As Smash Bros absolutely embraces clones, who else ought to be a part of the fray as an echo fighter?
Don’t get us improper – 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 game embrace the idea of clones with formally categorized ‘echo fighters’ – additions to the roster who’re closely based mostly off present characters.
This opens up numerous potential prospects by way of further 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 battle 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 totally different properties or results, however echo fighters received’t have totally different assaults. In different phrases, they’re tweaked variations of present characters masquerading as a brand new character.
Princess Daisy may have assaults that carry out barely otherwise to her supply Princess Peach, as an illustration, however her precise assaults would be the identical. Lucina and Marth share assaults and specials, however Lucina is less complicated to make use of due to the injury being extra evenly distributed with out gamers being compelled to be notably correct along 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 type of makes him a combined echo. He doesn’t actually have any all-original strikes, although – however he as soon as once more borrows from present solid members.
This can result in a little bit of confusion, particularly with older characters. Link, Young Link and Toon Link are all thought-about distinctive characters since they’ve barely totally different specials. Dr. Mario isn’t really 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 that you must refresh your reminiscence of who’s on the roster, chack out our Smash Ultimate fighter roster page. Here’s our picks – tell us yours beneath within the feedback.
Ryu: Ken or Akuma
Look. This one is such a no brainer that it appears an apparent place to begin. 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 sequence has progressed Ken has step by step diverged away from Ryu, retaining the identical transfer set however taking up a definite, aggressive, rush-down strategy of his personal.
Ken can be a simple echo fighter for Ryu, sharing comparable strikes – sometimes, Ken has extra highly effective uppercuts and kicks whereas Ryu is extra about his zoning game and exact assaults. That’d be easy sufficient to implement, as would Ken’s iconic pink gi – but when they needed to distinguish him extra they might additionally put him in his a lot totally different Street Fighter 5 outfit. Another straightforward possibility can be common Street Fighter antagonist Akuma, whose overpowered shoto strategies 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 information pointing to chop characters. You’ll hear a bit of extra on this later, however one pair of information pertains to this echo fighter choose: information 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, nonetheless, it’d be a perfect time to convey a Toon Zelda again to pair up with Toon Link. Given that Toon Zelda has appeared in a number of Zelda 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 lower content material from Super Smash Bros Brawl, it’s solely proper we additionally convey up Dixie. Dixie is one other character referenced in information for the game, 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 games. That was in the end lower.
Dixie is a major Donkey Kong sequence character – in all probability essentially the most important not playable in Smash series baddie King K. Rool has joined the roster. She even took the starring position in Donkey Kong Country 3. Dixie appears 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 sequence’ presence in Smash.
Sonic: Shadow the Hedgehog (or Tails)
Shadow is one other character with some attention-grabbing previous historical past to recommend he may very well be an echo fighter in Smash Ultimate. Specifically: Shadow appeared as an help trophy in Brawl and Smash 4, however that help trophy has thus far 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 type of darkish model of Sonic who acts evil whereas nonetheless being a great man at coronary heart (I imply, simply take a look at the screenshot above – what an edgy prick), however that additionally means he mainly shares an equivalent transfer set to Sonic. He may very well be made right into a barely slower, harder-hitting model of the quippy Hedgehog simply, and in the event that they needed to go all the best way Sakurai’s workforce may give him a time-warping Chaos Control transfer that may very well be borrowed from Bayonetta’s Witch Time counter transfer. Alternatively Tails may additionally make a stable Sonic echo – however it wouldn’t be Tails if he couldn’t fly, so that they’d have to offer him that transfer. Metal Sonic may work too. Boy, the Sonic sequence positive does love its clones.
Sheik: Impa
Back to fully unfounded hypothesis for a second – Impa might be the final remaining really apparent Zelda character who isn’t one of many sequence’ one-shot villains. Impa has appeared in a variety of Zelda games and sometimes as an previous 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 develop 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 may be a bit of quickly provided that Octolings have solely been made playable within the Splatoon sequence for the primary time earlier this year, however it additionally makes numerous sense, particularly given Splatoon is Nintendo’s hottest and iconic new sequence in a great whereas and it solely has the one consultant in Smash.
Octolings are roughly equivalent to the Inklings and might probably use all the identical weapons – they only have a novel look to them, making them superb echo fighter materials for Smash Ultimate. It’d additionally enable for twice the quantity of Splatoon’s contemporary style to be proven off in Smash – sixteen totally 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 presently lack a correct villain – and provided that it’s a sequence Sakurai himself revived, one wouldn’t blame him for giving it a little bit of preferential therapy – thus Medusa’s place on this checklist.
Medusa is mainly a goddess of Darkness, so she’s a pure foil for Goddess of Light Palutena. They have extra in widespread than you’d assume, nonetheless – they each use magic and employees weapons to battle, they usually share comparable proportions. She’d make a pure echo fighter.
Bayonetta: Jeanne
Over within the Bayonetta sequence Jeanne is Bayonetta’s buddy and rival, and he or she’s in some ways really the secondary protagonist of the sequence. She performs a serious position within the story of each games, however crucially she’s additionally playable in each Bayonetta 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 enable her to dish out extra withering punishes and counters. Sounds like the perfect type of distinction for an echo fighter, proper?
Mario: Paper Mario
One of the issues that’s been a contact shocking to me about Smash in its final two entries is the dearth of illustration for Paper Mario, which is not any a reasonably important Mario spin-off sequence. It lastly bought a stage in Smash Four for 3DS, and that stage is definitely returning in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
More essential, nonetheless, 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 due to Mr. Game and Watch.
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