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Make Your Move 7 - It's Over, Nothing to See Here

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Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
I'm going to post a moveset today, but I need 8 more constructive posts for a new page. Come on guys, I'm sure we can do something. I know for sure MasterWarlord started his Story Mode, that's worth a read.
 

n88

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
1,527
@Koppakirby

Dr. Mario Remix was pretty good. The pill mechanic was interesting, although I would have liked to see it incorporated into the set more. Also, the detail about things like priority and speed was somewhat lacking. Would it not be possible to use the Up Aerial for an infinite recovery?

Everybody, raise your hand if you can read this. Then post and tell me if you raised your hand.

EDIT: Should look like this (Screenshot):
 

n88

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
1,527
@meanie+Neo

Yeah, I just found a new font, which is titled Arnprior. Ideally, it should not even resemble Times New Roman.
 

JOE!

Smash Hero
Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Messages
8,075
Location
Dedham, MA
so, on another note, we've all been doing priority completly wrong.

As it turns out, it should'nt be a universal stat, seeing as each move has it's own unique priority of sorts due to the way priority is judged.

As a quick example, let's take Marth and Captain Falcon:

Marth has good priority for two reasons: 1st, he has big hitboxes, that are far from his hurtbox (disjointedness), and his tipper gaurentees attacks that do mor ethan 10% if he hits them.

Falcon on the other hand does not have much disjoint (meaning his hitboxes are close to his hurtbox), and many of his attacks are quick and do not exceed 10% at times.

Now to explain why these specific traits are good/bad. Having a hitbox that is very close to your hurtbox means that even if you hit an attack, another attack can hit you easily seeing as you are not putting out much of a defensive wall between you and the enemy. Marth is good at this seeing as you need to get past his sword and hit his arm in order to do damage through one of his attacks, whereas hitting falcon as he swings a kick lets say, will hurt him since his hitbox is actually part of the hurtbox.

The second part is also easy to see. If two attacks do within 10% damage of each other, they will "clang" and cancel each other out laglessly. So Falcon can actually defend himself by Ftilt-ing Marth's Ftilt seeing as they do say, 5% and 6%. Marth will need to do 15% or more damage in order to plow through Falcon's hitbox (and Falcon will need 16% + to do the same).

Now marth can beat Falcon however using the ways mentioned above. If he Tippers, he could potentially out-damage, and plow through Falcon's attack. He could also end up hurting Falcon even if he out-damages his attack, because while he did not reach his hurtbox, Marth's sword's hitbox was not canceled, and can hurt Falcon still, seeing as Falcon's attacks are mostly not very far from his hurtbox.

This is why alot of characters sport good or bad priority. G&W's smashes do alot of damage, so even if they aren't that disjointed, there are few attacks that can beat them out. Sonic has "bad" priority because his hitboxes (like falcon's) dont extend too far from him on average (except that lovely uair) and are mostly Multi-Hit, meaning the single-hits dont clash with other attacks often, and are often plowed through as each his does like 1-2%.

Another important factor is attack speed when it comes to priority, and especially Aerial priority. For example, Ganondorf actually has very good priority due to his damage output, and moderate disjoint on some of his attacks (he's big, meaning big hitboxes). however, you rarely see him clang or plow through attacks because his hitboxes take so long to come out, meaning weaker and faster attacks can hit his hurtbox before they have a chance to clang or get punched through. This is the main means of judging priority with aerial attacks, because for some odd reason they do not clang with each other. In the air, it's all about who reaches who's hurtbox first, so range and speed win out. (which is why the aerial tornado is a pain, it has alot of hitboxes come out very quickly, so if you beat one, another hits you)

The final part of priority are the two special cases of transcended and Grab. Grab as you all know usually wins out vs any attack as long as you touch the hurtbox of another character, as you lock them in the grab. Transcended priority belong to certain attacks (like Ness' Fair and Falco's lasers) that do not follow the clang properties of damage, and ignore hitboxes alltogether.

hope this helps :p
 

Katapultar

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
1,251
Location
Australia
I can read it, but I don't really get it. Here's a post so to throw away this dead page and so Plorf can post his next set. This way, the thread will still be alive. Yes, it would be a shame if there were only 2 sets in the 19th episode of the MT Sunday Recap.

Also, read Warlord's Story Mode and reply. It's really good.

At JOE!:
I understand what you mean by it shouldn't be a universal stat. You're saying that we should not state the priority of a move, since based on what you stated, it is now common sense to understand priority based on the actual attack animation rather than stating it under false assumption.

Am I to assume that attacks that do more damage have higher priority? No matter, you helped a lot JOE!, and it's a good idea that everyone knew this.
 

Hyper_Ridley

Smash Champion
Joined
Dec 21, 2007
Messages
2,288
Location
Hippo Island
Very interesting JOE. So basically in order to have high "priority" you need to have big disjointed hitboxes or deal high damage. Am I correct? In that case I suppose non-weapon attacks could still have priority mentioned in case they have a wierd hitbox that's bigger than it appears, then for the most part if something deals high/low damage we just assume it has similar priority.

*makes note to fix up priority stuff on next moveset after homework.*
 

Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
N88, font doesn't work. Also, JOE, thanks for the tip, it is indeed helpful for future whatevers.

Trivia: Did you know that Drifloon only appears on Friday?
 

Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
✖DRIFBLIM



INFO

Drifblim is a 4th generation Pokémon that is the evolution of Drifloon. It has dual type, being both Ghost and Flying. Drifblim resembles a living hot air balloon, but is actually a ghost formed by the spirits of people and Pokémon alike. Drifblims, like their name suggests, drift on air currents, being able to pick up people and drop them off just about anywhere. This balloon Pokémon is actually quite shy, vanishing when spotted.

Now, how Drifblim translates into Brawl is quite interesting: the first thing you'll notice is that Drifblim has a negative fall speed. That's right, instead of falling down, Drifblim falls up, with the top and bottom blast lines essentially switched. Obviously, that has its own problems and benefits. Another fun note is that attacks that hit him have a bit of recoil, meaning, say, a hit with Mario's FAir will sound him bouncing back proportionally to the attack. It's hardly noticeable, but it's enough to stop comboers from making Drifblim unviable. He doesn't, however, have a shield or any dodges. Poor thing.

In addition, the game doesn't allow Drifblim to camp under the stage to get cheap wins. Oh no... Instead, if Drifblim is found significantly too far down to be hit reasonably (the game figures this out, trust me), he'll drift upwards regardless of what is in his way, going through stages if need be. He stops at ground level. This makes it so that the foe actually kind of stands a chance against Drifblim's unique abilities. Now, let's see what Drifblim's strong in, shall we?


STAT

FALLING SPEED ✖ -1/10
As mentioned before, Drifblim falls upwards. He doesn't do that too quickly, however, going up more slowly than Jigglypuff goes down.

SIZE ✖ 6/10
Drifblim is reminiscent of Luigi in height, but is quite wider.

WEIGHT ✖ 4/10
He's unfortunately pretty light for his size, this being a bad ratio.

POWER ✖ 2/10
Drifblims air moves literally cannot kill, him instead needing gimp kills. However, once he's gotten out his ground moveset, he can actually KO, albeit after some damage racking.

AIR SPEED ✖ 2/10
Well, seeing as he drifts everywhere, it's not likely that Drifblim moves very quickly in the air, now, is it?

GROUND SPEED ✖ 0/10
Drifblim never actually touches the ground, and when he comes close, he's always tethered just above it.

ATTACK SPEED ✖ 6/10
One plus about Drifblim is that his attacks all generally come out with little little lag.

RANGE ✖ 7/10
Drifblim has a lot of broad hitboxes and such, but is not quite at Dedede's level.

PRIORITY ✖ 9/10
Drifblim has quite a few disjointed hitboxes and non-damaging attacks, so that's cool!

JUMPS ✖ 11/10
Even though Drifblim already falls upward, he can jump infinitely to make himself lighter temporarily. Quite handy for quick escapes, but if your foe catches you while you're light...

