I would like to propose a case for
Adol Christin of the
Ys series as a Smash fighter. I believe his appearance in
Ys IX: Monstrum NOX would be the best way to include him, as his gameplay there has the most potential for an interesting moveset. Here goes.
Adol Christin as "The Crimson King" for Smash
Reasoning -
As a series,
Ys has been around since 1987 and helped to pioneer the Action RPG genre. There's 10 mainline games in the series as well as some spin offs, though it still manages to be a bit niche despite its long history. It is a Falcom property, and they've yet to have any representation in Smash.
Ys is full of intrepid adventure, colorful characters, invigorating bgm, and fascinating stories, and at the heart of it all is Adol Christin, the beloved protagonist. Setting aside the "boo anime swordfighter" jokes, Adol would be the most exciting new fighter for me personally in years. I would love to see
Ys finally get some well-deserved limelight.
Moveset -
Adol's moveset would primarily center around his battle skills from the source game, and I'd also like to incorporate the Monstrum Gifts as special moves and some other neat mechanics I thought of. Let's dive on in.
jab - Adol's basic four hit combo of standard attacks.
dash attack - the skill Swift Raid. lunge forward into a horizontal slash.
up smash - the skill Calamity Combo. two-hit attack, first hit lifts the opponent up, second hit slams them down. spike potential on the second hit.
side smash - the skill Vermillion Scythe. two-hit roundhouse slash with launch potential.
down smash - the skill Abyssal Blade. release energy around yourself in a circle slash.
up tilt - a well-aimed uppercut slash using Doll's Gift: Third Eye. see below
side tilt - a well-aimed piercing thrust using Doll's Gift: Third Eye. see below.
down tilt - a well-aimed sweeping slash using Doll's Gift: Third Eye. see below.
neutral air - the skill Demonic Pierce. flings a couple daggers in the direction you're facing.
up air - the skill Rising Slash. an upward slash with a wide overhead arc.
forward air - the skill Flare Shot. forward thrust with a fireball projectile.
back air - the skill Flare Shot. same as fair but backwards.
down air - the skill Void Blast. similar to Toon Link's dair, but also releases a few fiery tendrils in the direction you're facing upon impact to the ground.
grab - the skill Prisoner's Grasp. works as a tether grab with a little shorter range than Toon Link's hookshot.
neutral special - Crimson King's Gift: Crimson Line. see below
up special - Hawk's Gift: Hunter's Descent. see below
side special - Raging Bull's Gift: Valkyrie Hammer. see below
down special - Renegade's Gift: Shadow Dive. see below
final smash - Extra Skill: Crimson Slash. Adol releases an AoE whirlwind slash around himself, sucking in those around him while dealing constant damage. also has a burn effect.
Monstrum Gifts and the Gift Gauge
As a unique Mechanic for Adol, I'd give him the Gift Gauge from the source game so that he cannot spam his Gifts. Think of it like a little auto-regen stamina meter for any attack involving a Gift. How much of the gauge is used depends on what the Gift does. After using a Gift, the gauge will start to regenerate after a second or two. When you run out of gauge, you'd have to wait for it to recharge to use a Gift again. With that in mind, the recharge time should be fairly fast, since Smash is a fast-paced fighting game.
Crimson King's Gift: Crimson Line - as the neutral special, it would function similar to Zelda's warp. If you use it on the ground, it'll zip you forward a couple paces. If used in midair, it'll zip you upward on a forward angle to gain some air. if you use it into an opponent, it'll hurt them. for balancing, it can be interrupted by projectiles and blocked by shields. Gift Gauge Usage - 4 times in a row.
Hawk's Gift: Hunter's Descent - as the up special, it would be more of a glide recovery. to recover off stage, you could use Crimson Line to get air and then glide forward with Hunter's Descent. Some potential to act at least one more time from the glide, like going right into the tether grab from it or another Crimson Line. Gift Gauge Usage - meter drain. if it runs out while using it, you're put into free fall.
