Alright, so with slightly too much time on my hands and about a week left until the last reveals, I figured I’d have a little fun coming up with a few move sets for people I’d like to see added: Toad & King Boo. I already think the chances of either of them making it in are slim to none, but I wanted to have fun with this anyway.
Just to reiterate from my previous point real quick, one of the biggest reasons I think a 1st party character is doubtful was due to how the info for this October 5th Character announcement was dropped. In the middle of a big, highly antcipated Direct showing off new & upcoming Nintendo games, they just had a 15 second portion where the announcer basically said “Oh, and tune in Oct. 5th for Sakurai San’s reveal of the final character where he’ll be showing them off!” and that was it. Usually these directs debut the trailer showing us who the character will be and then end it with the date of the actual “Sakurai Presents” for the character. This was basically zero fanfare; something I don’t think they’d do if it was one of their one Nintendo Properties tying up the pass. To be honest, the way they kinda just dropped this on us without any kind of hype makes me think the character really isn’t anyone noteworthy at all.
Anyway, back to the main subject at hand: a breakdown of a hypothetical Toad and King Boo Smash Bros. character. I’ll start off with Toad. For clarity, let me state that I’m not talking about Captain Toad; just regular, generic Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad. Captain Toad’s core mechanic & gameplay revolves around the fact that his backpack is too heavy and he cannot jump. Sakurai and the rest of the development team have been super creative in making movesets, so they could find away to make him mobile, but they are also highly loyal to a character’s main mechanics and if Captain Toad can’t jump, then they won’t change that for Smash, so it’s got to be regular Toad.
Toad is the ever-present Mario series character; a Mushroom kingdom resident, an announcer, or even participant, of various sporting events, Party games, Go Karting and more. I think the best way to represent him is to show off all that he’s present for as well showcase how Toads are basically always in a bunch. I think the best course of action of Toad is to make him a ‘summoner’ type character like Duckhunt Dog (his specials use the characters from another Nintendo shooting gallery game & his smash attacks reference the gun accessory). This is the generic breakdown of what I’d design Toad to be like
Weight & Speed – Similar weight and move speed as Pikachu
Jab attack – One-two jab combo; not multiple hits; surprisingly strong however.
Smash Attacks – Toad uses ground Pounds, drop kicks, and other Toads for deceptively powerful Smash attacks with High launching power, but the range is small.
Neutral B – Spore Sprout – Press B & a mushroom pops up directly in front of Toad; launching a character hit high in the air (high launch power on sweet spot). Hold B & mushroom pops up a bit further from Toad, damaging opponents hit & launching character directly beneath where it sprouted high into the air (high launch power on sweet spot); this mushroom stays longer before disappearing from stage. [Origin: Mario Sports Mix]
Forward B – Go Kart – Like Bowser Jr’s, Toad gets in a kart and zips forward. This buries any opponent he runs over and can only go in a straight dash; it can’t be controlled to jump like Bowser Jr’s and only goes a set distance. Can be used for horizontal recovery & will latch on to ledge, but can’t use normal recovery move afterward. [Origin: Mario Kart]
Down B – Junk Kick – When using the move, Toad creates a random object from a game he’s appeared in and kicks it in the direction of his opponent. Damage, Knockback, and effect depend on object created. Possible objects: a Dice block resembling his special one from Mario Party Switch (flies straight, but slow; deals high damage and knockback). A Soccer Ball from Mario Strikers (flies straight & bounces off surfaces; deals medium damage but low knockback). A destructible Brick from Mario games (low damage, low knockback). A question block from Mario games (low damage, high knockback & produces a random item when striking opponent). A Poison Mushroom from Mario 2 (low damage & knockback; applies damage-over-time effect to opponent). [Origin: a Lot of Different Mario Games]
Up B – Toad Balloon – Toad inflates himself like a balloon and floats upward. Can be controlled, however he doesn’t rise that far upwards and there’s very little horizontal movement. Toad can be spiked out of this. [Origin: one of the Wario games, Toads were captured and inflicted with something that made them inflate and roll around like beach balls…only thing I could think of for recovery]
I know the ending there wasn’t very inspired for Toad and I kind of have the feeling the same will be true for King Boo, but I’m going to make an attempt anyway.
Weight & Speed – Floaty like Kirby & Jigglypuff, but will have less jumps and be a bit heavier. Speed will be average; akin to Mario’s.
Jab Attacks – Small 3 hit combo similar to Jigglypuff’s with two hits and a body slam to knockback opponent after initial two hits.
Smash Attacks – Smash attacks will involve slamming body forward, whipping his tail around, or smacking them with his tongue.
Neutral B – Scare – Boo Flashes his eyes and appears bigger a moment; an opponent in range (range equal to Sephiroth’s Shadow Flare) that does not guard or dodge gets stunned.
Forward B – Crown Crash – Boo Charges forward, head down to slam into the opponent with his large ruby-encrusted Crown. The move works mechanically similar to Banjo-Kazooie’s charge move.
Down B – Mimic – Boo randomly changes form into one of the other Mario series’ Antagonists in Smash Bros and instantly uses one of their Specials: (Bowser- Flame Breath, Wario- Wario Waft at Half Charge, Piranha Plant- Ptooie, Bowser Jr.- Cannonball)
Up B – Ghostly Ascent – King Boo becomes completely intangible as he starts to fly upwards. This move has great recovery both vertically and horizontally, but he moves pretty slowly compared to other characters’ recovery. He can’t be hurt in this form and can’t hurt his opponents, so it can be easy to punish if he’s not careful when landing or grabbing ledge.
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