RECOVERY ✖ 11/10
It's not possible for Drifblim to fall short of the stage. If you hit the bottom blast line, you suck at Drifblim.

SPECIAL

NEUTRAL SPECIAL ✖ SHADOW BALL
This is a chargeable, but not storable move. Drifblim fires a purply shadow sphere rather like Mewtwo or Lucario. That can be aimed a little bit before it fires, but only so much. He fires it straight down, though, making this an excellent move to use against those people on the ground. It'll do around 4% damage per uncharged shot, but... as I said, you can charge it. So yeah, that ends up being a 10% damage cap and full charge. It never does more than flinching knockback. Sound pretty terrible? well, yeah, but it has infinite range and charges in like, two seconds. It doesn't even have bad move decay, which is good considering how much Drifblim uses this.

One little catch, though: each hit with it makes the character a tiny bit floatier and jumpier. That means if you royally spam this move, you'll see that your opponent can actually reach you while you're drifting in the sky. Only if you spam, though, so, use this, rather than abuse this. By the way, the held charge will indeed give out contact damage exactly like Lucario's Aura Sphere. Also, charge by HOLDING B. Average starting and ending lag.


SIDE SPECIAL ✖ OMINOUS WIND
Ah, now here's a useful move. Remember how I said Drifblim has poor air speed? Well, that's not a problem. See, once you press side-b, MAGIC HAPPENS. Seriously though, some purple wind-energy looking stuff appears around Drifblim and you can move the control stick in anywhere to make the wind go in that direction. You have to hold the control stick while doing so, though, otherwise the eerie wind will just disappear with a minor pushback effect all around Drifblim. This attack can move physical projectiles.

Naturally, wind will move Drifblim quite easily, and since you can hold B infinitely, you can create some interesting paths and ways to move around. If a foe gets into the slipstream, they'll move too, though not nearly as much as Drifblim does. That makes it less of an extreme gimp move, though this can still be used to push people off the stage. The trail of wind can only really stay out for a short time, though, so each spot of it vanishes about 1.5 seconds after it's created. So yeah, awesome move for maneuverability, but all that much else. Average lag.


UP SPECIAL ✖ CLOUD CREATE
The name of this move is no trick; Drifblim quite simply creates a cloud above his body, formed by the wisp on top of his head. This move can't be charged, so holding down B won't do anything. The cloud is about the size of two Bowsers, and it'll slow down whoever passes through it. That means that Drifblim will fall even slower because of the cloud blocking his upwards path. Projectiles can also be slowed down. If two or more clouds touch each other, they'll combine into one larger cloud, which can be pretty convenient.

On the off chance that you use it while not above the stage, this can be used to gimp, too. However, that can backfire, seeing as it'll slow fall speeds if anyone's above it. Naturally, this does no damage, and what's more, clouds eventually disappear, meaning you won't realistically have a load of them hovering around. They also slowly drift on their own, being clouds and all. Ominous Wind drifts them more forcefully.


DOWN SPECIAL ✖ BALLAST
Drifblim falls up, right? Well, clearly he needs a way to get back down so as to not SD all the time. Enter this move. Holding down B will make Drifblim heavier, therefore making him obey normal gravity. It'll take a second to actually reverse totally, though, and once you let go of B, you start going up again. Still, though, if you can't use this move, you basically can't survive.

Forunately, you have some degree of protection here: see NAir. As I mentioned before, if you go under the stage with this, you will go back up regardless of what you do. One key thing to remember here is that since you're heavier while using this


AERIAL

NEUTRAL AERIAL ✖ PSYCHIC
Ah, another useful move! Here, Drifblim conjures a cool invisible aura around him, this coming out lightning-fast. The field lasts until you press A again, actually, with the max time being 6 seconds. The thing is, it gets weaker as you draw it out, with a more forceful push at the end of the attack. That means more things will bypass the shield.

The psychic aura repels projectiles and physical attacks quite well, but it has some bad ending lag just in case you really want to use it a lot. You'll find that, even though it doesn't do damage, the "knockback" it gives out is the #1 tool you'll use to stop people from hitting you. It also has a neat interaction with the next move...


FORWARD AERIAL ✖ WILL O WISP
From his ✖, Drifblim fires out an eerie bluish flame thing that's about the size of two Olimars. This has average lag, but it's not a very strong attack. It only deals 6%, but has some knockback that can't kill... ever. I forgot to mention that this is basically a projectile: this has a range of up to a Bowser in front of you.

Speaking of forgetting, I told you that clouds couldn't be destroyed. Well, I lied. This move alone can destroy clouds in a fiery burst that deals 10% and the same knockback as the FAir itself. Oh yeah, and one more thing. When used while Psychic is active, the flames from this attack circle around Drifblim, acting as a barrier aainst anything, really. The ghost fire is a high-priority hitbox that does 4% and little knockback on contact. While the shield's active, the aura still decays, but since there's now an actual hitbox in here, you'll still cancel more attacks than otherwise. High priority.


BACKWARD AERIAL ✖ SWITCH
Without turning around, Drifblim phases out this carbon copy of him, only it's blurry like Lucario's counter. It's only meant to last a moment, and during that moment, you'll switch places with the copy, or tap back to stay where you are. That alone is good for mindgames, but this also does damage. It's not much, maybe 6% and minute knockback, but the point is it has no lag, and isn't punishable, really. It's also a substitute for an air dodge, if you really feel you can't live without one.

UPWARD AERIAL ✖ WEATHER BALL
Attacking again from the cloud on his head, Drifblim shoots out this weird little cloudy ball that quickly travels upwards with fairly little lag. Upon hitting an enemy, it explodes with, oddly enough, ice damage of 5% with slightly downwards knockback that, again, can't kill. It can travel a Ganondorf up.

This is boring unless you hit a cloud, in which case it'll start sleeting. Sleet goes down forever, dealing 2% per second in nonflinching hits. It lasts until the cloud disappears, so endless rain is indeed possible. If you grouped clouds, this gets you a huge area of affect and a very nice damage-racker. Combined with an Ominous Wind, you have a mobile hitbox, albeit an easy-to-escape one.


DOWNWARD AERIAL ✖ TETHER
Okay, so the down special is useful and all, but without this you'd be screwed in competitive play. Drifblim launches out a ghostly string downwards about one Snake height. This is kind of like Sheik's chain, there being a sweetspot at the tip that does more damage. The sweetspot deals 10% damage and set knockback downwards, whereas it does 6% and like, no knockback otherwise.

Anyway, if you're close enough to hit the ground with the tether, it'll stick to the stage, anchoring Drifblim in place. From here he can use his ground moveset, or his "KO" moveset. Yeah, these are the only moves of his powerful enough to knock someone off the stage. If you need a better angle to hit with something, hold down to move lower, and up for higher. To get back in the air, simply jump. It couldn't be easier. Very low starting lag, okay ending lag.


STANDARD

NEUTRAL ATTACK ✖ WHIRLWIND
When you hold A while tethered, Drifblim spins. He spins so quickly that he creates a strong suction effect within a Kirby around him. Contact with the spinning "arms" deals a rather nice 10% and knockback that KOs at 180%. The suction, however, makes slight comboing of this move possible. Pretty nice. The suction also sucks in substitutes and clouds.

While Drifblim is spinning, you'll find that the wind effect extends vertically into a massive column that goes off the top of the screen. It obviously gets weaker as it goes up, but still... that means you can mess up people in the air by whirling them around and hurling them in a random direction for no damage, but nice knockback that can kill at some sort of high percent. The entire attack has some startup lag and ending lag, as well as mediocre priority in the arms.


FORWARD TILT ✖ HYPNOTIZE
Drifblim's ✖ emits a deep hum and creates a visual distortion up to a SB block away. This comes out instantly and ends instantly, but has long duration. Thankfully, it puts foes asleep longer than Jigglypuff's Sing, but its range is focused to in front of Drifblim. Not a terribly good move, seeing as you don't really have good followup options.