Raging Bull's Gift: Valkyrie Hammer - as the side special, you could compare it to Byleth's down special. Windup followed by heavy hit with great launch potential. naturally you'd be left open when using it. Gift Gauge Usage - 4 times in a row.
Renegade's Gift: Shadow Dive - as the down special, it's comparable to how Inkling can merge into the ground. You would be able to avoid damage by hiding in your shadow momentarily. If you exit the shadow under an opponent, they get hurt. To balance it, it can be interrupted by AoE attacks and items such as bombs and still be susceptible to final smashes. Gift Gauge Usage - meter drain. you get spit out of the shadow when it runs out.
Doll's Gift: Third Eye - in the source game, this Gift is used to detect hidden objects and switches. To incorporate this into Smash, I thought it would be neat for it to be applied to all tilt attacks with an effect of increased shield damage. The reasoning is that Adol is using Third Eye to spot the opponent's weak point, thus more shield damage. So this would be an effect of his tilt attacks when using them on shielding opponents. Gift Gauge Usage - 8 times in a row. It only consumes gauge if it hits a shield.
White Cat's Gift: Heaven's Run - in the source game, this Gift is used to run up walls. I thought incorporating this into Smash would make for a neat way for Adol to interact with stages. Naturally, his own stage would have ample opportunities for this, but it could also work on any stage with a flat vertical wall somewhere in it, like the Metal Gear stage for example. Dash into the wall, or move into it while in midair, and Adol will run up it for a bit. A potential way to get some air, too. Gift Gauge Usage - meter drain. you fall off the wall when it runs out.
Other Mechanics
Alternate Colors - Adol's standard color would naturally be his Crimson King look as shown above. He could easily have alt colors to represent White Cat, Hawk, Doll, Raging Bull, Renegade, and Aprilis. The final alt could be his
civilian disguise, like how Joker has his school uniform as an alt.
Flash Move - Like in the source game, dodging an attack with just the right timing will trigger a flash move that grants you brief invulnerability and increased movement speed. Similar to Bayonetta's witch time.
Flash Guard - this mechanic of the source game could be applied to Adol when he performs a perfect shield. It could do the usual effects with the addition of empowering his next attack.
Taunts - up taunt could be him quickly switching from his Monstrum form to his civilian form and back. side taunt could be the animation for entering Boost Mode, but we don't need Boost Mode itself as an actual part of his kit. down taunt could be an idle animation with one of his idle voice lines, such as "Not in my nature to stand around."
Stage -
Balduq Prison City
I feel the best thing to do for the stage would be to use the city of Balduq itself. I think a tour-type stage would work best. The stage can begin in front of the Dandelion bar, and then it can phase into the Grimwald Nox, then phase back out to be in front of Balduq Cathedral. Back into the Nox, back out in the Coliseum. Back into the Nox, then out in front of the Balduq Prison main gate. Could also randomize which places in the city you return to from the Nox each time. Hazards can be platforms and perhaps guest appearances from your fellow collaborators in the city, and Lemures while in the Nox. Here are some pictures of the places in question:
The Dandelion
Balduq Cathedral
Balduq Coliseum
Balduq Prison Main Gates
Grimwald Nox
Music -
I decided on this track list by thinking about what would be likely to be included, such as the general battle themes of the game, as well as the more iconic tracks, and of course, the tracks that would fit a fighting game the most. Ys music has always been incredibly good, and I personally think its deserving to come with so many tracks.
Spirits -
Dogi (advanced support type)
Parks (novice support type)
I picked these based on their importance to the story. Dogi is obvious since he's Adol's partner in every game, and he usually takes on the roll of support in most games. Parks and Chante I chose because of their involvement with the Dandelion bar as the central hub of the game, and of course the five Monstrums were obvious choices. Aprilis being the legendary spirit was a no-brainer considering her role. I tried to think what each type would be based on their personalities and abilities in the game.
Whew, that took a couple hours. All this has been spinning around in my head for a couple weeks now. Glad I could finally get it all down somewhere. If this ever became real in Smash, I would never need to ask for something ever again.