Budokai Tenkaichi 4

Finally after 14 years, the greatest DBZ game of all time is getting a sequel. There have been games that came close with its sheer roster size like Xenoverse 2, but Tenkaichi will always hold a special place in my heart for how much fun I had playing it both solo and against friends. That 5v5 battle option was absolutely fantastic and the depth of the character roster made it a ton of fun.

With a deep roster and the ability to play 5v5, you were able to RP different fights and set up dream teams in any way you want. Giant Characters vs Tiny Kids? No problem! Dr. Wheelo (HUGE mech!), Janempa (The Fat yellow form that came before the red one everyone recognizes!), Hirudegarn, Kid Goku Oozaru, and Vegeta oozaru (just so they’re visually distinct) Vs. Kid Chi-Chi, Chiaoutzu, Arale, Goten, and Kid Trunks! There are characters in that game that, to this day have not been playable in a DBZ fighting game thanks to it being an ‘arena fighter’ (which means it is a big open field for a stage rather than a small, 2-D stage akin to Street Fighter.

I can’t find enough words to express just how excited I am for this. For those who have only heard…or have been hearing….how great it was, this was the roster during its PS2 days (which means no DLC): https://dragonball.fandom.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball_Z:_Budokai_Tenkaichi_3

With Super having come out and adding a whole bunch of characters (and having a reception much better than GT) there’s bound to be a ton of new characters added. With the advent of DLC, though, I feel like a good portion of what could be added will actually be DLC now. So, as a guess, I’m just going to try and list out who may be added. I’m assuming….hoping, really….that all previous characters are returning bar none. I think the easiest way to breakdown who may be added will be by Saga.

Battle of Gods Saga – Goku (God), Vegeta (God), Beerus, Whis (I also think that as a nod to the fact Angels can’t interfere, Whis shouldn’t be playable in any Tournament mode)

Return of Frieza Saga – Golden Frieza, Tagoma (…maybe)

Universal Tournament Saga – Goku (Blue), Vegeta (Blue, but lock the ‘Perfect Blue’ transformation), Cabba, Frost, Hit

Goku Black Saga – Super Trunks (Can use that weird Faux Blue form), Goku Black (maybe even just the Rose Black one since there are already a metric shit ton of Gokus already), Zamasu (Fused Zamasu as a fusion transformation possible when Goku Black & Zamasu are on the same time; same as previous Tenkaichi game), Fused Zamasu (as its own character just like other fusions). As for Vegito Super Saiyan 4, I think it should be a part of the original character; give him the transformation that alters his moveset in this form.

Tournament of Power Saga – Kefla, Jiren, Toppo, Bergamo (the wolf leader), Ribrianne

DLC- Since Dragonball and Dragonball Z have all relevant characters already, I think the DLC can focus on Super and the remnants of GT that haven’t been added. From GT, I’d say Oceanus Shenron (she was fairly strong and had a unique design), Eis Shenron (Previous Tenkaichi had Nuova Shenron and Eis has been in both Xenoverses; I can see him returning, but as DLC), and General Rildo (only GT character worth mentioning that hasn’t been included already).

As for Super, there’s potential to draw out DLC for several waves.

Wave 1 – Kale, Caulifa, Botamo (Winnie the Pooh), Auta Magetta (Robot)

Wave 2 – Zamasu Corrupted (The mutated fusion form), Dypso, Belmod (Universe 11 God of Destruction), Marcarita (Universe 11 Angel)

Wave 3 – Agent Meerus, Seven-Three, Moro (Seven-Three Absorbed as a transformation), Grand Supreme Kai

Wave 4 – Vegeta (Ultra Ego), Granolah, Gas, Black Frieza

Wave 5 – Gamma 1, Gohan (Beast), Piccolo (Orange), Gamma 2

Wave 6 – Cell MAX, Dr. Hedo, Commander Magenta, Pan

Scarlet & Violet

2022 and a new Generation of Pokemon is on the way. I don’t know if I’ll ever reach a point where I won’t be excited (hopefully I don’t jinx myself by stating that). So with Gen 9 on the horizon, I just wanted to list out a few my hopes for some pokemon types we’re still missing and what they could possibly be based on.

Just a precursor: Not gonna lie…I couldn’t care less about the Normal subtype. To me, ‘Normal’ is the same as saying ‘typeless’ which is why it always confused me it started being paired with all these different things. Earlier pokemon like the Pidgey line? Yeah, its a normal Flying type; fine; that works because its like a basic, typeless bird. Raticate? A normal giant rat; typeless rodent; ok. But for others like Bug type? Bugs fly (Bug/Flying), Bugs are Poisonous (Bug/Poison), Bugs are being controlled by a fungus (Bug/Grass); etc. Bug normal seems weird to me. I know to others, I seem like the weird one, but whatever; it is what it is.

Long story short, we’re missing Bug/Normal, Ice/Normal, Rock/Normal, Fairy/Normal, Poison/Normal, Fire/Normal, and Steel/Normal. I’ll acknowledge that here but I won’t write up possibilities.

Bug/Dark – Black Widow spider or a Legendary pokemon based on Arachne (so a humanoid upper torso and spider bottom).

Bug/Dragon – I kinda feel like this was a missed opportunity for Flygon, so maybe a regional version for him that turns him into a Dragon typing would work best. Either that or use another type of Dragonfly and distinguish its design enough to make it its own pokemon. There’s a billion different bug species out there though, so there’s probably something wild I’ve never heard of that can easy be the basis for a Dragon/Bug type; Dragonflies are just the only thing that come to mind at the moment.