However, if you use the FTilt on an enemy who's already asleep, the move turns into Dream Eater. What that does is lift the sleeping foe in the air a bit, then rather violently toss them forwards with a ton of hitstun (they're still waking up <_<)! That alone has knockback that can kill at 125%, but as to be true to character, the foe takes 4% while Drifblim recovers 4%. It's a very solid attack, if you ask me.


UPWARD TILT ✖ GYRO BALL
Before moving straight upward, Drifblim dips to the floor, giving this move a bit of starting lag as he becomes more spherical. The lag isn't too bad though, and when the startup is done, Drifblim launches up about one Ganondorf: just enough to break free of his tether and become airborne again.

Now, when Drifblim turns into a ball and "leaps", his body's a very high priority hitbox that deals 8% and some upward knockback that doesn't really kill under normal circumstances. In spite of that, Drifblim has a little push effect around him during this move that essentially reflects the opponent based on their speed. For example, if Ice Climbers are using a DAir on you, they'll get a decent bit of upwards knockback. If Captain Falcon is running into you, he'll go flying. Now, if Fox uses a side-b on this... WHU-PAM. Great counter move. Average ending lag.


DOWNWARD TILT ✖ UPLIFT
All four of Drifblim's arms point down with low lag. The result of this? The entire floor light up a mystic blue and everything on it is shot into the air. This is not about to do damage, but it does do some nice upward knockback that doesn't kill until at last 200%.

Now, if your foe isn't standing on the ground, the eerie glow will pull them down with the same force, stunning them once they reach the floor. They'll retain the ability to attack until they touch bottom, however. This has same nasty ending lag and shot duration as a downside, so you can't pull off infinites, sorry. It also suffers terribly from stale move decay.


DASH ATTACK ✖ BUMP
"What gives, Plorf? I thought you said Drifblim couldn't dash!" Well, that's correct, but if you press the input for this, he tilts sideways and propels himself rather like a squid. This causes the tether to move its position on the ground, albeit by about one stage builder block at a time. Anyway, this has pretty low lag on either end, and this does about 8% with light knockback. That's all this is, a bump.

SMASH

FORWARD SMASH ✖ DEFLATE
While not exceptionally powerful, this smash boasts low lag and good priority. Drifblim simply deflates himself so that he's a thin little fellow, but the force of all the air rushing out makes him lose control. The attack covers a vague range within a Bowser in front of him, but his path is random. This means that this has multiple hits, each one doing anywhere from 5-8% (7-10% charged) and light to rather beefy knockback. There are about four hits.

Again, the order of these hits is entirely random, but you can DI yourself a bit to move the hitbox. If you fully charge the smash and manage to get weaker hits in first, you're looking at around 35% and knockback that kills at 100%. Low priority. It ends with Drifblim in the air. This is pretty comical, actually. Heh.


UPWARD SMASH ✖ AFTERMATH
With no discernible charging animation or lag, Drifblim stays in a basic pose and, upon charge completion, experiences some ending lag. Obviously, the cool stuff happens while he's charging? Quite right. If anyone attacks him during the charging, a huge explosion occurs inside Drifblim expanding him to around Dedede's size before retracting.

This has short duration and high priority, but the real boon is great knockback. It kills at like 90% under ideal circumstances. It doesn't do any damage, though. If your opponent is keen, though, they'll notice that you take on a slightly different pose than normal while charging. Considering that Drifblim is a good damage-racker, this should be a no-brainer kO move.


DOWNWARD SMASH ✖ PULSE
Remember the ethereal string that Drifblim used to stay on the ground? It plays an offensive role here, quickly growing into a blinding flash that takes on a vague "U" shape. The light dissipates into a batch of mist (purely visual) that's rather like a smoke ball. It obscures the immediate area for but a moment, but it's ample time for Drifblim to pull off another quick move, like an FTilt or an USmash. It also does about 10-17% and some mediocre knockback.

The best part is that Drifblim immediately turns invisible when he uses this, like he's an octopus or something. The effect goes away when he's hit or when he attacks, so that feature has limited use. Still though, it's so so handy for escapes and mindgames. This has some startup, but is lagless at the end.


GRAB

GRAB ✖ PICKUP
Drifblim can only grab in the air, since he grabs from above. So what he does here is pick the foe up and carry them beneath him, but since he still has to float in place, Drifblim automatically lightens up to lift the enemy. The more the enemy weighs, the more weight he loses when picking them up. Drifblim also loves stealing from Arche, so he's going to be able to carry the foes freely, however slowly.

PUMMEL ✖ TWIRL
This is rather simple. Drifblim spins with the foe, doing 2% per hit. It's spammable, though. Spinning will increase the hitstun of each throw, since enemies need time to recuperate from being dizzy, yes?

THROW ✖ UNBURDEN
Now, Drifblim doesn't have four unique throws. Since he's in the air, it's be rather awkward anyway. Instead, each throw does 6% and some below average knockback. Hey, you can't expect much, anything more would permit spikes. Anyway, you can grab foes who've been hit by a NAir, which is basically Drifblim's take on shield grabbing. When the opponent is thrown, Drifblim suddenly springs upwards, due to the weight he had to lose to remain aloft. Extremely difficult to punish, this.

FINALE

THERE YA GO, SUNDANCE!SUPER ATTACK ✖ BEREFT
Where had I heard this wind before
Change like this to a deeper roar?
~Robert Frost

When Drifblim gets a Smash Ball, which is a pretty easy task mind you, he moves to the top of the stage and drifts far away. Must mean a storm's coming... Moments later, ghostly winds arrive on the stage that blow everything to the left at a pretty deadly rate, these being inescapable. To make matters worse, huge whirlwinds appear that are similar to the tornadoes on Hyrule Castle in SSB64. They'll spin you about and launch you upward for 40% and some awfully high knockback.

The tornadoes are not incredibly common, but you'll want to avoid them for sure. This final smash lasts 17 seconds, which is either a waste or unbearably long, depending on existing environmental conditions. Either way, your foes will end up being windswept. This is actually a very loud, scary super attack.


PLAYSTYLE

Drifblim's game is hide and seek. Often times the opponent won't be able to hit him, and when they have the opportunity, he can take defensive measures. He's really annoying to fight, actually. Whether it be trying to penetrate Drifblim's Psychic shield or predicting where he'll appear next, it's a huge challenge to win against him, even though he's combo bait.

Drifblim's attack speed can get really annoying, especially when he's manipulating you so so easily with a down tilt or launching projectiles at you from above. Though if your Drifblim is really spammy, you can guarantee you'll be able to get past his attacks, since they have awful decay at times. Another weakness is his difficulty in getting to the ground. If Drifblim's foe can pressure them enough, he'll never have the opportunity to KO.

Speaking of KOs, there are a couple of tricks in landing them. Hypnotizing the enemy can either make them vulnerable to a Forward Smash, which is often the best move to use in this case. Though if your opponent decides to attack right after they wake up, An USmash is really great. If you don't want to rely on smashes, there's always a well-placed utilt or ftilt, and if you're desperate, neutral a.

You have a great grab game as Drifblim. It's good if you want to drag a foe into a raincloud, but it's ideal for setting up combos as well. DAir is a good move to use after this, considering it has a large hitbox, but any aerial will do. Up throw combos well into ground moves, since they space the foe, allowing a tether.

By the way, gameplay without your FSpec is awful. Drifblim can't solely rely on a down special to get him to ground anyway, so Ominous Wind is often a blessing... it can even gimp! However, if you hit a foe with it, they're more than likely to combo you half to hell if you don't bring protection. For such reasons the NAir, FAir, BAir, and DSmash exist. If you can't reliably "shield", try a "dodge", and if that doesn't work, just go invisible to plan your next move.

Drifblim is an odd specimen. He lives in the air, he's extraordinarily shy, he falls UP... Don't think he's god tier, though, since pressure can potentially shut Drifblim down. He's not underpowered, either, he has far too many useful moves. He's just different is all. A bereft spirit.


 

darth meanie

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Jun 6, 2008
Messages
452
They All Float!

Drifblim

Ever since I heard you were doing this moveset I was excited. And I became more excited as I heard certain details and things you were doing as you got through the set. I was scared of some things, ecstatic about others. Now that the set is here though, it really blows me away.

