getting a full stock of team stars with DK behind the helm is not a big ask. On top of that, he has positive chemistry with the other Kongs (Dixie & Diddy) and, for whatever reason, Petey Piranha, making a Kong-DK-Petey string in your batting order one of the most deadly and flexible non-Bowser combinations in the game. And THEN, that DK-Petey chemistry combos directly into DKs fielding prowess, as DK has Laser Beam, THE best ability for denying runners heading home. While Pianta into Noki with laser is the fastest possible throw, putting Noki at home is a waste of her natural talents, and Petey is already gonna be your catcher if hes on your team, so the DK/Petey toss is the fastest viable throw youre gonna have. Which is fortunate, because DK is one of the best shortstops in the game. He has no natural abilities other than laser that MAKE him good there, but hes a huge body and, for some reason, has an incredible natural dive range, letting him nab fly balls like no one else as he leaps forward and gracefully squeezes the ball between his finely sculpted buttocks (as, for whatever reason, they are want to fly directly into). He even has value as a closing pitcher! While DK possesses no spin so youd never use him as a starter, hes got a killer fastball that he uniquely throws sidearm, causing balls to break to the right of the plate naturally, making him good at jamming a good deal of lefty batters who arent used to the pitch timing, AND his banana pitch is a great desperation move if you absolutely need to close out the 9th. If Bowser did not warp the entire game around how damn good he is at the plate itd be debatable whether DK or Petey was more valuable since Peteys bat is just so far ahead of everyone else but Bowsers. But as an all-around character, there is no one better on the diamond than Donkey Kong.

Sorry for the delay, released a video and getting everything set after that for the follow-up took a bit, just got sick of writing for the week. If you're bored, it's a 30 minute breakdown of Diddy Kong's character arc, channel in my signature.

Beedrill - Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

I just feel bad for Beedrill. Its an awesome Pokemon from a pure design standpoint, gets its own signature move in Twinneedle, Bug moves are x4 times effective against most Grass types in Gen 1 because of poisons weird weaknesses in that gen, and you will always dump it in its original game by the time you get to Celadon, if not Rock Tunnel. Beedrill is so unfortunately statted that it is VERY rare you want it, even with its normally excellent availability (though its not in Yellow so I guess its not THAT excellent), and the sheer amount of physical attackers in Gen 1 gives it a very, very hard time standing out. Why pick Beedrill, after all, when you can go up to Nidorino with just a little more effort? And eventually that boy turns into THE KING. And after Beedrill lost its niche as the only bug who can actually use a damaging bug-type move, there was even less of a reason to use it, only kept in the conversation because Ariados somehow dropped the ball as its predecessor. At least it got a Mega Evolution in ORAS, one with a monstrous attack stat, one thats legitimately fun to use from the sheer novelty of having Beedrill in your back pocket and destroying teams with it and Kakuna is only made available after you beat Groudon/Kyogre. As a Safari Zone Pokemon. Secretly. Thus removing the entire niche of the Pokemon as a fast grower at the beginning with a great eventual payoff. And you catch the Kakuna at Level 30 so its moveset is gonna be all kinds of screwed up. Huh. At the very least, its a fun Pokeball pokemon in the one game it appeared in before being replaced with Unown, man, the poor bee cant catch a break, huh? Its got everything it needs to succeed, but drops the ball every single time it counts.

Greninja - Pokemon Sun/Moon

There is something hilarious to me about Ash Ketchum being SO canon to Pokemon but not allowed to speak that when Greninja bonds with its trainer to the truest extent it can muster, the entire species has decided to base their ultimate form around him. Ash-Geninja makes Ash feel like some kind of mythic hero, and that gives me no end of delight. Protean makes Greninja an inherently fun, if frustrating to face, Pokemon. It allows for a level of flexibility that Pokemon like Porygon and Kecleon tried to reach, but just couldnt manage to pull off, and makes for a really entertaining lead Pokemon where your opponent tries to read just what kind of spikes, support, or priority move youre going to throw out. And then Battle Bond Greninja is just happy to delete anything in its path, saving Water Shuriken as a wholly unique tool to clean anything with only after it gets its big boost, which is just a cool bit of utility that you rarely get to see on a Pokemon. It actually cleverly gets to use Pokemons abilities and movesets to create a varied assortment of fun movesets. Yeah, good that its popular!