Fire/Grass – Some kind of pokemon based off a chili pepper or something really seems like it would fit here. Funny enough, the new Fire Starter for this gen does look like a little Chili pepper crocodile, but fair chance it’ll be based on the Ghost Pepper and they’ll make him Fire/Ghost (fingers crossed they go a different route, but whatever). Other than a Chili Pepper, I could see a unique pokemon that starts as Grass then becomes Grass/Fire after being hit with a Fire move (showing how fire can actually lead to regrowth for trees in some areas).

Fire/Fairy – Victini kinda fits this bill already, but some kind of sprite that embodies fire should be easy enough. Living fire can probably be used as a Fire/Fairy without much issue and would probably come out as pretty simple design. I’ve always seen ‘Fairy’ as ‘Fae’ so basically any kind of fae myth works just fine; like I could see a Dullahan be the basis of a Steel/Fairy. Other than living fire or a Will O’ Wisp, maybe a Salamander of some sort. They’re usually associated with Fire (I mean that’s what the Charmander line is based on) and they could probably keep its design simple and ‘cute’ enough that people wouldn’t demand it to be a Dragon.

Electric/Fighting – I feel like I’m going to be typing ‘honestly’ a lot, but Electabuzz kinda feels like it should have been Electric/Fighting a long time ago. Zeraora (or however its spelt) also looks like it should have been Electric/Fighting. Sometimes gamefreak’s choices really confuse me. Anyway, I could see something like a Kangaroo being used as an Electric/Fighting pokemon. I know we already have Kangaskhan, but he’s the only one based on a Kangaroo. Other than him, maybe one of those fighting cranes? Sure, flying would be the most obvious, but there’s plenty that don’t match what they look like lol.

Ice/Poison – I’ve got no idea; they’re too wildly different types its kind of hard to guess. Unfortunately, unless its a Legendary Pokemon with some really good stats and a good ability, its likely to suffer since this particular combo gives 4 weaknesses and only 1 resistance (its own type, Ice) so it sucks right out of the gate. A regional variant for Delibird could work. Instead of throwing presents it can be throwing out garbage lol. Other than that, uh….I don’t know, a deep-sea arctic bacteria maybe?

Fighting/Ground – Again, I see a Kangaroo being good for this typing. And a Rhino, actually. The legendary trio from gen 5 were quadrupedal fighters so another one for Fighting/Ground based off a Rhino could work. An ape of some kind would work, too. I know we just got a Gorilla for the last starter so maybe a Fighting/Ground Orangutan? That’d be pretty cool.

Fighting/Fairy – I have NO clue. A Leprechaun based one maybe? Might be getting close to a stereotype if you make a leprechaun-looking pokemon that’s good at fighting because its ‘drunk’ but some kind of boozy tiny fighter is all that’s coming to mind.

Poison/Steel – Pretty interesting combo; resists the psychic weakness, immune to Poison, completely walls Fairy types, but quad weakness to Ground which is pretty prevalent. I think this would be another pokemon based on an ‘object’ like Garbodor or Klefki. In fact, maybe a regional variant placing Garbodor in actual trash can would make for a nice Poison/Steel type (instead of just leaving the poor thing as a bursting bag of garbage. Other than that, something industrial showing off pollution in some regard.

Ground/Fairy – Fairy really is missing a whole lot of represetation; i never knew until I started typing this out. As I said earlier, ‘Fairy’ really seems like its more of a ‘Fae’ (mythological in a sense) so a lot of different old stories could encompass them; they’re like spirits representing an element, so for the Ground, I’d imagine some kind of Mole would work. Given Gamefreak’s penchant for making fairy types ‘cute’ I’m guessing they could take a Star-Nose Mole and make it a Fairy type.

Rock/Ghost – A Gargoyle. Plain and simple; not sure how or why it wasn’t done already, but a Gargoyle would be a pretty awesome way to show off that typing.

DND – Hypothetical Subclass

Just needed somewhere to write down the idea for a subclass that I can have squirreled away where no one will really see it lol. It’s basically just a thought I had of a way to incorporate One Piece’s Devil Fruits into DND for a One Piece style campaign. The fruits would be divided into type: Zoan (Animal-based), Logia (Element-based), and Paramecia (Everything else) just like for the anime. I had also envisioned this as a way to kind of spice up the Monk class since…well, its a bit underwhelming when compared to the other classes. Some of the subclasses help make it a little better like Way of Mercy and Ascendant Dragon but…the class still feels lacking. I don’t know how much this will really help, but I figured writing out the idea would help me judge it better.

Zoan Type- Since this fruit is animal-based, I figured some tiered abilities that correspond to better and better mastery of the fruit would be appropriate. Starting with the basics, it would be that upon choosing this subclass, you get a proficiency in a skill related to the animal (Dog-based it would be Survival, Apes would be Athletics, Cat-like would be Acrobatics, etc). You would also start with the Druid-like ability to change form into the animal your fruit is based off a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus. The uses would be reset per long rest (later to be upgraded to per short rest). By level 3, you can transform parts of yourself and are granted Claw, Tail, Horn, Talon, or Fang weapons as part of a partial transformation bonus with less aggressive models like Fish getting abrasive scales (giving disadvantage and automatic damage to those trying to grapple you as well as damage to those attacking you unarmed) or Amphibians getting a poison-based attack (Poison Spray cantrip or an ability to secrete a low-level poison to apply to melee weapons). When you reach level 6 with this fruit, the abilities gained at level 3 increase by 1 damage die (d4 -> d6, d6 -> d8, etc) and a resistance is gained (such as resistance to Cold damage for aquatic models, resistance to poison and disease for Reptile and Amphibian models, or resistance to Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing, or Force for other types). At level 10, you harness the ability to access your Hybrid form. As a bonus action, you can change into a perfect hybrid of your race and fruit model. This form lasts for 10 minutes, are KOed/Killed, or until you transform back willingly. You gain a number of uses to this form equal to your Proficiency bonus and regain uses on a Long rest. When in this form, your movement speed (or climbing or swimming speed depending on your model) increases by 10ft, you can add an extra d6 to all attack rolls you make, and once per transformation, you can use a bonus action and spend 4 Ki pts to use a special ability relating to your fruit (varies by model):

Canine – Howl: All creatures you choose within a 30ft radius must make a WIS saving throw. Any creature that fails this throw has disadvantage on all attack and saving throws made until the end of your next turn.