First of all, the clouds, which I was initially wary of, turned out to be an absolutely smashing success. It fits your tendency of creating a lot of options, but everything it does just fits perfectly into playstyle.

The writing style feels whimsical, airy, and childish; wandering around sometimes, but seems to fit Drifblim just perfectly. On the other hand, it made it a little difficult to decipher a few moves, the Down Smash, Pulse, is an example where I really couldn't tell for certain what was going on.

And I was very cautious when you said that Drifblim was going to rely on getting on the ground for KOs. The tether is a simple but brilliant way to accomplish it, and all of the moves, for the most part, felt like they worked perfectly for Drifblim to be part of his ground game.

You accomplish the idea of a slow moving, methodical, aerialist gimper and really weave the concept into all of the moves. There were a few moves that seemed out of place and smacked of magic syndrome, Switch being a particular example, but nothing deal-breaking.

The concept of a character who falls up is completely original, and you pull it off fantastically, making it breath playstyle, having one of the most unique playstyles since Subaru, and I would argue even more unique.

So way to go Plorf. This is easily the best set in this contest so far.
 

JOE!

Smash Hero
Joined
Oct 5, 2008
Messages
8,075
Location
Dedham, MA
Very interesting JOE. So basically in order to have high "priority" you need to have big disjointed hitboxes or deal high damage. Am I correct? In that case I suppose non-weapon attacks could still have priority mentioned in case they have a wierd hitbox that's bigger than it appears, then for the most part if something deals high/low damage we just assume it has similar priority.

*makes note to fix up priority stuff on next moveset after homework.*
Weapon attacks usually have their famed priority because of point A: range from the hurtbox, or disjointedness.

And high damage means that it takes more damage to beat out the attack, and it can beat out more attacks, but remember, if it is within 10% of another attack, it can "clang"

This is why Bowser and Donkey Kong have good priority (and ganondorf to an extent).

All 3 have good range, and good damge that is hard to clash with, especially bowser. In fact, bowser's Ftilt can punch through MK's tornado, and hit MK. (altho all three, but moreso bowser, have the issue of giant hurtboxes as well, but W/E)


Will comment on Drifblim in a sec...
 

flyinfilipino

Smash Master
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
4,319
Location
North Carolina
@Drifblim: TGIF! A Plorf Pokemon set is something new. Luckily you give us Drifblim, who is a very cool Pokemon in general. The floating-upwards concept is very original and, of course, completely natural for Drifblim. Most of the attacks are just very suitable for Drifblim, including the Pokemon attacks, and you even have some clever original things in there like the clouds, tether, and ballast that also just fit perfectly. Personally, I'd switch the Tether to Down Special and the Ballast to Down Aerial, but that's just me. Also, I have no idea what is going on with Pulse. But overall, you do a great job of making Drifblim feel very ethereal, which basically means you did a great job with the moveset, Plorf! It makes me want to just drift away with the wind.... :bee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouZttLu622g
 

n88

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
1,527
I liked Drifblim. The whole falling up concept worked nicely, and fit into the playstyle well. The attacks didn't seem generic or OoC (Although I've never played anything Pokemon, so what do I know?). At times, your descriptions of props could be a little vague ("weird little cloudy ball"? "eerie bluish flame thing"?), but that was one of two things I didn't like about the set. The other thing was the random "There Ya Go Sundance". Couldn't you at least make it invisible ()?

But nevertheless, Drifblim was an amazing set. Good job.
 

Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
Thanks for the comments, guys (especially DM (smirk)), I really tried to make this set work. I'm not exactly sure how the BAir would be OoC, but I guess I've never played Pokémon. FF, I thought of that, but it didn't make sense to me because a DSpec can get away with not being an attack more so than a DAir :p.

I honestly don't really see the problem with the DSmash. basically, Drifblim just creates a burst of light that dissipates into some mist, and he turns invisible for more... mindgames I guess? N88, the vague descriptions were on purpose, I decided to leave it to the reader to figure out a few things. Also, what skin do you have? If it's Revolution, then the text should be invisible <.<. And it's not arbitrary, it was carefully planned ;).
 

Wizzerd

Smash Ace
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
929
Drifblim: Ah, Drifblim, one of my favorite fourth generation Pokemon- and I'm not a gen wh0re, there are plenty I like. Since I like the character so much, I'll probably like the set, right? Well, I do, but I unfortunately can't say I like it nearly as much as meanie does.

The ideas are near the level of Subaru, if not on the level. A character that falls upwards is a difficult concept to utillize, but you've certainly pulled it off admirably, what with the Side Special, Down Special and Down Aerial. The playstyle is rather nice as well, though I honestly like Subaru's more...

However, there's one thing that's holding me back from declaring this as an SV: the writing style. Your writing style is all over the place. According to one of your earlier comment responses this was intentional, but I fail to see why you would want to do this. Let's take the Neutral Special. The aspects are all over the place. First we hear that it's fired down, than that it's chargeable, then about some random jumpiness effect and THEN you tell us damage and lag (as if the phrase "average" really tells us anything at all about lag). It's an extremely awkward way of describing a move and it just doesn't work. In addition, Drifblim is just underdetailed in many places (How long does the cloud last in the Up Special and how fast does it drift and in what direction? How big is the Neutral Aerial shield?). Again, you said that it's intentional, but that doesn't make it good.

Rest assured, I still like Drifblim. I just don't love him like other people seem to.
 

KingK.Rool

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
1,810
Again, you said that it's intentional, but that doesn't make it good.
Heh, that sounds like a complaint that could be leveled against just about any one of my movesets.

I'm not going to harp on about Drifblim, mostly because I said my bit when I previewed him, but suffice to say that I'm inclined to agree with meanie. An immensely charming, beautiful, and somewhat ingenious set with a brilliant concept driving it and very effective execution on almost all fronts. A Plorf set, by all means, and quite easily his best in his illustrious career. Best in the contest so far, I'm more reticent to label it - but one of them, to be sure.

I wanted to do some more commenting, but then I decided against it. It's okay, I've only got Revolver, Silver, Volke, Morton, Fat Bastard, and Jigglypuff Remix to go to be completely caught up.
 

Frf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
May 11, 2008
Messages
83
Location
Memphis, TN
Balloon, the Driftblim pokemon
-You're changing the game to fit the character, instead of changing the character to fit the game. No traditional way to shield or dodge, and having the game figure out when to bring Driftblim up; it's just makes me a tad unsettled.
-The organization is amazingly driftblim.

-I think making the foe lighter for spamming shadow ball is unnecessary. It seems easy to dodge, anyway....
-Noticing some odd grammatical errors.
-Ominous wind sounds awesome while still being imaginable.
-That up air is brilliant, quite simply. Combine it with Omnious wind....Driftblim would be amazingly fun.
-Let's see what the down air will open up....

-Comes out instantly, ends instantly, yet has a long duration?
-If the ftilt isn't mentioned in the playstyle then I WILL DESTROY YOU. Because of right now the uniqueness of it is forced....
-Hey, people actually remember stale move decay!
-o hey guys yeah driftblim can turn invisible kinda important sorry i didnt tell u earlier lolz
-I'm glad someone has the balls to do a throw that isn't incredibly unique. It's refreshing in a weird kind of way.

I like Driftblim. It's one of those streamlined pokesets with fancy metaphors and varied vocabulary, and it works here. The problem is spelling and grammar errors throughout, and the moves don't come together as well as I think they should. Is driftblim a counter-focused character? A character focused on moving? A character who can phase between gimping and KOing flawlessly? There's no clear cut answer. (Now that I think about it, that could be a good thing.....)

Either way, Driftblim would, bar none, be one of the most fun characters to play in smash bros.
 

Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
Frf, shielding and dodging normally would make Drifblim ubertier... <_< Still though, a valid point. The lighter effect from the shadow ball is indeed a bit tacked on, but I had to make a way for characters like Bowser to try and get up to hit him. WELL EXCUSE ME FOR PUTTING THE GROUND MOVES LATER SINCE INVISIBILITY IS A DSMASH AND BLAH STOP EXPOSING ALL MY FLAWS.

