Most Wanted: Jack the Sheriff for SSB4

[FalKoopa]

His 8-bit form is too under-detailed and pixelated. A redesign like Pit's would be welcome.

 

[Davidreamcatcha]

Perhaps it's just me, but I'd prefer to see Wild Gunman over Sheriff.

Many of the moves that apply to Sheriff could apply to him, but Wild Gunman has the benefit of an official character design, being arguably more famous/popular (being one of the first Zapper games and an appearance in Back to the Future 2) and seniority over even Sheriff (the original version of Wild Gunman was released about 4 years before Sheriff's arcade version)

I'm not holding out for either of them, especially with more popular/iconic retro choices, but I'd love to see Wild Gunman make an appearance.

 

[CC13]

I apologize for bringing this thread back for a second time, but I happened to stumble upon it right before I was about to post my own Sheriff thread. Anyway, before I start in earnest, I just wanted to give a shoutout to BridgesWithTurtles for his excellent write-up of a moveset for Jack the Sheriff. He did a fantastic job of operating within the limits imposed both by his choice to keep Jack in his original 1979 sprite form and by the very simple nature of the game Jack hails from. Hopefully, my own take on this character will do justice to BWT's work.

Having said that, my take on Jack approaches him from a much different angle. To my mind, the easiest way to make him work as a character is to make him into another Mr. Game & Watch–that is to say, he would be the amalgamation of as many of Nintendo's arcade games as I can come up with representative moves for (I might also throw in some of Nintendo's more famous toys if moves prove particularly hard to come by). As Nintendo only made a handful of arcade games, it would prove very hand to fill out a moveset with only those, so these would be mixed up with the more archetypal cowboy moveset (lasso, pistol, rifle, whip, etc.) to create a (hopefully) memorable and unique movelist. Here goes nothing!

Overall Feel: Jack the Sheriff's wide-ranging set of high-powered moves that are difficult to set up would make him very much a difficult-but-awesome sort of character. Getting the hang of his trickier moves is key to getting good with him and he would tend to start matches off slowly, but players who can hang in there will find a very dangerous character down the stretch. Jack the Sheriff should move decently fast and favor his ground and ranged games over his air and melee combat games. The overall ambiance of his design should come off as a "bad*** abnormal", which is exactly how a Wild West lawman relying on his wits and a few fancy gadgets he only half-understands against opponents he probably understands even less than that should feel.

Standard Attacks: The ground moves would largely center around Jack's pistol, with some other cowboy-inspired moves thrown in for good measure. These other moves could include a backwards kick with the spurs on his boots, a high-powered rifle shot and perhaps even a move or two involving a knife. One of the air moves could involve launching the vulture from Sheriff at your enemies, while his dash attack and smash moves would all generate items that would power his specials.

Throws: Throws would be simple affairs for Jack, as they are not the focus of his moveset. His pummel should probably consist of repeated pistol whips, while at least one of the throws should incorporate the lasso. Other throws could take the form of Jack violently sliding the opponent down a bar table or perhaps tossing the opponent into the air, then shooting them with his trusty light rifle.

Special Moves: This is where the biggest references to other arcade games would be found. Jack's specials should be MUCH more powerful than most other characters', but this power comes at a price–each of his specials consumes an item Jack has on his person, so once that item runs out, he cannot do the corresponding special until he performs the correct normal move to get more (Fsmash for Neutral, Dash for Side, Usmash for Up and Dsmash for Down) or until he is knocked off the stage, which will restock his special-powering items. Here's what I would do for Jack's specials:

Neutral: POW Block - Jack pulls out a POW Block that works exactly like the one in Mario Bros., but can also put it back by pressing B while he is directly over it. By jumping up into the POW Block, Jack can stun all opponents that are both on the ground and visible on the player's screen for 3 seconds on the first hit to the block, 5 seconds on the second and 8 seconds on the third and final hit. Each POW Block can be used 3 times, but Jack only starts with one and can only carry two, so this is his most precious move.