Feline – Silent Step: Choose any creature in range of your vision. You instantly appear silently behind them and have advantage on your attack roll. Any creature hit by your attack this turn can make no reaction abilities or attacks until the end of your next turn.

Mammal – Mad Dash: You dash forward in a frenzy utilizing your full movement speed. This dash does not provoke attack of opportunity. Any creatures within 5ft of your dash must make a DEX saving throw or take 3d12 damage and are knocked prone. Creatures that pass take half damage and are not knocked prone.

Reptile – Poison Fog: You spew forth a noxious cloud of fog that heavily obscures vision for opponents but remains only lightly obscured for allies. Any creature except yourself that enters, starts, or ends its turn in the fog must make a CON saving throw or takes 2d10 Poison damage. The fog lasts for 1 minute and can be cleared with a strong wind (such as winds from the Wall of Wind spell).

Amphibian – Mucus: Your unarmed, melee, or ranged weapons are covered in a slime-like mucus for the next 1 minute. Any creature hit with a coated weapon takes an extra d6 in acid damage and has their movement speed reduced by 15ft. If a creature is successfully hit 3 or more times in the same time with a mucus-coated weapon, they must make a STR saving throw or be paralyzed until the start of your next turn.

Simian – Grapple Toss: You gain advantage on grappling any target in reach of your melee attack so long as they are no more than 1 size larger than you. You can also add your STR and Proficiency bonuses when determining success on the grapple. If the target is successfully grappled you can immediately throw the target a number of feet equal to a third of your current movement speed. The target and anyone it collides with each take 2d12 dmg and are knocked prone. The creature in the path of the thrown target can make a DEX saving throw to avoid damage completely and being knocked prone.

Avian – Wing Beat: For the next 1 minute, all ranged attacks, both melee and magical, have disadvantage against you as you can beat your wings to cause a powerful gust to blow the attack off course. You can also use a bonus action until the transformation ends to dispel any fog or smoke in the area.

Aquatic – Deep Denizen: For the next 1 minute, your scales harden, granting you resistance to all attacks and elements. If you are in water, your swimming speed is equal to twice your current movement speed, having advantage on all DEX saving throws, and no creature can take an attack of opportunity against you.

Finally, at level 15 you’ve learned how to awaken your fruit. Your awakened form can be accessed once per day, lasts for 5 minutes, and grants the following bonuses:

-Bonus Hp = Max Hp

-You grow one size larger

-All your melee, unarmed, or ranged attacks hit for 1d20

-Resistance to Slashing, Bludgeoning, Force, and Piercing damage

-Movement Speed & Climbing increases by 15ft

-Melee and unarmed attack range increases by 5ft

-You can move through difficult terrain as if it were normal

-You suffer one level of exhaustion when the transformation ends

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Something Pearl

I forgot what Pearl’s remake is called…I only ever cared about Diamond because look at Dialga. The first Steel/Dragon type; the thing was an absolute beast. Wrecked by Cynthia’s Garchomp, but still a beast! Though to be fair, what wasn’t wrecked by her Garchomp?

With the release of the Gen 4 remakes finally out today, I plan on jumping on in and replaying one of my favorite generations. I had really wanted to play these games a long time ago, but my copy of Diamond was lost to the Ether a long time ago. And unfortunately, Diamond/Pearl in particular are pretty hard to find. Every Pokemon game, once the new generation releases, become impossible to find and any you do manage to find go for more money than the original cost. So once I lost Diamond, that was it; it was gone. I haven’t played it since Gen 5 first released (I foolishly sold my copy back to reduce the cost of Pokemon White back in the day).

I plan on immediately jumping in to this remake (a faithful recreation with basically nothing but quality of life improvements added) and doing a new Nuzlocke challenge. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to properly do one since Pokemon Sword & Shield as well as Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee both had overworld appearing pokemon thus rendering the Nuzlocke concept either impossible or extremely difficult to adhere to.

Now that my resolve is set, it’s time to define both the Iron Clad & Optional rules to a Nuzlocke Challenge!

1. You can only catch the first pokemon you encounter the first time you enter a route. If it gets KO’ed or runs away, too bad; you forever lose out on being able to catch something from said route.
2. All Pokemon caught MUST be given a Nickname in order to foster a stronger bond with the pokemon so that Rule #3 has a more significant emotional effect on you.
3. Any Pokemon KOed is dead. No placing them in the Pokebox; they’re gone for good. Release them to the afterlife.
4. You use the last digit of your Pokemon Trainer number (usually found on the Trainer Card) to determine which Starter you choose. If the number ends in a 1-3, you must choose the Grass Starter; 4-6 the Fire Starter; 7-9 the Water Starter; and if the last digit is a 0 then congrats you have some luck; you get to choose your starter.
5. If you run out of Pokemon and don’t have any left in the Pokecenter you lose.