Oh, look, so you do rather like it after all. I prefer playstyle ambiguity, with some solid concepts, rather than a single way of playing. I'm still not sure what the spelling and grammar errors would be, that could use some pointing out. Despite all the criticisms, I totally agree with you. Constructive comment. by the way it's spelled drifblim olol
 

n88

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
1,527
@Plorf

Using "333333" as the color should make text invisible no matter what skin the viewer is using.
 

n88

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 10, 2008
Messages
1,527
Really? I coulda sworn it worked on Revolution, too... My bad. Why couldn't this board be like other forums, and have [invisible] tags?
 

Junahu

Smash Ace
Joined
Nov 15, 2005
Messages
899
Location
Shropshire Slasher
Drifblim
Drifblim is a wondefully whimsical pokeset. It's hard to justify every additional effect you placed on moves (particulary that ONE move that removes clouds.. how very obtuse) and the writing errors are noticeable hiccups. But it's nice and simple, and it still manages to twist brawl in new and interesting directions.

The concept of inverse gravity throws a lot of conventions out of the window. Combos that knock the foe up will need to become combos that knock them down. Juggling is out of the window, as are the majority of gimps. Vertical KOs are easier to achieve, but far riskier if they fail

But, limitless vertical movement? He can stall almost as easily as Subaru can. And unlike Subaru, Drifblim can set up the stage to his desire from his unreachable perch.


And stalling like this is a problem. Brawl's infinite stalls almost alway rob the player of most of their options, thus in order to use it, they have to go somewhere where it is clearly obvious they're trying to stall. With Subaru and Drifblim, they retain all of their abilities while stalling, thus they can afford to stall in a place where the foe can "technically" still reach them, albeit at a horrific disadvantage. With characters like these, the line between stalling and taking an advantageous position on the stage are so blurry as to be unintelligable.
And even if that weren't true, competitive play banning stalling is no reason to let stalling techniques crawl into a moveset. You see Arche flying as high as she wants, or under the stage?


and finally...
If you fast fall as Drifblim, what happens?
 

Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
Glad you asked, Junahu, Fastfalling with Drifblim simply doesn't work. It works in inverse, you do it by holding up. I'm aware he can stall a ton, but you know, I didn't feel like Drifblim would realistically have a flight limit. And... what are the writing errors? =.=
 

Koppakirby

Smash Cadet
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
52
Thunder Wool

Sheep Man
Uh, I'm not really sure what you were thinking here, Plorf. I mean, this is a set for Sheep Man, yet you constantly refer to him as 'Drifblim' and he behaves nothing like how he does in MM10. I mean, I rather like your MM sets, it's just that this one....It's a bit lackluster compared to the rest. If it HAD been a set for Drifblim, however, you would've done marvelous. It doesn't fit for Sheep Man. Jist doesn't fit. I mean, Falling up is remarkable, but why Sheep Man? On the whole, I think you chose the wrong character to make a set for. Plorf. Still a great set though.
 
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
625
DriftBlim did have a very unique mechanic, and I did enjoy it's execution. I liked the Organization too...

EDIT: Smash Daddy, your IT reference was basically one of the greatest things ever, I didn't see the video text box, so I heard it, was like "...IT?, did he mean to?" then rewound and watched it. Thanks for that.
 

Katapultar

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 24, 2008
Messages
1,251
Location
Australia
[size=+3]Drifblim[/size]
PLORF FIXED THE SPELLING ERRORS...
The writing style made this set quite easy to understand. I can almost say that the power stat doesn't stay true to the set itself, but that's just a nitpick.

2 mechanics were mentioned but were never looked upon afterwards: Recoil (Gyro Ball does look upon this however), and Drifblim's "jumps". The jumps make Drifblim lighter and while they do help for escapes like you said, there's barely any detail placed on it.

A lot of people have opinions about Drifblim's position, and when you think about it, he could just "jump" into the air and stall, otherwise use Side Special so he doesn't become a target during the battle. Drifblim would then become lighter, but he'd need to get down using his Down Special to somewhat KO. You've actually done quite a good job balancing Drifblim by making it impossible for him to be able to KO unless he gets to ground. And while he could KO, then stall (Junahu mentioned), it's much more balanced than Arche. Drifblim's jump, if used, would make him really easy to KO (Bottom Tier), yet the purpose of the jump is almost defeated by the Side Special: you can go in any direction. Didn't you mean to say go sideways, since the Side Special would also ruin the purpose of the Down Special. I'd say fix that up. Side Special makes jumping and Down Special useless in it's current state, I repeat myself.

I'd say it's a well done set for creating a new fighting style, though Side Special needs major fixing for the set, playstyle...ummm. Balance would be a incredibly difficult thing to get right with Drifblim with his playstyle, so good job at what you've done to try and get it right.
 

Plorf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Messages
124
Location
Silver Spring, MD
KK, I honestly can't tell if you're serious or not xD

Katapultar, thanks for pointing out some of the flaws that I forgot about, rather. The jumping aspect and the recoil mechanic were both pretty much left out of the final playstyle, and I think that while I should have probably considered all the little extra things I added a little more, it's really more up to the reader to figure this stuff out, so good job sort of noting that. I'm aware that Drifblim would indeed be broken if people actually played him in Brawl, but I couldn't think of a way to make this without dumbing the ideas down. Side Special is a bit overpowered; in retrospect I should have made it laggier, or something along those lines. All the critique is well in its right, so I guess I'll regard these details more carefully in the future...?

also what are the grammar and spelling errors everyone keeps talking about
 

flyinfilipino

Smash Master
Joined
Sep 11, 2007
Messages
4,319
Location
North Carolina
Well, since you asked,

Now, how Drifblim translates into Brawl is quite interesting: the first thing you'll notice is that Drifblim has a negative fall speed. That's right, instead of falling down, Drifblim falls up, with the top and bottom blast lines essentially switched. Obviously, that has its own problems and benefits. Another fun note is that attacks that hit him have a bit of recoil, meaning, say, a hit with Mario's FAir will sound him bouncing back proportionally to the attack. It's hardly noticeable, but it's enough to stop comboers from making Drifblim unviable. He doesn't, however, have a shield or any dodges. Poor thing.
I found one!

Also, Down Special seems to be incomplete at the end.

Drifblim is still really cool.
 

KingK.Rool

Smash Lord
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
1,810

| Abra |

|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| #63, The Psi Pokemon ------------------------------|

So, you've chosen Abra? Abra, that lovable foxlike Pokemon that sleeps sixteen hours a day, escapes from difficult situations by teleporting, and can read minds? It can even leave behind false afterimages of itself to trick attackers, the endearing little creature.

In Brawl, of course, Abra won't have much time to sleep. He has a rather unique little quirk to all of his attacks - every single one involves teleporting in this direction or that. The only way to get any offensive mileage out of them is to tap A between the original input and the moment when Abra rematerializes. If this is done, Abra will, with a few notable exceptions, pull off an attack upon reappearing. Such an unobtrusive creature. You'll soon find that, although he does nothing quite as well as he flees about the stage, Abra is a frenzied, madcap attacker with unparalleled chase options.


|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Statistics ---------------------------------------------|



[-] Weight (3)
[-] Strength (2)
[-] Damage Deal (8)
[-] Run Away (10)
[-] Leaping (4)
[-] Fallrate (3)
[-] Traction (8)
[-] Attack Distance (~)



The crucial point to extrapolate from this data is that Abra is a dual threat, capable both of dizzying strings of high-octane attacks and of long games of cat-and-mouse. In fact, he always needs to be doing one or the other.

His attacks themselves are typically small physical hitboxes, but when you take teleportation prior to them into account...


|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Moveset ----------------------------------------------|

________________________Specialty Attacks

__________________Neutral Special / Blink
Abra's most basic teleport, and one used in quite a different way than most. Rather than actively moving in this direction or that, Abra simply winks in and out of existence. As usual, he glows white just before and just after the process. This is perhaps his quickest technique, and he's only off the stage for the briefest of moments, no more than 0.1 of a second; it's also more or less lagless. As you can imagine, the primary purpose of this attack is as a split-second spot dodge that can be used in the air or on the ground or at any crucial moment.