Best Smash Appearance: Ultimate - Admittedly, if you asked me to name every single Smash Bros character, Greninja would probably be one of the last ones I name. It has a very similar issue to Yoshi for me, where it very much is here, is very functional, but lacks any sort of sauce to really differentiate it. The difference between them being that Greninja actually has something to base itself off of, and that is yo Striders pretty cool, isnt he? There are, obviously, elements of Greninja that are unique - it uses its tongue and overall physiology well, Shadow Sneak is a cool move, Water Shuriken is a neat variant on the charge and release shot, the down air really emphasizes the whole being a frog elements and uses its legs really well, plus it feels incredibly good to spring off of enemies with it. However, its very clear that this character was adapted from its art compared to its actual gameplay functionality, and the idea of a trapper-ninja instead of a purely rushdown one intrigues me a lot more than what Greninja currently has. Not that anything Greninja does is bad, but its surface level outside of Substitute and well, theres already another ninja in the cast, one that is VERY important to the competitive history of the game! There was never going to be a world where Sheik didnt overshadow Greninja unless the frog was significantly better than her, and both tap into that ninja cool feeling and dynamic without doing much else to differentiate themselves. Again, there is nothing Greninja does badly, it is entirely functional and flavorful and Strider is a fantastic character to use as a base! Theres just nothing that pushes it over the edge for me or endears it to me past wow cool down air. B


Col. Roy Campbell - Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus

He was playable in PO+, right? Never touched the multiplayer of that one, but Im pretty sure you could actually play as 70s Chicken Fox Campbell there. Anyway, Roys probably my least favorite of the core Metal Gear codec group. Hes got a fantastic story hook, Paul Eiding sells the Hell out of his internal conflict and how his lies to Snake throughout MGS are slowly uncovered, but he doesnt really get much in the way of casual character outside of being Snakes old war buddy and having that level of camaraderie with him. Compared to Mei Lings playful goading and legitimate emotional concern for Snake, Otacon being a mess just barely keeping himself together in more ways than one, Naomis sardonic sarcasm making way for the whole getting to the heart of the professional schtick and, yknow, her role post-Raven, and even the disillusionment and bitterness of Natasha, Campbell is very much the straightforward CO. I would say hes still got more charm to him than Miller, but well, yknow. Major Zero was a lot more successful execution of Campbells concept, able to mix the straightforward commanding officer role with I guess British? It was endearing, regardless. I think I like Campbell more for what he represents than anything he does; just frank, reliable storytelling and strong character acting. For as little as he contributes, hes one of the main voices I hear in my head when I think of Metal Gear, and I think that counts for something.

I like when he insults Luigi, hes just so scathingly mean, you can hear the venom in his voice. But then, thats not really Campbell. Man, the whole Arsenal Gear sequence is so good. Like, if you wanted to hear that sequence is great, its really fantastic. The whole consciousness emerging from the primordial sea of the white house bit should be a slog, but damn Eiding sells the Hell out of it and has the most disappointed and chiding tone the entire time, its fantastic.

Yusuke Urameshi (YuYu Hakusho)
Shao Kahn (Mortal Kombat)
GOB Bluth (Arrested Development)
Sam (Sam & Max)

Absolutely. But only if he achieves nirvana by eating the Legendary Golden Banana and transports The Prince to the inner realm of the Golden Temple.

At that point, DK's in another dimension and has eaten from life itself, meaning that I don't think The Prince could land a fatal blow on life eternal.

But outside of that exact hypothetical, nah.

Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit)
Dan McNeely (Trapped)
Terry Bogard (Fatal Fury)
Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie)

Man for a second I thought that Mr. Satan got 100%. Ah well, Poirot's good, too.

Stones are tiny moons.

Donkey Kong

Doc Emmett Brown (Back to the Future)
Dio Brando (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure)
Brock Samson (The Venture Bros.)
Apollo Creed (Rocky)

Walter White (Breaking Bad)
Salem Saberhagen (Sabrina the Teenage Witch)
Mordin Solus (Mass Effect)
-

Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)
Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption)
Mr. Orange (Reservoir Dogs)
The Shredder (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

-hotdogturtle-- posted...

This is new to me and interesting, when did this start happening?

I think sometime last year? I know that they recently redid RBY's tiers and Porygon was just recently rated for it, here's a video that goes into a bit more detail on it.

https://youtu.be/mix4hThfvY4

Kenri posted...

Inkling too!

Man I just. Totally forget Inkling Boy is a thing. The preppy outfit isn't even bad, he just doesn't even register in my brain.