Those are the Nuzlocke Rules that are mandatory for every Nuzlocke challenge. From there, people start adding optional rules to either make things easier or tougher for their challenge. I’ll list as many of them as I can here.

1. Legendary Clause – Legendary Pokemon are not KOed when defeated; why else would they be called Legendary?
2. No Legends Rule – You can catch Legendary Pokemon, but cannot use them in the Nuzlocke run because they’re too overpowered.
3. Shiny Clause – Shiny Pokemon, since they are so ridiculously rare, can be caught even if you’ve already caught something within the same route. Whether you use them or not in your challenge is up to you (but you’re already bending the Route Catch rule so in the interest of fairness, it’s best that you don’t)
4. Starter Clause – Since you’re given your starter, it can be the only pokemon you have free will in choosing.
5. Gift Pokemon Clause – A Gift Pokemon counts as your 1 Pokemon for the route (the route in this case being the City or Town you receive it in). This also means, however, that if multiple Gift Pokemon are available within the city (such as rewards from Celadon’s Game Corner) then you can only receive one of them.
6. No Gift Pokemon Rule – You can’t use Gift Pokemon.
7. Fishing/Headbutt Clause – You can fish or Headbutt Trees (for Gen 2) once per route if it’s not already a route by itself (such as one of the many water only routes in Gen 3).
8. No Fishing/Headbutt Rule – You can’t fish in a route you’ve already caught something; you’ll either have to find a water only route and fish there instead of encountering something via Surf or you’re out of luck.
9. Limited Pokemon Rule – You can’t carry a full 6 Pokemon; you’re limited to a max of ‘X’ decided by yourself before starting the challenge. Usually people who think the Nuzlocke may be too easy will limit themselves to only using a max of 3 or 4 instead of the full 6.
10. Rare Candy Revival Clause – Rare candies are rare because they’ve got the ability to revive the dead! Under this clause, a KOed pokemon who would normally be dead can be saved if you happen to have a Rare Candy on hand to ‘revive’ them. If you don’t have one right after the battle in which the pokemon was KOed ends, however, the clause cannot be invoked.

And that’s it; those are the base rules and most common ‘extra rules’ a Nuzlocke tends to have. For the one I want to do for Brilliant Diamond, I plan on adding the Shiny Clause (though I won’t use a Shiny if I catch one) and to Limit the number of pokemon I can carry.

The Last

Final fighter finally revealed for Smash bros Ultimate. Sora from Kingdom Hearts.

Definitely thought he was out of the running.

It’s a nice character choice; definitely iconic since it was a good series (KH III not included) and a lot of fun. It was really groundbreaking not only for fun gameplay and a nice story, but the character interactions of a whole bunch of Disney properties as well as Final Fantasy characters. At the time, Kingdom Hearts was considered one of the most ambitious crossovers in gaming history. Now, Smash Bros kind of took up that mantle thanks to all the crazy collaboration and wide-range of gaming characters in it. It seems only right that the final character be the original crossover sensation protagonist.

To get a sense of just how big a crossover game Smash Bros has become, this is what we’ve got from non-Nintendo owned companies:

Mega Man, Ryu, & Ken [Capcom]

Sonic & Joker [Sega]

Steve and Banko & Kazooie [Microsoft]

Cloud, Sephiroth, Dragonquest’s Hero, & now Sora [SquareEnix]

Snake [Konami]

Pac-Man & Kazuma [Namco]

Terry Bogard [SNK]

7 Different companies were approached and had to be bartered with in order to get these characters into the game in a meaningful way. This also often included Stages, Music, Mii Costumes, and Spirits involving more content from the characters’ respective games so this whole ordeal was a massive undertaking. And that doesn’t include the small Indie companies that got what I liked to refer to as ‘PreMiium Costumes’; Mii Characters with more effort to make them look like the character they represent instead of an obvious mii wearing a Halloween Costume-like look. Shantae, Bomberman, Sans from Undertale, Pip Boy from Fallout, and Cuphead each had costumes to make the mii look exactly like the character. Some of them even had their own Music track added, so that was additional negotiations done with even more companies!

Sora truly was a good choice to wrap end it on. Then when you top it off with the reveal that he was actually the most requested in the Smash Ballot that went out 4-5 years ago, it makes sense.

It was a good decision.

It really was.

So why am I disappointed?

I’ve played the games and minus KH III they were all a lot of fun. I loved them and Sora himself was a good protagonist. A little whiney, but good. The gameplay, like I mentioned earlier, was a ton of fun as well; very smooth and pretty rewarding (at least by KH II).

Even though I think he deserves the spot, is a great choice, and looks like he’ll be pretty fun to play as, I’m just a little disappointed it wasn’t someone else. I guess I kind of had my heart set on either a final first party character (like King Boo or someone from Zelda since that series has criminally low representation) or Dr. Robotnik. Sonic really felt like it should have another character in there since the series is basically a Nintendo property at this point. Sure, his stuff is on all consoles, but debuts on Nintendo often and has the most Nintendo-only appearances (like Smash Bros & Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games). Not to mention the Nintendo Online will be adding a virtual Sega soon. It feels like a series that really needed an extra character.

Oh well…kinda hard to complain too much because this game really does have a metric ****-ton of characters from series all over the industry that are fun to play as. It’ll be another 2 weeks until release; October 18th which is a little disappointing. I was kinda hoping that today’s character would be available by next Tuesday by the latest, but whatever. It’s been 3 years since DLC first started releasing so I can wait another 2 weeks.

Hypothetical Move Sets

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.