Tapping A to get the attack out of this can be tricky without quick fingers, but it's quite worth it; upon reappearing, Abra causes a brief shimmer in the spatial fabric just around him, instantly interrupting any ongoing attacks and sending a shiver through the interrupted character. Their split second of lag is more than enough to retreat still further or even, in exceptionable circumstances, attempt an attack of your own.

__________________Forward Special / Afterimage
Abra stays right where he is, his eyes flashing once - this has a small amount of lag. The very next time you use a teleportation attack, an identical copy of Abra will be left motionless behind, lingering for up to ten seconds or until an opponent attacks and dispells it. The copy doesn't move by default and is little more than an empty shell, so this isn't an especially effective mindgame... although things become a little more difficult for the foe when you introduce the Down Special into your game...

__________________Down Special / Substitute
Abra doesn't move; his eyes flash; small lag. The next time a teleportation attack is used, Abra will neglect to move at all; instead, a substitute will materialize where he would otherwise teleport to, and begin to teleport erratically about the stage. It continues to do so for up to ten seconds or until it is attacked and dispelled. There are two primary ways to use this attack: in tandem with Forward Special, you, the real Abra, can remain motionless and fake the opponent into chasing a fake; or you can begin teleporting equally erratically, crossing paths with your twin and making the foe lose track of which is which entirely. The choice is entirely yours.

__________________Up Special / Fixing Point
Upon first usage, Abra clenches and unclenches a fist, causing a brief, bright glimmer in his palm. Note well the spot the glimmer was - this is your fixing point. All further usages of Up Special will teleport Abra back to this point, this home, if you will. The main danger is that this has considerably more lag than most teleports, and that lag increases the greater the distance you have to cross to get there. Start lag, end lag, both when setting it up and using it. On the whole, though, this is an excellent recovery, allowing you to return from the very worst predicaments. Eventually the foe will lock onto your fixing point and prepare a powerful attack while you suffer the wind-down, but a careful placement can work wonders.

A fixing point lingers for no more than twenty seconds before you have to set up another, and if it is in the air, Abra goes into freefall upon teleporting to it. No infinite stallfests, I should think.


_________________________________________________Regular Attacks

__________________Jab / Chaser Combo
This is a three-hit jab, quite a distinct attack. If you don't double tap, there is only one stage - Abra teleports about a half a platform forward along the ground. If you double tap, the first hit after the teleportation is a short-range uppercut slash, dealing 5% and fairly lamentable knockback, angled forward. It requires some pinpoint aim to even land this hit.

The second hit can only take place if you connected - Abra teleports instantly to be right in front of the foe, who is suffering the brief hitstun, and deals a quick, bracing kick with one leg, causing weak horizontal knockback and 2%.

The third hit, again, only takes place if you connected; Abra vanishes and reappears directly above them, at which point he stomps downward with one leg, dealing 5% and a weak spike.

If you connect with the first, you're pretty well guaranteed to connect for the full 12%, since the second and third hits home in automatically.

This attack is wonderful in conjunction with Substitute, as your Substitute will go through the motions and actually deal the damage of the second and third hits, further reinforcing the mistaken notion that that's actually you.

__________________Dash Attack / Stopper Roll
I neglected to mention Abra's run speed earlier because there's very little to say about it; he's hardly a sprinter. This, then, a simple functional teleport that moves you 1.5 platforms forward along a horizontal plane, will be your primary means of transportation without taking to the air. If you would go off a ledge, you'll stop there automatically. When you reappear, you're facing the opposite direction, the way you came from, so you can segue right into a dash back the way you came.

The double tap here causes Abra to go into a rolling kick as soon as he reappears, covering a space of almost a platform and transforming himself entirely into a hitbox that deals 11% and causes knockback up and back. No KO potential, of course, but a handy way to trick the foe and manuever about without leaving the ground; you don't have many of those.

_______________Tilts

__________________Forward Tilt / Ghost Tail
Abra teleports to a point about one platform away, on a slanted forward trajectory, an angle of about 30° off of the ground. The attack is fairly basic: Abra whirls upon reappearing, dealing a bracing hit with his thick tail that deals slightly below average knockback and 11% on a mostly horizontal plane. This is a touch quicker than the (comparatively) laggy dash attack mentioned above, and will be mostly used to stop shorthop approaches or defenses.

At this point, you should note that Abra can teleport around barriers, if they happen to be between him and his target destination; however, if he would teleport directly into a solid object, he will instead reappear on the side of it closer to where he attacked from. This is especially important for certain match-ups, and not so much in regular competitive play.

__________________Up Tilt / Kinesis
As one would expect, Abra teleports directly up - not too high, a bit less than a platform, but more than enough to launch into an aerial from there. The double tap attack has Abra reappear tilted, in a pose much like Ness's Neutral Aerial, with two slightly bent spoons orbitting his midsection quickly. These spoons are both instant attack interrupters, so unless the foe aims carefully, they'll be sent into a lag period upon attacking Abra. The spoons vanish after 1.5 seconds.

Alternately, Abra can immediately use an aerial teleportation attack. Rather than teleporting as he usually would, the spoons teleport, still spinning wildly. Naturally, the idea is to trick a foe who tries to anticipate where you're going to reappear, interrupt them with one of these, and then pull off the very attack they were trying to avoid - typically a Forward Air or Back Air.

__________________Down Tilt / Mind Reader
This is one of very few attacks Abra possesses that aren't teleportations; it's also one of very few laggy attacks in his arsenal. Abra crosses his legs and focuses, remaining in this position for up to two seconds. During this time, you can use any ground attack as you otherwise would, but with two modifications: it automatically counts as a double tap, good news for attacks like Jab where it's difficult to pull it off otherwise; and Abra homes in on the foe instead of simple reappearing where he ordinarily would. There are obvious uses to this, especially against other slippery foes who like to run, camp, and have time to set up; it's also a splendid way to interrupt an aggressive foe who's staying just outside your typical boundaries.

__________________________________________________________________Smash Attacks

__________________Forward Smash / Hidden Power
Abra clenches one fist as he charges, making this attack a touch distinctive and easy to see coming, but this is a Smash, and it's bound to be noticeable. When you release, Abra teleports up to 1.5 platforms forward - I say up to because this uncommon attack has a vague AI. If you would pass through an opponent, you'll simply go right up to them, eliminating the need for careful spacing that most of Abra's attack demand.

This is typically a flashier, inferior version of Dash Attack unless you double tap to turn it into an attack. Upon rematerializing, Abra points at the ground directly in front of him, creating a sudden explosion of shimmering rainbow light. This surprisingly large hitbox deals a good 18% and launches the foe directly upwards, with limited KO potential. Now, I'd note that charging changes only the size of the psi eruption. This mostly unremarkable attack gains a whole new meaning when it's used from Mind Reader - suddenly you can appear from nowhere with a massive attack that puts the foe up in the air, just where you want them to be.

__________________Up Smash / Skyrocket
As one would assume, this smash has Abra teleport anywhere from two to four platforms straight up, depending on charge time. It's an unfortunately laggy option, so no matter how exemplary it is for simply getting out of the thick of things for a while, it's fairly easy to interrupt. This is especially tricky with the Afterimage/Substitute dynamic, since you can disappear and reappear beyond the top blast zone, making you nigh on invisible and further surprising the foe when you drop like a bird of prey from above. This, Afterimage, then Down Aerial (you can probably already anticipate what that one does) makes for an incredibly unpredictable interaction.

The double tap attack has Abra shove down with both hands when he reappears, sending an invisible force surging toward the ground. This force deals multiple hits, up to a potential maximum of 15-19% depending on how high it first catches them, and drags the foe down to the ground with it. Are they trying to pull an attack from above here, or what?

