Nikki (Swapnote) Discussion: Draw Out Some Moves!

Character Mechanics
Nikki comes to Smash armed with two weapons(?), her Pink White Nintendo 3DS XL and her Microphone that she uses in her new job as a Travel Quiz host (It even doubles as a stylus!).
Nikki is a fighter with a heavy emphasis on Traps. She sets Notes around the stage that linger for a short while that are read by opponents when they touch one, or at least that is what Nikki would like to think they are doing, stunning would be the correct way to say what happens. So most of her game plan will be to focus other fighters into her Notes so she may capitalize on them “Viewing her Notes” by punishing them with attacks.

Overall Nikki is a relatively neutral character, she is not very fast and has an average jump. She is also around an average weight. Her general range aside from a select few attacks is also very average. Her major focus as a fighter is to force opponents into positions that benefit her, and it is reflected very well in her specials.

Moveset
Normals: Nikki is Smash Brothers’ version of Marvel vs Capcom’s Phoenix Wright. She is a fighter who isn’t deliberately trying to harm her opponents. As a Quiz Show host, she should be acting like one and try to harmlessly ask questions, pose, and the like. Probably trying to emulate Game Show Hosts by doing poses and whatnot as well.
Her Jab attack would be her pushing her Microphone forward, as if she wanted to ask her opponent a question.
Her Dash Attack could be her clumsily tripping after pushing the Mic out a little too far while running.

Another thing to take advantage of in her Normals moveset is her 3DS XL. A big part of the character should be focusing on the 3DS’ 3D capabilities… literally. Nikki is an artist of sorts, so her doodling and showing off her work with it popping out of the 3DS could be a good way of incorporating some lesser known Nintendo characters could work. We shouldn’t try to force anything that people wouldn’t know, but it would be a good way to work some characters in.
Her Smashes would incorporate three of her friends. Depending on Charge.
Essentially, for each Smash attack she will be drawing on her 3DS, but in a visibly different position to act as tell to which Smash Attack she will use. Depending on time charged, she will draw one of three friends and reveal the drawing as an attack.
The no charge to around mid would be her pal, Neko-Kun (the Cat).
The mid to roughly 90% would be her other pal, Panda-Kun (the Panda).
From 91% to fully charged, she would draw Baito-Kun (Also known as the Arcade Bunny outside of Japan).
Because of this, it may be important for there to be a visual queue during the charging animation to determine which friend will come out, but that’s up to a balancer and not me haha.

Smashes were the major way I thought would be a good way to incorporate this idea, it is also utilized through a few of her specials as well. But I think having this being used for a few other attacks would work as well, (definitely the stronger ones though, I think).

It would be really nice if her moves had long animations after use, but can be canceled at anytime. Somewhat akin to Phoenix Wright in UMvC3, to really emphasis that she really isn’t actually attacking people half the time. But not necessary as it may be unnecessarily taxing on spriters.

Standard Special: Swapnote - Nikki begins writing on her 3DS, if only pressed she’ll swipe out a Swapnote that floats around in place for a period of time. If touched by an opponent, it will open and show what she drew. They are stunned for the level of charge it had taken before it was sent out. Swapnotes have four levels or charge, (in reference to the max amount of pages), and can be stored. Nikki can only have three Swapnotes floating about at a time, and they will disappear over time.

Nikki will be using Swapnotes as her main source of trapping tools. Since they can be saved, it gives her a lot of freedom as to where you can place them. But since they do not move you need to be precise with your opponents placement. So you need to decide whether you want to cover your opponents DI by placing many notes in the same general area, or do you want to plan ahead and cover options your opponent will eventually need to take such as ledges or platforms?

Aesthetically, there should be a variety of Swapnotes for each level. This is where a lot of the neat Nintendo references could be tossed in. At least 6 of each variation would be nice to avoid a whole lot of repeats all of the time.

Side Special: Streetpass Note - Nikki crouches and sends out a Streetpass Note onto the ground. Essentially, this is a grounded and moving variation of the regular Swapnote. Though it’s overall charge and stun duration are much less and the move cannot be stored. Additionally, only one may be out at a time and the time active is always the same. It acts as a good way to control grounded space quickly with the tradeoff that it lacks a lot of the interesting planning the regular Note has.

In the air it drops straight down, similar to Junior’s Mechakoopa in Smash for Wii U / 3DS. Whether they walk off the stage or not hasn’t been decided, but I would imagine it would make more sense for them to not walk off of the stage.

Aesthetically it does not matter if there are some repeats of the notes, but if there were new ones it would be nice.

Up Special: Spotpass Letter - Nikki sends out a letter from her 3DS, before it flies away she grabs hold and together they go upward. This move has no hitbox and moves relatively quickly, she has pretty decent control of the vertical trajectory of the move as well. Once it ends, she lets go of the.note and goes into free fall. A relatively standard recovery special.

Down Special: Pop Quiz -  Nikki points her Microphone forward, and out of a puff of dust appears either Neko-Kun or Panda-Kun essentially trying to grab an opponent. If it succeeds, they’ll hold them in place while Nikki asks them a question. Now, Nikki must input a direction to send her foe (Up, Down, Left, Right), if she does not do so within a two seconds after initiating the question, the opponent is released and Neko/Panda-Kun disappear in another cloud of dust appearing hurt. Once decided her opponent has three seconds or so to attempt to guess the same input Nikki put in. If they get it wrong, Nikki will have an X above her and shake her head, causing her friend to toss the foe at the direction she inputted and them disappearing in another cloud of smoke at the end of the move.

If her opponent guesses correctly, a circle will appear above her and she will smile and nod. This will cause her and her opponent to regain a small % of health. Her buddy waves goodbye and the move ends with the two of them being pushed away from each other, as if they escaped the grab.

In the air, a successful grab will stall them and make them fall slowly. Once it ends, Nikki will be unable to use it again until she lands or edge hangs.

If the grab misses, Neko-Kun or Panda-Kun stumble over and Nikki appears concerned for their well being.. The Cat or Panda then disappears after messing up. Essentially acts like a punishable grab whiff.

Final Smash: Nikki’s Travel Quiz - Not a complete idea yet, but I am aiming for something where Nikki actually asks a question to other fighters and they must answer it correctly or suffer the consequences. Essentially getting the correct answer really lowers knockback, but damage done is only lowered a bit. Whereas answering incorrectly gives you the normal damage and knockback that kills mid-percent foes like most final smashes. There would need to be a variety of questions, could be a mix of Nintendo stuff and other things. This character is supposed to be filled with tons of references and whatnot so it seemed very fitting as an idea.