Smash Bros. Ultimate DLC: The Finalé

The last Smash Bros. Ultimate character is set to be revealed and shown off on October 5th. Revealed & Shown off sounds redundant, you say? Technically, you’re right, but I say this because of how they always write out the Nintendo Directs for these things. ‘Revealed’ is usually jsut the trailer showing us who and ‘Shown Off’ is the full on presentation explaining the history, why they were added, the stage & music accompanying them in the game, and a complete breakdown of the character’s playstyle.

So, all that said, who will be the last character added? Speculation has been wild these last 3 years for the DLC characters to be added and there are a ton that were added that nobody saw coming in the slightest. From the very beginning, only a few characters from Fighter’s Pass one ended up being predicted and/or leaked. After Joker’s inclusion, data miners found code words that, when coupled with leaker’s inside knowledge, led the community to know both Hero from Dragon Quest and Banjo-Kazooie to be two of the characters that were to-be-announced. Following them, a copyright leak a week before their reveal led us to learn that Terry Bogard was the next character. Everyone else though? Completely in the dark. No leaker was correct; nobody even guessed close.

Byleth seemed like a last minute addition as the final Fighter’s Pass #1 character and rumors suggest the character was made from the remnants of a scrapped character design earlier in production. With the release of Fire Emblem: Three Houses coming only a few months after Smash Ultimate’s release, people had figured they’d be base game and never really considered it. It didn’t help that one of the prominent leakers people were looking to divulged a whole huge list of companies that the upcoming character was NOT from and said they were 3rd party (despite Fire Emblem being a 1st party game). The fact that Piranha Plant (a bonus character for signing up for Nintendo online) was was the only 1st party DLC character thus far had also led people to not suspect Fire Emblem since it seemed weird to end the Pass on a 1st party character when everyone else had been 3rd party.

From then on, nobody was able to predict anything and no leaks really came out. Min-Min? People thought that since Spring-man was in only as an Assist Trophy that ARMs missed the boat entirely for getting a new character, so speculation never really took that game into account.

Steve was from Mincraft, a Microsoft property, so when Banjo-Kazooie, another MS character was added, people thought that was it; that it could only be one or the other. To give credit where credit is due, there was ONE leaker who did say something Minecraft related, possibly Steve himself, was being worked on for Smash, but that was back during the early days of Pass 1 and when Banjo came out, everyone assumed the leaker was just wrong. In any case, Steve was never considered after Banjo came out.

Sephiroth was way off peoples’ radar as a possibility. He of course was highly wanted, but with Cloud already in representing Final Fantasy and another Square Enix property, Hero, being added to rep Dragon Quest, nobody expected another Final Fantasy character to suddenly reappear.

Pyra/Mythra also threw alot of people off since right before the game’s release, Sakurai showed of a ‘Rex’ Mii Costume stating that Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was released too late into Smash’s development cycle to make it in as a character. The release of Pyra/Mythra, along with Min-Min from ARMs, has led people to speculate that this pass was all about characters with ‘missed opportunities’. ARMs was too late, so Min-Min was naturally added now; Steve had a 5 year negotiation, so Pass 2 was when he finally made it in; Sephiroth was added to shore up the poor offering of Final Fantasy content; and Pyra/Mythra added because Xenoblade Chronicles 2 missed the boat by Sakurai’s own admission.

It seemed a plausible theory (though Sephiroth and Steve’s reasoning was a stretch), but then the penultimate addition was Kazuya from Tekken; yet another character with no warning or even speculation suggesting them (save from one lone cook on Smashboards who had since disappeared from the boards long before the announcement).

All in all, you may be asking, ‘what am I trying to say here?’. What I’m saying is that this pass has been too random to predict; it was all over the board, but there is one bit of information that can be gleaned from all this: None of the characters people thought ‘likely’ from the last 3 years has made it. No Geno, No Waluigi (he’s already an Assist Trophy; stop asking!), No Master Chief, No Doomguy (stupidest F(*&ing name), No Dante, No Crash Bandicoot, No Monster Hunter (they already had Rathalos base game; why would a character suddenly be added now, morons?), No Sora.

Is there time for one of the aforementioned people to make it in as the last character? Yeah….aside from Dante, Monster Hunter, Geno, and Waluigi who all were either Assist Trophies or recently added as Mii Costumes. But I think what needs to be considered is that like I said, nobody was right. About Anything. Hero & Banjo were datamined; a problem Nintendo fixed right after Banjo (and the two were revealed in the same E3 Direct anyway) and Terry was leaked only a week prior to reveal (another lesson they learned as well). If not for those, not a single character would have been known, or predicted, before hand and only Banjo had a strong fan request; the rest were either coming from out of left field entirely or considered a lost cause due to a previous character making it in.

I can’t help but think that when considering all that, it means that the very last character isn’t going to be anyone we’re expecting….yet again. It’s doubtful it’ll be any of the characters people have been hoping for these last 3 years (many of them were out there ideas like Dragonborn from Skyrim or Doomguy from Doom anyway) and as the most recent Direct said nothing other than “The last Character will be announced on Oct. 5th” it’s not likely to be 1st party either (because why not advertise a little with the trailer during that highly watched Direct instead of just tossing out a separate date?).

I honestly can’t predict who it’ll be because nobody’s been able to, but I’m going to try and predict who it won’t be. After their reveal next week, I’ll circle back to this to see if I was right. So, here’s who I think it won’t be:

Sora, Doom Guy, Master Chief, Crash Bandicoot, Dragonborn, Ryu Hyabusa, Nahobino (Shin Megami Tensei V protagonist), a Mario franchise Character, a Breath of the Wild Zelda champion, a Gen 8 Pokemon, a Metroid Dread character, Ring Fit Trainer, Dr. Robotnik, Bandana Waddledee, anyone from Mortal Kombat, Arle, 2B, KOS-MOS or Reimu.

Who does that leave? I dunno, but I’d strongly bet the reveal is someone not from this list above (even though I’d like Master Chief, a Pokemon, or Crash).

Smash Bros. Ultimate: Fighter #10

So, I think I was the only one to really predict that this character would be someone nobody predicted over the last couple months of speculation. As it turns out, the last time this character was even considered on the Smashboards forum was back in 2019; two whole years ago!

Fighter number 10 to be added as DLC will be Kazuya Mishima, from Tekken. Why not Heihachi or Jin? Well, the protagonist always comes first and when it comes to Tekken, Kazuya was actually the first main hero of the game. It changed to Jin later on in roughly the third game as Kazuya actually turned to being the main antagonist. This means that not only do we get a Tekken main hero, but a villain at the same time!

While I’m fine with this reveal, I’m a bit bummed that the ‘leak’ earlier proved to be false. There’s still the chance that it’ll be the last character to be added, but Master Chief from the Halo series was rumored to be the character reveal for today a few hours before the Direct. This came from reliable leakers, too, so come trailer time, it was a fair shock to see kazuya instead. I don’t particularly love the halo series, I mean, I enjoyed playing Halo: Reach with friends for a time (only because they played NOTHING else for that entire year if not longer than that), but it is an iconic series, so Master Chief really does deserve a spot.

The Sakurai Presents…and hopefully the release of the character is on June 28th. Nothing will be mentioned of the final character, so it’ll be another 3 months until we find out who is finally ending this pass for the greatest Smash Brothers game in history.

My bet? Someone we yet again did not see coming. Possibly even underwhelming considering we have basically all major franchises already represented lol. My personal hope has always been for more 1st party characters, but that’s probably already been accomplished with Min Min and Pyra/Mythra. The last character is probably going to be another 3rd party that nobody saw coming.

FFVI Job Class

I was reading through some threads on reddit earlier and noticed one in the Final Fantasy subreddit where someone was asking what traditional Job Class Terra would be considered. Of course while everyone basically agreed on the same class, some pointed out that everyone can use magic and summon and didn’t really get the gist of the question.

Sure, everyone can do anything, but without delving deeper into the Stat Growth Manipulation that Espers provide, each character had a certain path they aligned to. Relm was by no means set up to be a Physical Powerhouse; Sabin was not intended to be a Magical Deity of Destruction. Each had their own initial design mechanic (some more obvious than others) and kept the primary ‘job’ ability throughout the game.

Just to satisfy my own personal curiosity, I wanted to list my opinion of where they all fell….instead of responding to the thread itself since Reddit, like any other Social Media site, can be fatally toxic and no matter how friendly a sub may seem, I just didn’t want to be sucked into that realm.

For the sake of simplicity, I am ONLY considering the character’s Primary Ability (how they’re initially presented to us) and the Equipment capabilities (what they are or aren’t able to equip). I saw only one person mention equipment, but certain equipment is tied to jobs and pretty typical of certain classes, so I’m surprised they didn’t use the justification of what Terra is limited to (not all heavy armors) to classify her as Red Mage.

1. Terra – Red Mage: Everyone pegged this one immediately and its right on the mark. She’s good at a little bit of everything: Magic & Physical; can equip most ‘clothes’ and some ‘Armors’ and primarily uses Swords as her primary weapon (no Rods or Staves like typical Red Mages, though). Some on the forum were saying ‘Summoner’ too…probably because she herself was part Esper (the Summoned Species for this FF).

2. Locke – Thief/Rogue: His primarily ability he comes with is ‘Steal’; he uses Daggers, some swords (but not able to use all), equips ‘Clothes’ (no heavy armors) and even has access to unique accessory equipment that will modify his ability to ‘Mug’. Pretty sure nobody out there disputes this lol.

3. Edgar – Machinist: The world’s setting is kinda Steampunk; Magic & Machines, but everyone still lives a normal, low-tech lifestyle with things like lamps, Chocobo carriages, etc. There’s not a whole of technology save for the Empire’s main city and Edgar’s Kingdom (which appears like a normal castle but is actually capable of compacting and drilling through the earth to change locations). Edgar is the only character capable of using ‘Tools’…things like that are very much ‘tech’ focused like Noise Blasters, donning a Bio Hazard suit and spraying poison mist, and even whipping out a Chainsaw to whirl around like a madman. Normally a machinist (in the other few FFs its appeared in) are limited to Projectile weapons (guns and/or crossbows) and light armor, but being a King, he actually can use swords & shield along with heavy armor making him a bit of a Knight/Machinist hybrid.

4. Sabin – Monk: If you’ve played the game, you know this doesn’t really need an explanation. He studied under a martial arts master; looks like a traditional Eastern Martial Artist, and knows how to Suplex a Ghost Train. He’s a monk through and through.

5. Bannon – White Mage: You do get to play as Bannon for a short period of time in this game, so yeah; I’ll include him. He’s squishy as all get out (low Def & Hp) and can be one-shot by Ultros if you don’t have him in the backline. He can’t attack for beans either; his one purpose is to use his ‘Pray’ ability which is standard on most White Mages. It’s light-medium level healing to all party members (it’s actually one of Yuna’s starting abilities).

6. Celes – Paladin: Other than Terra….and Strago…and…arguably Relm? Celes is the only character capable of naturally learning Magic. Everyone else has to wait until you get the ability to give your characters Magicite (which can influence Stat growth and allow for learning of certain spells depending on equipped Esper). Celes has no option to wear light armor; just Swords, Flails, Shields, and heavy armor. her primary ability, Rune, isn’t really used elsewhere in FF, but it can Draw any spells used the round she uses it to herself, doing no damage but restoring some Mp. It may be flimsy, but the fact that she has starting spells centered around Healing, curing Poison, and an ability that draws damaging spells to herself (to protect teammates) coupled with her limited Equipment choices is the justification I’m using to label her a Paladin.

7. Gau – Beastmaster: Not seen since FF 5, the Beastmaster is capable of manipulating monsters and having them use their abilities on others. Gau is a unique approach to that mechanic in that when it’s his turn, you choose a monster from an ability menu (based on monsters from around the game that can all be encountered and ‘learned from’ on his home region of the Veldt) and Gau will then impersonate that Monster. He gains all passive abilities (like Float or Shell) and uses either basic attacks (scaled off his physical attack) or some of their unique skills (Pro Tip: He likes to Spam Reraise when impersonating ‘Destroyer’!). Might be seen as a bit of a stretch, but it seems like the best job class fit.

8. Cyan – Samurai: Honestly, his Swords Tech…and the name’s of the moves within it…are the only real clue as to what he is designed as. He uses Swords only and Medium armor (no clothes, none of the heavy armor…I think). His penchant for speaking in an ‘Ole English’ accent is weird, though…not sure if that was just a translation choice or what it actually was like in the original Japanese script.

9. Shadow – Ninja: He’s more Ninja than Naruto. He throws stuff; some of which can turn him invisible; and has ridiculous starting evasion. Not to mention he’s entirely clad in black and uses daggers & knives; no swords.

10. Setzer – Gambler: Not only is his special ability literally a Slot Machine, but Setzer is the only character whose weapon choices consists of Darts and Playing Cards while his Airship, the reason you try to recruit him to begin with, is called ‘Blackjack’ and is filled with Casino tables lol. Oh, and his Desperation attack, Red Card, throws magical deck of playing cards at the enemy. He’s a Gambler.

11. Strago – Blue Mage: His ‘Lore’ ability is Magic that he learns from enemy monsters (has to be used on him first before he can learn it) which is the hallmark of a Blue Mage.

12. Relm – Artist: I don’t think there’s a matching Job Class for what she does, honestly. Relm is limited to rods & staves along with Light Armor, so she’s in the ‘Mage Class’ category but her Sketch Ability doesn’t really align with anything. She makes a duplicate of an enemy that uses a special skill, then disappears. You’re not actually controlling the enemy (like a Beast Master) and the duplicate copy doesn’t stay on the field (like Gau’s new twist on the job class). Not to mention the Beastmaster is usually pretty HP tanky and not nearly as squishy as Relm is.

13. Mog – Dancer: A real weird dancer. He’s the only character with the ability (which is unique to that job class), but unlike normal dancers that are limited to light armor and daggers, Mog can use heavy armor and is only one of two characters with access to Lances, making him a bit of a Lancer/Dancer.

14. Umaro – Berserker: You can’t actually control him. Like, at all. He can only equip some unique accessories that add abilities for him (like Rage Band) and he has ridiculously high attack and Health.

15. Gogo – Mime: One of the more fun (but broken) characters in the game, Gogo can equip literally anything (including character specific items) and can choose from any 3 (maybe 4?) job skills from the other characters (like Edgar’s ‘Tools’ or Cyan’s ‘SwrdTch’). Also, his name and design is pretty much a direct copy of the secret boss, Gogo, in FF5, whom you need to beat in order to get the Mime job crystal. Last thing? Gogo in FF5 states at the beginning of the battle that he does everything you do (mimicry!) and you can only win by literally doing nothing.

Final Fantasy Smash

Alright, so while doing some basic discussion on Smashboards waiting for the next character reveal, the talk of what the next best FF character would be popped up. I had said that the series honestly could do well with a Smash series all its own (so long as it didn’t do something stupid like PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale did with its combat system). With that in mind, I figured I’d lay out a character list for a hypothetical Final Fantasy Bros. Roster that has a bit better representation per series than Smash has. Smash is a little skewed in its reps of different properties; I’m going to try and have this a bit more even.

This won’t be nearly as in depth or as long as some of my other posts; just basic character list and maybe a simple rundown of their character type or description when needed….which may end up being the first couple of FFs due to their much older, much more simplistic character designs. Also, many of these characters will probably just have ‘Same as Dissidia’ for a description over their overarching Fighting Style/General Idea of their Specials.

Final Fantasy I:

Warrior of Light [Knight]- Just like with Dissidia, though Dissidia’s character was meant to kind of be all the avatar character’s job classes at once, it was basically modeled after, and fought like, a Knight.

Warrior of Light [Black Mage]- One of the most iconic looks for a Black Mage; best to just make it a character with a long flowing blue robe, the Yellow iconic hat, and the eyes and face totally obscured it shadows save for the glow of power emanating from their eyes. This character would be mostly like range, magic based with no real specific elemental focus.

Garland- Similar style to Dissidia’s just like with Warrior of Light; just turn Chaos into his Final Smash.

Final Fantasy II:

Firion – Same as Dissidia

Maria – Close range abilities are limited since she’s mostly a bow fighter. She can smash people with the bow or do a couple of one two hits, but will primarily be a zoning character who hits with arrows or dodges then counters with an arrow.

Mateus – Same as Dissidia

Final Fantasy III:

Onion Knight – Same as Dissidia

Cloud of Darkness – Same as Dissidia

I think FF III would be best off with only two reps. It has had the least amount of exposure to audiences outside Japan. I may be mistaken, but I don’t think III was even introduced to the West until its remake appeared on the DS. At least II was available for the PS One with that Final Fantasy Origins pack (it grouped I and II together). There was even an updated Origins pack for the PSP.

Final Fantasy IV:

Cecil – Same as Dissidia

Kain – Lance fighter. Think a fighting style that would combine the moves of Corrin (when their sword turns to a Lance and pierces the ground and jumps whatever direction want) and Byleth (for their Ahrengad Special….Side B….whatever that moves is called). Slow and some lag on moves, but powerful with Sephiroth’s Masamune’s reach. Aerials would basically be twirling the lance around for a spinning hitbox and Up Special would obviously be Jump so great vertical recovery, but poor Horizontal (might need a Forward Thrust special to get some Horizontal distance). [Or the same as Dissidia 012 because I forgot he was in it lol]

Golbez – Same as Dissidia

Final Fantasy V:

Bartz – Same as Dissidia. Also, I’m not calling him Butz.

Gilgamesh – Hear me out. I’d love to put Faris…even though it would likely be Lena if left up to Square…but Gilgamesh has appeared in many Final Fantasy games outside his original of V. Even his Battle Music, ‘Clash on the Big Bridge’ became iconic thanks to how good it was and it even got remastered in XII along with yet another Gilgamesh appearance. In fact, Dissidia’s appearance of Gilgamesh used the same reasoning of VIII for why you see him everywhere; he’s a dimensional traveler (explaining how he’s able to hunt all these famous swords). I think the implication is that he actually uses the Void from V to travel to different dimension. With how persistent he is and how well known within the FF community itself, it only makes sense the becomes one of the fighters to represent FF V over the other protagonists.

Ex-Death – Same as Dissidia…which would probably play a little like the customizable Palutena from Smash 4: two different abilities that counter; one for Physical Attacks and one for Special Attacks.

Final Fantasy VI:

Terra – Same as Dissidia

Celes & Locke – A duo akin to Pyra & Mythra that can switch back and forth with two different fighting styles.

Kefka – Same as Dissidia

Final Fantasy VII:

Cloud – Same as Smash Bros

Tifa – Same as Dissidia

Sephiroth – Same as Smash Bros

Final Fantasy VIII:

Squall – Same as Dissidia

Laguna – Same as Dissidia 012

Ultimecia – Same as Dissidia

Final Fantasy IX:

Zidane – Same as Dissidia

Kuja – Same as Dissidia

Hard to add another character from IX since they all kind of encroach on more established FF characters from the other games. Steiner’s a Knight who would play similar to Warrior of Light [Knight], Garland, Golbez, and basically every other heavy sword fighter. Vivi is basically just the generic Black Mage, just more adorable. Freya is based on Kain, Eiko & Garnet are both White Mage/Summoner Hybrids and would basically just play like Yuna who would be one of the characters to represent FF X, and Amarant is butt, so he doesn’t really get a chance. Beatrix is arguable and would basically be like a Fire Emblem Character like Chrom or Marth, so she’s doable, but like I said it may be better to just leave this one at 2 characters.

Final Fantasy X:

Tidus – Same as Dissidia

Yuna – Same as Dissidia

Seymour – A slower, maybe more aggressive Yuna Semi-Echo

Final Fantasy XI:

Shantotto – Same as Dissidia

Prishe – Same as Dissidia 012

Final Fantasy XII:

Vaan – Same as Dissidia

Ashe – Plays like ‘Hero’ from Dragon Quest, but with an Esper to help with some Specials (like Bayonetta’s Smash attacks) and without the Roulette wheel that’s the ‘Menu’ ability.

Vayne Solidor – Why did Dissidia have Gabranth? I mean, that just adds more fuel to my earlier post that Vayne was a pathetic villain for that game. You could have the body of the character be Vayne, but an Ethereal Venat covering him like Joker’s Arsene to do all the actual attacks (with Vayne maybe waving a sword around for a few attacks).

Final Fantasy XIII:

Lightning – Same as Dissidia

Snow – Up close & personal brawler like Little Mac…even though his weapon is technically a coat, because that makes sense (F(*&^ I hate XIII).

Best left at only 2 reps. Not only because I hated that game, but because when the main villain, Bartandelus was in human form, he didn’t really do much (he was a chubby Priest) and his Final Boss form was too damn big to make into something playable.

Final Fantasy Tactics:

Ramza – Fire Emblem type fighter with quick sword combos and other quick moves to be versatile in dodging and attacking.

Delita – Echo of Ramza (Delita was the mirror of Ramza on the road not taken)

Bonus Characters:

Chocobo & Mog – Design wise would be similar to FF 7’s summon of the two of them. Gameplay-wise it would be like Duckhunt Dog. Instead of random arcade western characters popping out, it would be more moogles appearing to attack or other chocobos or kicking a Fire Materia that can explode in the opponent’s face instead of a can. Final Smash could even be like Yoshi’s were its a stampede of different colored Chocobo coming in to trample the opponents.

Bahamut – Same as Ridley in Smash Bros; just a bulkier look. Even Ridley’s Final Smash makes a good ‘Mega Flare’ (despite Sephiroth having the Flare attacks as his neutral special). I think he might actually have Sephiroth’s ‘Shadow Flare’ in FFX as one of that Eidolon’s moves; that can be used here (A little cross sharing of moves is ok so long as characters are mostly unique from one another).