Wii Fit Trainer - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Wii Fit is allllmost there as a character. I appreciate the out of left field pull, that level of unexpectedness combined with the no, that makes sense, Wii Fit sold a ton of copies factor makes the trainer a deep cut thats exactly memeable and recognizable enough to not be too easily dismissed. Having the female trainer as the base also does wonders - I think theyre the only character with a selectable gender who defaults as female - really allows for a nice establishing of their character. Anyway, Wii Fit Trainer is essentially a haha defies expectations joke, and I think they do a pretty decent job of it. Like, they have really weird hitboxes because of the dedication to making them hit so many yoga poses, and they give the character a ton of aerial mobility to make those moves actually hittable. And its neat and goofy and works but for whatever reason, I dont think its all that cohesive? Which is weird, of course its not, its using fitness moves and attempting to make some form of cohesion between them. But I feel like there should be a stronger dedication to fitness with Wii Fit Trainer, and thats only really gotten with Sun Salutations self-healing and Deep Breathing, which are veeery surface level interpretations of fitness being good for you. THIS is the character that I think should have the Monado Arts - if you manage to do a full set of moves, youre all stretched out and get a buff. The focus should be on how doing your routine makes you real buff and tough for the actual fight, and instead its mostly just shooting soccer balls at people? And Headers a funny move, dont get me wrong, but I feel like WFT is a joke character where they just told a basic joke without thinking it through, especially compared to Plant and Jigglypuff, Theres not really anything bad with her, and she has the funniest crawl in the game, but I dunno, I want more. B-

Best Non-Smash Appearance: Wii Fit - I dont THINK the trainer is playable in Wii Fit, but I am impressed that she got in before the balance board. One of my favorite bits of characterization is the balance board reacting when you step on it, and if youre heavy it will audibly strain. Like thats so MEAN, why are you bullying the people who probably would find Wii Fit most helpful? Hilarious.

Ring Fit Adventurer - Ring Fit Adventure

And immediately, Wii Fit is antiquated, Ring Fit Adventure is a MUCH more fun time and far more effective at achieving its goals. The conceit of Ring Fits combat is simple - you have different types of exercises that match up with different elements, and you fight color-coded enemies like Pokemon. It would be a stupidly boring game if it were just a straight-up RPG but what I love about Ring Fit is that your own, physical body is your mana. Playing optimally is incredibly difficult - if a boss is weak to a specific element, not only cant you do the same exercise consecutively so that you dont throw your muscles out of whack, but you HAVE to push yourself with a more demanding exercise so that you outpace their damage, or else settle for a more defensive strategy so you wait for your muscles to recharge. Additionally, the games difficulty slider actually makes encounters easier by increasing the amount of reps you have to do to successfully complete a move. It ups your maximum damage for every attack, meaning that you can face bosses at lower levels with less equipment, in exchange for the actual process of fighting them being more difficult. If youre exercising optimally, your hair gets set on fire, which is such a simple but fun visual indicator of being in the zone and just man, so much of Ring Fit is so well considered, deconstructing an RPG and turning the basic process of attacking and adventuring into the most intensive part of the game. Brilliant design, Dragaux deserves to be in more games, what a great bully.

The Prince of Sabl - For The Frog The Bell Tolls

Its wild to me that this game came out in 1992. Its such a thorough deconstruction of the Zelda formula at a time where the Zelda formula barely existed, a fun little joke game that relies more on wit and basic problem solving than anything extreme yet it has way more brutal platforming than Links Awakening would ever come out with. Its so much fun having an incompetent, haughty protagonist who tries to find away around all of his problems and buy out anyone whod end up as an obstacle to him - Bell Tolls always has this wit about it, looking to subvert expectations in fun ways. Really, it combines some of the best aspects of Zelda, adventure games of the era, and puzzle games like Adventures of Lolo to make a product that feels very un-Nintendo, especially in its early era. The Prince is actually one of the assist trophies that Id love to see promoted to a full playable character. I love his current incarnation as a cartoon fight cloud, but imagining that as a special move, dragging other players in and forcing them to mash so that they can escape a self-destructive command grab, or bribing opponents to go easy on you - that sounds like such a fun, stupidly chaotic character. Definitely who Id support for the next retro rep.

