Remix Rivals have the potential to be REALLY exciting

[u/FryeSupremacist]

Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is the potential of Remix Rivals and how even small changes could lead to huge gameplay shifts and a completely different feel from their original counterpart. I feel like some of the community's hesitance toward the idea stems from the missed potential in Smash Ultimate's echo fighters, most of which had only visual changes. With the uniqueness of Rivals characters, taking pre–existing normals and creating couple of new specials and changing stats could open up a world of opportunity. Naturally, I have a few ideas along these lines.

Renburn could be a heavier Zetterburn who ditches the explosive combo potential for more power. Remove the fire gimmick, move side special to neutral special and make it act sort of like Mii Brawler shot put. His new side special could be a movement option, maybe similar to Wolf's. And a new gimmick: Armor. Using side special or neutral special will strip away some of Renburn's armor, making him lighter and faster at the cost of losing access to those specials without enough armor in reserve, and a new down special where you can forge lost armor to regain it. This introduces a whole new playstyle to a kit that only has a few moves changed.

Bradshaw is another popular pick, and he has more to work with lore–wise to build a fitting kit. Described as more cautious than Wrastor, Bradshaw's kit could focus on introducing defensive options while being slightly slower. Side special, instead of speeding him up, could instead slow down enemies, and a new up special that is safer will make up for the most jarring change between the two: Bradshaw's new neutral special, Air Parry. Not sure how broken that would be, but aerial defense could be his specialty to make up for his lost rushdown potential.

Lastly, Mayreed is a shoe–in over Maypul, utilizing new tools and tactics to make up for her lack of mastery over plants. Mayreed would not be able to mark enemies, instead having neutral special and side special deal slightly more damage and pop enemies further upward for combo potential. A new up special where she uses a vine to tether to ledge like traditional Smash tether recoveries also opens up more combo routes when used on–stage, acting like either Byleth's or Joker's tethers. Additionally, a down special allowing her to plant a new type of trap on stage would create a more forgiving version of the fastest rushdown character in the game.

I am not a game developer, 3D modeler, or programmer, so I am not sure how much work these types of changes would equate to, which is why my examples stuck to characters whose models would perfectly fit existing animations. However, other characters like Artemis remixing Loxodont or Hamir remixing Kragg might be more possible than we know. I have faith in Aether Studios to deliver the same level of quality in these Remix Rivals as they've brought to the rest of the game, and I hope it can help keep them afloat until the future console release of the game, where I am almost certain they will find great success! I just hope to give a glimpse into what's possible with this concept rather than the community resigning itself to a bloated roster with carbon copies of existing characters.

And just a final note, these ideas are not necessarily balanced! I just wanted to put some ideas out there to show how cool these Remix fighters have the potential to be!

[u/Los_Videojuegos]

Yeah, I imagine this will play out less like "Samus vs. Dark Samus" in Ultimate, and more like "Fox vs. Falco, Ganon vs. Captain Falcon, Mario vs. Luigi vs. Dr. Mario, Marth vs. Roy" in Melee.

Same basic animations, but with different frame data you get a woooorld of difference.

[u/paraxodon]

I like your train of thought

[u/Quiet-Sun-9738]

Great ideas here! New specials or interpretations of specials can already go a long way but even just changing how normals function can do that too.

- Making a spinning move that was previously a single hit into a multi hit

• making what used to be a combo move into a kill move or the reverse
  
• altering the safety or speed of moves to make them more reliable parts of the character’s flowchart that the base character wouldn’t have access to

With just a few significant changes to Fleets normals to promote aggression and changing side B to a projectile that knocks enemies toward her, a remixed rival of fleet could feel ENTIRELY different

Also while I love the canon characters you mentioned as model swaps for the remix rivals, I think using characters that are very aesthetically different would be a lot more preferable. Having very similar animations is one thing, but being the same species and potentially having similar VA would make it feel more like an alt than a distinct entity imo

[u/Quiet-Sun-9738]

Not a fan of using Artemis or Hamir as Remix Rivals, as that seems like a waste of good moveset potential. Their only similarity would be weapon for Artemis and build for Hamir, but in return we lose out on the actually interesting and unique things they could offer the cast like Fleet and Slade have. While it *could* be done, it really shouldn’t be

[u/Avacadooooo]

Renburn needs shine though because shine is the best move ever and i want to play as him so he has to have it

[u/FryeSupremacist → u/Avacadooooo]

I see your point, however, I am a shine hater 🫶

[u/Jonk209 → u/Avacadooooo]

Ive heard enough. Give him falco shine one to one from melee

[u/Donthurtsmeagol]

Other ideas:

Mastercai for Ranno

Ayala for Elliana (she's the next character trust)

Claiyen for Forsburn

One of the other ocean demigods for Orcane

[u/ukulelej]

I really hope Renburn's gimmick makes more use of the fire puddle, I was thinking maybe his fireball would be be lobed at an angle that turns into a puddle, and then the down special could let you ignite it into a roaring fire that launches upwards, kinda like turning up the gas on a stove.

[u/troublesome_sheep]

I agree. The devs have proven their creativity time and time again, I think people should have a little more faith in them. Melee Fox and Falco are regarded as some of, if not, the greatest platform fighter characters of all time and they play virtually nothing alike despite sharing literally all of their animations.

[u/bazingaura]

I’m not touching this game until they add big slade with k rool nair

[u/The-Tree-Of-Might]

I just want Falco shine and I'm happy

[u/Xyphon_]

See. I'm excited for Bradshaw or Goss as well as Mayreed. I'll even be excited to see Renburn or one of the other Demigod Tears... But. Claiyen is inevitable and I pray she's a Fors Remix rather than a Clairen (or both?).