__________________Down Smash / Last-Ditch Resort
Abra teleports to directly under whatever platform or land mass he is standing on; this obviously doesn't happen on a stage like Yoshi's Story, where there is simply nothing down there. Typically, you're dooming yourself, although this can be used to navigate platforms that aren't drop-through and dominate Temple handily. Also, bear in mind that you can still use your Fixing Point to save yourself, no matter where you are.

The attack, though... Upon reappearing, if you activate it, the spot where Abra was sitting while charging thrums once with psychic energy, creating a very small hitbox that deals 19% and - by Abra's standards - impressive knockback that depends largely on the angle of the hit. The main use of this is against uber-aggressive characters - bait them in and then turn it around on them, recovering back to your fixing point and then launching your own attack on them from there.

____________________________________________Aerial Attacks

__________________Neutral Aerial / Psi Shimmer
Abra teleports, but only ever so slightly in whatever direction you instantly tilt the control stick in; this attack has low lag. He hardly moves a quarter of a platform. The double tap attack is the reason you'll be using this particular move, typically; when he reappears, Abra rapidly pulls a summersalt somersault, dealing a solid hit on contact of 10% and middling knockback on a forward trajectory. There is a weak suction effect as he spins, so this attack is a dual threat: good as a rung in an all-out offensive assault, and good to use as a dodge-then-turn-the-tables on other, equally aggressive characters.

__________________Forward Aerial / Evanescence Slash
This attack is nearly lagless and probably among Abra's most useful, along with Back Aerial. Abra teleports about a platform forward, and the angle at which he reappears can be skewed slightly up or considerably more noticeably down, allowing for more precision aiming. The double tap attack is a slash that Abra puts his whole body into, spinning as he slices; this deals 10% but unremarkable knockback on a typically directly horizontal plane. Note here - and this carries over to the rest of his aerials - that Abra can only use three midair teleportation attacks before going into freefall.

__________________Back Aerial / Spot Kick
This attack is nigh on identical to Evanescence Slash, with two very important differences.

Abra reappears facing backward, or the direction he teleported from. This can potentially allow him to string the hit from this attack in from a Forward Aerial and potentially juggle the opponent back and forth between him as he teleports from one side to the other.

Secondly, the attack itself is, of course, a kick instead of a slash, a two-legged kick that Abra puts his whole body into, reminiscent in animation to a flipped Snake Back Aerial. It adds a notable amount of lag to the teleportation if it does not properly connect; if it does, it deals 12% and knockback that can KO around 200%. This is exceptional by Abra's standards.

__________________Up Aerial / Confusion
Abra vanishes and reappears half a platform above - but not really. What you see is just a cunning illusion, a hitbox disguised as a freshly teleported Abra that deals 9% and odd, unpredictable knockback with long hitstun. After just under one second, the copy, its edges blurring, vanishes, and Abra reappears half a platform beneath where it was. The copy is gravity-affected throughout and cannot grab the ledge, so this attack is a poor choice when off-stage. It has some very interesting, bewildering applications with Afterimage and especially Substitute, since it leaves the real Abra and his substitute overlapping one another.

__________________Down Aerial / Reverberate
Abra immediately teleports directly down, reappearing instantly on the first surface he comes to; if there is none, he will unfortunately reappear beyond the blast zone, KOing himself. This move is quite quick to come out and Abra reappears sitting in his crouched position. The double tap attack has Abra's outline pulsate once as he reappears, dealing 7% and that odd sort of downward knockback that tends to bounce the foe off the floor and into the air; it also deals a brutal blow to shields, taking out much of their endurance.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________Grab & Throws

__________________Grab
As one would suppose, Abra teleports half a platform forward before extending a palm and locking foes in a psychic hold, drifting helplessly in the air before him. The range on this is misleading short, and the duration brief, making it a tricky grab to land.

__________________Pummel / Road Trip
With each successive pummel, rather than doing damage, Abra teleports half a platform forward, or back, depending on whether or not you double tap. Naturally, the foe goes with him. With this pummel you can quite easily position yourself and the foe in the ideal place on the stage before launching into a throw, and make no mistake, Abra's throws are crucial to his game, all allowing him to expel a too-close foe from his radar or to widen his threshold just enough.

__________________Forward Throw / Force Palm
Abra lowers the foe slightly from where they're floating, then deals a psi-charged arm thrust that shoves them back a good ways on a highly horizontal trajectory; skilled foes are likely to tech before the knockback has completely made its mark, but even so, you've completed your objective, pushing them back just far enough to use one of your ground-based attacks. If they tech too early, you may even be able to repeat your grab. This attack deals 13% and is accompanied with a bright flash.

__________________Back Throw / Anticipate
This throw requires pinpoint timing; it fails, releasing the foe automatically, unless it is used at the exact moment the foe would escape from the grab. If you succeed at this, Abra points at the foe as they break loose, breaking the mental connection and teleporting the foe instead of himself two platforms' length behind him. This does no damage, but since it can teleport the foe clear off the stage, it's especially effective on walk-off stages where you can Pummel to situate yourself in the perfect position to scrape an unlikely KO with this. Complex to use, perhaps, but exceptionally useful under the right circumstances.

__________________Up Throw / Doppelgänger
Abra completes the animation of his Force Palm, although, almost unnoticable beneath the flash, the foe teleports rather than simply being pushed back. Damage output is slightly reduced, a mere 10%, another indicator that all is not as it seems. Play continues as usual, but as soon as the foe is either attacked or lands an attack, their outline will blur and vanish, revealing that what reappeared was a mere substitute. At this moment, the real opponent will rematerialize at the spot where they were grabbed. This is all quite lagless, but a savvy Abra will anticipate the opponent's revelatory attack and should take the opportunity to get the necessary spacing to land an attack on them as they reappear.

__________________Down Throw / Equalizer Zone
Abra makes a strange hand motion and both he and the foe suddenly teleport to hanging positions on the ledges on either side of the stage; on a walk-off stage, they will both instead teleport to prone positions just by opposite blast zones. This bumpy ride in itself deals 8% to the opponent. This attack is mostly trivial and won't have many applications in competitive Brawls - however, it's much more intriguing in team battles and FFAs, where it can effectively be used to edgeguard two opponents at the same time, given the right scenario.

Final Smash

__________________Final Smash / Telepathy
Abra's ability to predict the opponent's movements knows no bounds, it would appear. For the duration of this Super Attack, a sparse fifteen seconds, every teleportation attack Abra uses will instantly home in on the foe, allowing him to string together hits with abandon, not bothering with those usual trivialities, aim and spacing. I would highly advise starting with an auto-locking grab and then going from there; this attack single-handedly turns Abra into an easy-to-use combo character, and you should be able to quite effectively combo Doppelori, heavy as she is.


|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Playstyle --------------------------------------------|

Abra's specialty is fleeing, what else? One truth you will discover as you master him is just how long he tends to make games, complex exercises in cat-and-mouse where you spend as much time chasing as you do fleeing. Chase and run - those are the two staples of Abra's gameplay. Of course, he's a curious, tricky little beast, capable of twisting the game in unexpected ways.

Many of Abra's attacks are simply functional on their own. Teleport this way, teleport that way, how much is there to it? (In fact, there's quite a lot to keeping that ideal distance between you and the foe, because none of Abra's hitboxes are easy to anticipate; this is good because it keeps the foe from reading you correctly, but also bad because it makes simply running headlong into them hammering off attacks impossible). It's when you combine one movement with the next, never staying in the same place for very long, that you'll discover how many ways you can combine Abra's erratic movements to link attacks. The most obvious, most blatant link is an Up Smash to dodge a downward aerial attack, followed by a Down Aerial of your own, creating a mere flicker that results in a headache for them and puts them back into the air, where it's easy to follow with an Up Air or something of the like. Abra is not a combo character, don't be mistaken, and you can't play him as such. He does link his attacks, as all aggressive characters do, but he is incapable of sustaining the trainlike momentum a combo character needs. Remember, he can only pull off three aerials attacks before going into freefall.