Porygon - Pokemon Blue

And ONLY Pokemon Blue of the Gen 1 games. Needing to get 9999 coins in red version? The guy is pitifully inaccessible. Anyway, for an in-game playthrough, Gen 4 is probably the best appearance of Porygon - Platinum makes the weird duck actually accessible, and Porygon-Z was still a really fun novelty at the time to strive for with its ridiculous special attack plus the physical/special split giving it funny STAB Hyper Beam. However, I have a real soft spot for oddball competitive Pokemon, and Gen 1 Porygons more recent emergence as a rogue pick is hilarious to me. Porygon is bad but its perfectly built to counter Snorlax. Porygon is slow, but is juuuust slightly less slow than Snorlax. Porygon doesnt have much health, but it has juuuuust enough to be able to take less than 50% from a Snorlax Body Slam, meaning that it can recover the damage off and pp stall Snorlax into defeat. It learns Thunder Wave, which can occasionally give it free turns to whittle Snorlax away or read the switch and paralyze something like Tauros. And its Normal type, making it immune to being paralyzed by Body Slam. Porygon is good against absolutely no other Pokemon with a remote competitive niche, but it does exactly enough correctly to beat one of the Top 3 non-Mewtwo or Mew Pokemon in the game. And I love that story, its great. Cute little section of Poke Floats, too, I miss the Porygon2 pokeball where it just kills you unreactably.

Mario Baseball Profile - Bowser

Weve been talking in a lot of except Bowser, on the Bowser Team, behind Bowser, with the Bowser match-up, supports Bowser. And there is a very, very good reason for that. Bowser is not just the best character in Mario Superstar Baseball, he warps the entire game around his presence, and is so integral to the teambuilding process, his removal would cause endless repercussions. To put it simply, if Bowser is at the plate, he is getting either on-base or an RBI 80% of the time. Bowser has, bar none, the best bat in the game; it has the longest reach of any bat in the game, it has the most power of any bat in the game, his homers have an insanely high trajectory that even characters with Wall Jump cannot grab, and hes a pull hitter, meaning that he naturally drags the ball toward his side of proper handedness, which just so happens to give him an easy, intuitive window to smack it over the fence; no complicated timing or thought needed, just hit the ball and watch it fly. If Bowser can make contact - and it is very easy for Bowser to make contact - its usually gonna go over the fence, and in the worst cases, hell hit it foul far enough that Magikoopa and the super jumpers cant snipe him because he hit it too damn hard for them to react. Because of this, Bowser is almost always an automatic walk; there are VERY few situations that would make you want to pitch to Bowser. And due to this, teambuilding completely warps around him. A power hitter like Bowser would normally be in the 4 slot so he has Grand Slam potential, but youll often see Bowser in the 2 or 3 spot as a guaranteed single, likely after someone like Bones he has chemistry with or Toadsworth who will also reliably get on base. If Hammer Bro follows Bowser, though - Bowsers giving a chem boost to that boy, putting the opposing team in a no-win situation where a grand slam can EASILY happen. And while Bro is optimal chemistry, any power hitter can serve Bros role, made even worse if theres a conga line of power right after the Koopa King. And on top of that, he has Laser Beam, making Bowser a great corner baseman because where else are you gonna stick him; hes not OPTIMAL, but he denies homers and theres no way in Hell youre passing up on BOWSER. And on top of that, he also has Cursed Ball pitching like Dry Bones. Hes not as good at it because he has no curve, just fastballs, but its an option! Bowser does nothing else but he can win games on his own in a way that no other character comes remotely close to, even if hes merely getting beaned to set up someone else. Bowser is so ridiculous that he has to be nerfed; if Bowser is on your team, he HAS to be your captain, as his star hit (which turns the ball into a Bullet Bill thats always a line drive but pushes you back really far if you catch it) is never worth going for because I mean its Bowser, you could get whats essentially a guaranteed sac fly run-in or you could just win the game. And winning the game is EASIER! This puts greater value on all the characters with good chemistry with Bowser, as team stars are far more valuable when the Bowser Team has to spend two on Birdo, or DK, or Mario, or whoever else. Does this entirely combat Bowsers overwhelming power? No, nothing else could, but it at least keeps him from running away with games by just sticking him on the Birdo team, and gives more value to characters like Bones and Koopa who would otherwise be harder picks. Bowser is what makes Mario Baseball such a volatile, potentially high-scoring game, and is one of the tentpoles that really makes it something special. As the old adage goes: Bowser Wins Games.

Hades (Disneys Hercules)
Grim (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)
Guts (Berserk)
Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters)