As Smash Bros absolutely embraces clones, who else ought to be a part of the fray as an echo fighter?
Don’t get us flawed – the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate character roster can be fairly stacked even with out clones. With that stated, it’s fairly cool to see the builders of the sport embrace the idea of clones with formally categorized ‘echo fighters’ – additions to the roster who’re closely based mostly off current characters.
This opens up a variety of potential prospects by way of additional characters – maybe nowhere higher exemplified than in each Simon and Richter Belmont making it onto the character, or Princess Daisy lastly getting her likelihood to struggle as a Peach echo character.
What is an Echo Fighter / Character?
Just within the curiosity of readability, earlier than we get to our picks for some cool echo fighter concepts from us on VG247, let’s discuss how an echo fighter is outlined for a second.
Broadly talking, echo fighters are characters who’ve strikes based mostly straight on one other character. These strikes may need completely different properties or results, however echo fighters received’t have completely different assaults. In different phrases, they’re tweaked variations of current characters masquerading as a brand new character.
Princess Daisy could have assaults that carry out barely in a different way to her supply Princess Peach, for example, however her precise assaults would be the identical. Lucina and Marth share assaults and specials, however Lucina is less complicated to make use of because of the injury being extra evenly distributed with out gamers being pressured to be significantly correct together with her sword.
Recently introduced echo character Chrom, he’s based mostly on Roy but in addition borrows a couple of strikes from Marth – which kind of makes him a blended echo. He doesn’t actually have any all-original strikes, although – however he as soon as once more borrows from current forged members.
This can result in a little bit of confusion, particularly with older characters. Link, Young Link and Toon Link are all thought of distinctive characters since they’ve barely completely different specials. Dr. Mario isn’t truly a Mario echo since he has a novel Down-B transfer – stuff like that.
With that stated, who would we choose for echo fighters if we had been answerable for Smash Ultimate? If you want to refresh your reminiscence of who’s on the roster, chack out our Smash Ultimate fighter roster page. Here’s our picks – tell us yours under within the feedback.
Ryu: Ken or Akuma
Look. This one is such a no brainer that it appears an apparent place to start out. In a way Ken is the authentic echo fighter, with him making his debut as a colour-swapped Ryu again in 1987’s Street Fighter. As the Street Fighter collection has progressed Ken has progressively diverged away from Ryu, retaining the identical transfer set however taking up a definite, aggressive, rush-down method of his personal.
Ken can be a simple echo fighter for Ryu, sharing comparable strikes – usually, Ken has extra highly effective uppercuts and kicks whereas Ryu is extra about his zoning sport and exact assaults. That’d be easy sufficient to implement, as would Ken’s iconic crimson gi – but when they wished to distinguish him extra they might additionally put him in his a lot completely different Street Fighter 5 outfit. Another straightforward choice can be common Street Fighter antagonist Akuma, whose overpowered shoto methods may simply be tailored from Ryu’s.
Zelda: Toon Zelda
So right here’s an attention-grabbing wrinkle: again in Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii there’s a bunch of recordsdata pointing to chop characters. You’ll hear slightly extra on this later, however one pair of recordsdata pertains to this echo fighter choose: recordsdata for a Toon Zelda and a Toon Sheik.
Toon Sheik would make most sense as Tetra, Zelda’s secret pirate id in Wind Waker, however these transfer units wouldn’t match up in any respect. Now that Zelda and Sheik are distinct characters, nevertheless, it’d be an excellent time to deliver a Toon Zelda again to pair up with Toon Link. Given that Toon Zelda has appeared in a number of Zelda video games throughout the Gamecube and DS, she’s important sufficient that she’d make an apparent and enjoyable echo fighter choose.
Diddy Kong: Dixie Kong
While we’re speaking about reduce content material from Super Smash Bros Brawl, it’s solely proper we additionally deliver up Dixie. Dixie is one other character referenced in recordsdata for the sport, and Smash boss Masahiro Sakurai later admitted that initially it’d been deliberate for Dixie and Diddy to type a single ‘tag team’ character, much like how the tag mechanic labored within the Donkey Kong Country video games. That was finally reduce.
Dixie is a major Donkey Kong collection character – most likely probably the most important not playable in Smash series baddie King K. Rool has joined the roster. She even took the starring function in Donkey Kong Country 3. Dixie seems like she’d require extra important transfer edits than most echoes, however she’d even be a very good match by way of increasing the Donkey Kong collection’ presence in Smash.
Sonic: Shadow the Hedgehog (or Tails)
Shadow is one other character with some attention-grabbing previous historical past to recommend he might be an echo fighter in Smash Ultimate. Specifically: Shadow appeared as an help trophy in Brawl and Smash 4, however that help trophy has to date been absent from all builds and showings of Smash Ultimate. Further, Knuckles has been added to Smash Ultimate as an all-new Sonic-series help trophy. Curious…
Shadow was designed to be a kind of darkish model of Sonic who acts evil and edgy (I imply, simply try the screenshot above – what a prick), however that additionally means he principally shares an an identical transfer set to Sonic. He might be made right into a barely slower, harder-hitting model of the quippy Hedgehog simply, and in the event that they wished to go all the way in which Sakurai’s workforce may give him a time-warping Chaos Control transfer that might be borrowed from Bayonetta’s Witch Time counter transfer. Alternatively Tails may additionally make a strong Sonic echo – nevertheless it wouldn’t be Tails if he couldn’t fly, in order that they’d have to offer him that transfer. Metal Sonic may work too. Boy, the Sonic collection certain does love its clones.
Sheik: Impa
Back to utterly unfounded hypothesis for a second – Impa might be the final remaining actually apparent Zelda character who isn’t one of many collection’ one-shot villains. Impa has appeared in a spread of Zelda video games and sometimes as an outdated girl sage or handmaiden, however a couple of variations of her – in Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword and Hyrule Warriors – have been kick-ass warriors in their very own proper.
Impa is commonly a Sheikah, one of many ninja-like clan of warriors sworn to guard the royal household. In Ocarina of Time, Impa is the one who trains Zelda within the arts required for her to change into Sheik within the years Link is sealed away – which means it’d make excellent sense for a Smash iteration of Impa, maybe based mostly on the Ocarina of Time model, to share Sheik’s transfer set.
Inkling: Octoling
This one could be slightly quickly provided that Octolings have solely been made playable within the Splatoon collection for the primary time earlier this year, nevertheless it additionally makes a variety of sense, particularly given Splatoon is Nintendo’s hottest and iconic new collection in whereas and it solely has the one consultant in Smash.
Octolings are roughly an identical to the Inklings and might doubtlessly use all the identical weapons – they only have a novel look to them, making them supreme echo fighter materials for Smash Ultimate. It’d additionally permit for twice the quantity of Splatoon’s recent trend to be proven off in Smash – sixteen completely different outfits complete.
Palutena: Medusa
While Kid Icarus does have Dark Pit as a Pit echo fighter on the roster, its presence in Smash Ultimate does at present lack a correct villain – and provided that it’s a collection Sakurai himself revived, one wouldn’t blame him for giving it a little bit of preferential remedy – thus Medusa’s place on this checklist.
Medusa is principally a goddess of Darkness, so she’s a pure foil for Goddess of Light Palutena. They have extra in widespread than you’d assume, nevertheless – they each use magic and employees weapons to struggle, they usually share comparable proportions. She’d make a pure echo fighter.
Bayonetta: Jeanne
Over within the Bayonetta collection Jeanne is Bayonetta’s good friend and rival, and he or she’s in some ways truly the secondary protagonist of the collection. She performs a serious function within the story of each video games, however crucially she’s additionally playable in each Bayonetta video games as an unlockable character.
When she’s unlocked, Bayonetta’s fight adjustments just a bit, with Jeanne one thing of a glass cannon that each takes and dishes out extra injury. Her Witch Time activation window is smaller, however once more permit her to dish out extra withering punishes and counters. Sounds like the best kind of distinction for an echo fighter, proper?
Mario: Paper Mario
One of the issues that’s been a contact stunning to me about Smash in its final two entries is the shortage of illustration for Paper Mario, which is not any a reasonably important Mario spin-off collection. It lastly obtained a stage in Smash Four for 3DS, and that stage is definitely returning in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
More necessary, nevertheless, is Paper Mario himself. Paper Mario is a pure, apparent match for a Mario echo – they’ll share the identical fundamental strikes (although the FLUDD down+B must go – ripe to get replaced with a hammer-swing transfer) and Sakurai’s workforce has perfected the artwork of 2D characters within the 3D world of Smash because of Mr. Game and Watch.
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