Side: Warp Charge - Using the same type of power shield seen in Space Launcher and Space Firebird, Jack quickly charges forward, immune to all damage and doing quite a bit of damage of his own to anyone unlucky enough to touch him while he does this move. However, Jack only starts out with one Shield Core and can only carry three, so this move must be used sparingly and accurately.

Up: Sky Skipper - Jack hops into the biplane from Sky Sweeper for 3 seconds per fuel canister you collected since last using this move; he starts each match with five and can hold up to 10. While he is in the biplane, he can fly around in any direction and can also drop bombs by pressing A.

Down: Fruit Drop - Drawing inspiration from Donkey Kong Jr.'s main means of self-defense in, well, Donkey Kong Jr., Jack sets up a piece of fruit at his current location in the stage. He can then go back later and knock it down, hopefully onto an unsuspecting opponent's head. However, his supply of fruit is limited; he only starts with 3 pieces and must execute his Dsmash in order to acquire more (max. 15).

Final Smash: Arcade Posse - Every sheriff worth his salt has a posse and our man Jack is no exception. When he does his Final Smash, Jack tags in one of his fellow arcade legends, leaving the fighting to them for a short period of time (10 seconds + 2 sec./POW Block + 1 sec./hit remaining on each POW Block + 2 sec./Shield Core + 4 sec./3 Shield Cores + 1 sec./fuel canister + 2 sec./3 pieces of fruit + 10 sec./4 full item stocks). In addition to extending the time the Final Smash lasts, having a full stock of any given type of item imbues Jack with a major additional power for the duration of Arcade Posse:

- Fruit: Summon Blue Snapjaws w/Dash and Red Snapjaws w/Ftilt
- Fuel Canister: Infinite jumps
- POW Block: Stun opponents for 1 sec./% damage on melee attacks
- Shield Core: Immunity to all damage

The character Jack calls in is randomly selected; these are the potential characters and their special powers:

- Donkey Kong Jr.: Can create climbable vines with Up+B; vines have a 25% chance of having a lock at the top, which can be unlocked by converting any 5 special-powering items into a key; unlocking 6 locks summons Giga Kong, a big, mad, dangerous ape who is about twice the size of Giant DK and deals MASSIVE damage
- Helifire: Can 'float' underneath the surface of the stage with Down+B for short periods of time (~3 sec.), leave depth charges with B and fire torpedoes straight upwards with Up+B
- Mr. Punch-Out!!: Uses signature moves of opponents from Punch-Out!!, Super Punch-Out!! and Arm Wrestling (B: "WAIT!", B+Side: Bull Charge, B+Up: Super Spin Punch, B+Down: Heal 25%)
- Stanley the Bugman: Sprays his bug spray canister with B & summons bugs with B+Side; bugs can be moved by Stanley's spray and do constant damage as long as they are in contact with an opponent
- Shooter Squadron: Made up of the ships from Space Fever, Space Launcher, Space Firebird and Radar Scope; fire shots with A; switch fighters with B; Space Fever fighter splits opponents into smaller, lighter versions with each shot; Space Launcher fighter generates items by entering docking stations on the opposite end of the screen; Space Firebird fighter does MASSIVE damage with Warp Charge; Radar Scope fighter shoots barrels (and occasionally hammers)
- Wild Gunman: Gun-based moves have penetration; hitting 3 opponents with rifle shot starts a brief segment reminiscent of Snake's Final Smash, where the opponents freeze in place and you can see shadowy projections of them, which can be shot for 10 seconds to potentially build up massive damage

Do you guys think I'm on to something with this one?

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

Sheriff is officially dead. After watching the stream a few matches ago, he appear as an Assist Trophy that shoots just like in the original arcade title.

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Assist Confirmed. It's nice to have him recognized though

 

[smashkirby]

Hey guys, thought I should just get it out of the way, but Wild Gunman isn't playable either; He (or should I say "They") is/are Duck Hunt's down special and Final Smash.