Substitute and Afterimage - these are the basis of your mindgames, and impressive they are indeed. There's a lot of room to explore when it comes to having two Abras flying about, as your Substitute tends to do, and never forget to turn to your Fixing Point up special if you want to plant it far on the other side of the screen. A single, lonely Abra is not too difficult to hunt down and beat into oblivion, light and frail as he is, so always ensure that your foe doesn't truly know where you are. Again, never stop moving, and never forget that lag time on most moves is severely reduced if you don't bother double tapping to make it an offensive gesture.

When it comes to playing against the kind of character that likes to shack up on the other side of the stage - you know the type, I trust - Abra has a few vital tools in his arsenal. You shouldn't underestimate the value of an attack like Jab Combo, that simply sweeps the foe off of the ground and gets him up in the air, where most such characters are weakest. Against them, Abra has a tendancy to play with unyielding aggression, never allowing more than a platform's length to separate them. Since many of them have spacing techniques of their own, Mind Reader will become one of your most useful attacks, often used to cross great distances and lay right into them. Where you place your Fixing Point is everything.

It's against other aggressive characters that Abra plays the way he was meant to play - hit and run. Now your spacing assumes a more defensive nature, as you must try to remain far enough away that they can't land a solid hit. Substitutes and Afterimages become more important, as does - and never forget - Blink, your Neutral Special, which allows you to effectively dodge without losing your constant spirit of motion and is especially tricky when combined with a Substitute. Up Smash and Down Smash, placing you far above and far below respectively, also take on a new, more defensive meaning. You'll certainly be employing double tap attacks with far less frequency, and will usually turn the tables following a Kinesis, a Blink, or a successful throw. A few hits, no more - then you flash back to safety, be it to a Fixing Point or simply a few platforms behind. Abra makes an especially frustrating opponent for slower characters who like close combat above all.

Abra hates close combat. Detests it. If they get closer than a platform to you, you have next to no way to get them out. Instead, you have to either aim a teleport well enough to circumvent them entirely or wait for them to slip up and hit you through a Blink, sending themselves into a lag period.

You're not an especially dangerous character, offensively. Most of your KOs will come of gimping at very high percentages, although the very best Abra players will get full mileage out of the attacks that go with Forward Smash and Down Smash. For the most part, though, every game is a long game, a grueling test of endurance in which Abra zips whimsically about, creating afterimages as he goes and preparing every move well in advance. Laying hands on him is deeply, innately frustrating. Should it be any other way?

___________Matchups

__________________Against Silver / 55 to 45
Silver walls himself in wonderfully; fortunately, Abra doesn't mind walls in the slightest. All it takes is a repeated Dash Attack or the like to get in close enough to teleport directly into the cage Silver is beginning to make for himself, and, naturally, you're going to go in swinging. If you're unfortunate enough to teleport in there without double tapping, even Silver will be able to knock you back out; Abra has absolutely no options in such a tight environment. The plan, therefore, is to hit him right out of his hidey hole and not allow him a chance to breathe and begin spinning his little webs.

Approaching him, of course, is a task all in itself, and camping is not an option here, effective as Silver is in long-range combat. The best suggestion I can give, and a tactic that you'll find priceless in this sort of approaching game, is to set up a Fixing Point at the far end of the stage, as far from Silver as possible, and use Mind Reader into Forward Smash or a similarly explosive attack to suddenly materialize next to him and smash him before he realizes what you're doing. Hit him a few times, then retreat back to your Fixing Point. This is a repetitive match-up for you, but should prove quite a fun one for Silver, who gets to play around with his whole arsenal and try to rejig the stage into a death trap for you. Just make sure you never expose yourself fully, because Silver will capitalize on any opening by scrambling your attacks and then bringing out the big guns.

__________________Against Lucy / 40 to 60
A great invisible maze to navigate? Why bother oneself with such trifles when one can simply go right around them? By planting your Fixing Point at one of the edges of the stage, you ensure that you'll be able to escape Lucy's machinations, no matter how many vectors she encircles you with.

Mobility, then, stops being as pressing a concern as it usually is for character fighting Lucy, and she's likely to try to play a more aggressive game than she usually will. It's not likely to go over well for you, because all it takes is for you to forget one vector planted here, one over there, and you'll slip up at a crucial retreat moment, allowing her to attack directly with one of her many long-ranged attacks. Spacing is not easy when your foe can reach out and poke at you with such dizzying ease. You can't flee to the air with Up Smash because she has stilts, and you cannot hide under it because she can simply jab a vector right through the ground at you.

No, in this game, Abra's main approach should be an offensive. Lucy hates close range almost as most as you do, so by pressing short chains of midair teleportation attacks and then retreating safely to your Fixing Point, you have a fair shot at winning in the long, difficult damage racking game that lies ahead of you. Although your strengths and weaknesses are so similar, you play very different games and it ultimately comes down to how well the Lucy player can see through your Afterimages and Substitutes and whether you can competently slip in under her radar once in a while. One hit and then another, that's the way to go.

__________________Against Drifblim / 65 to 35
It's a fun matchup we have here, two characters who play at hit-and-run and have tendancies to prolong games. The salient point is that Abra has a foolproof way to get way, way up in the air. No matter how high Drifblim chooses to drift and attack from, Abra can get higher, be it through Mind Reader or a simple Up Smash. Up Smash in particular will prove the gamebreaking attack in this match, because the attack double tap triggers can, if well-aimed, bring Drifblim all the way down to the ground. Slow and bulky, he's easy to it over and over again, and he should tether himself to the ground only at his own risk, because Abra's throw game can ruin him.

No, Drifblim's hope in this game will be to play even more cautiously than usual, to place himself very carefully and try to avoid Abra's spastic gameplay. When facing such a doleful, slow-burner counterpart, Abra becomes a crazy creature, constantly in motion and almost impossible to read.

__________________Against Axel / 60 to 40
Ah, a combo creature; how does Abra perform against such? "Wild Abra used Teleport!" is a good way to sum up your reaction to this matchup. Axel is not notably quick, but his attacks do carry a lot of range with them, especially if you allow his chakrams to kindle beyond the norm. Axel will delight in comboing you if he gets close enough, so make liberal use of Blink and do your very best not to get hit.

Since that hardly amounts to a well-rounded piece of advice, let me add that in this matchup, more than almost any other, Kinesis is key. It and Blink will both allow you to stop a clumsy Axel in his tracks, and since many of his hitboxes are large and linger, sputtering with flames, you should have rather an easy time of interrupting him in the midst of an all-out aggressive assault and turning the tables. A few attacks in return, and then you retreat again. Read your opponent's attacks carefully, and use Afterimage like a fiend. After the first few times, Axel players - never the most patient kind of player, am I right? - should be sufficiently frazzled to fall right into a Substitute-Jab Combo-Grab sequence. Cut off the momentum right there; extinguish the fire before it rages out of control.
 

Smady

Smash Master
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
3,306
Location
K Rool Avenue
Thanks, KRool.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot - if anyone else wants commentary like that, PM me or say so in the thread.
 

Norm

Smash Lord
Joined
Oct 10, 2007
Messages
1,103
Location
Newfoundland, Canada
NNID
Sheldon86
I don't see him here and though I'm not sure if he's been done before I would be inclined to think he has been done but if he hasn't I think I'm going to have to stake a claim on Travis Touchdown from No More Heros though this won't be done till after exams.
 

Wizzerd

Smash Ace
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
929
Nice seeing a newcomer. I'm pretty sure that Travis Touchdown hasn't been done, but there may be any amount of sets for a given character. Staking claims on a character can't stop anyone from making him, either, though I'm reasonably sure nobody is planning to make a moveset for him.
 

Frf

Smash Apprentice
Joined
May 11, 2008
Messages
83
Location
Memphis, TN
This lack of movesets is disappointing, but it's probably because finals are near. Hopefully things will pick up over the Christmas break. Anyway, glad to see a newcomer and the arrival of....AUDIO COMMENTARY! Great work, Smaddy.

I have a lot of movesets under work right now, but I haven't completely finished any of them. :/
 
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