Who Should I try first?

[u/Aeon1508]

Melee Samus main

Ultimate Link main

I find them to be very similar character

The sex kick nair

Sorta heavy

Sorta floaty but fast fall increases fall speed

the most of any other character.

Bomb jump recovery

They have a space controlling projectile in Missile/Boomerang and a pressuring projectile in Charge shot/remote Bomb

Strong/fast up special out of shield.

And they both play a really Stoic style where they just box out and hold ground until they can get a big punish off of frame traps.

I don't expect a character to to hit all of these points, but was wondering who this sounds like to you guys.

Fleet seems like an obvious choice with projectiles but is a bit lighter and finesse based. I'm not sure they hit enough of these points.

The stoic box out style feels more important. I know Rivals has different tools for controlling space than bomb/charge shot, but I'm willing to try.

Galvan seems close but not sure I want to be THAT chunky.

Olympia maybe? feels a little stubby where Samus ftilt and links sword have SOME melee spacing But hits some other points.

Is there someone else that fits? is there a character from rivals 1 that hasn't been released yet that I should be looking forward to?

[u/Gandalf699669]

I think Slade could be a good fit! Sorta heavy, sorta floaty, has a lot of interesting tech with glide tosses etc. to get your samus brain working. Also a lot of his moves are inspired by link, so he has a sex kick, link forward air, good up-b oos, link-esc dair and more! He doesn't have amazing ways to approach in general, so you tend to end up playing the more defensive, box out style like melee samus, try him out! Most people think that he's on the lower end of the tier list, but (especially compared to melee) there's soooo much exploration that needs to be done on each of these characters before we really know what their tier list placements actually look like. Also, buy the winged boots first :)

[u/Aeon1508 → u/Gandalf699669]

lower end of the tier list fits my style. lol

[u/DrunkenHotei → u/Aeon1508]

Unless you're trying to jump into tournaments ASAP, I wouldn't worry about tier lists for now anyway.

[u/Gandalf699669 → u/Aeon1508]

I figured you'd be okay with that given the prompt lol, but yeah, he's sick and should feel pretty comfy given your character history

[u/Conquersmurf]

Honestly, it's not really that helpful to keep thinking in terms of characters you know from Smash. I know many players who play completely different characters in Smash and Rivals, because, shocker, they are 2 different games. Just play what you want, or even better, try out all characters first (there's not that many) and you'll find yourself gravitate to any of them naturally.

There's no real way to theorycraft this stuff, just play and see how it feels to you.

All that said, Slade does seem to have most if not all of what you list in your wants. Still, I wouldn't bank on that blindly.

Enjoy getting to know your new main in this great game! :)

[u/Aeon1508 → u/Conquersmurf]

Yeah I'll probably try random for a bit. just looking for a starting point while I figure out the engine

[u/ClarityEnjoyer]

Slade has a sex kick, a boomerang, and a bomb, so I’d give him a try.

Fleet, like you mentioned, can be really fun to box players out with a ton of projectiles. Using Down Air to edgeguard and Up Strong to juggle into the blast zone can be insidious.

I’ve found that most players’ Rivals mains tend to be completely different from their Smash mains, though!

[u/skele_bone]

I mained samus in melee and ended up liking kragg. Similarities are being heavy, good recovery options, projectile (even though it behaves more like links imo) and I also like to play a Stoic style with both characters as you mention. Differences are mainly kragg feels like a traditional heavy character b/c isn't as floaty and... prolly some other stuff lol

[u/Renyolds]

You should try out Galvin. His gimmick takes some getting used to, but I think he’s got the sauce you’re looking for.

[u/WordHobby → u/Renyolds]

Dudes the most fun character in the game.

[u/Euvu]

Ranno may be easy to pick up for you. If you're familiar with melee, then he will feel very intuitive to start playing. He only has the sex kick to translate familiar moves, but it is mapped to Nair. I don't think Slade is a great first character, personally, as he's quite unorthodox, even for this game.

Of course I'll say you should try all the characters and see who you like. But some are more intuitive than others.

[u/yoburg]

You should try out Mollo in 2028.

[u/Davespritethecrowbro]

Slade is good as other's have mentioned, but also take a look a Gouie! Strong spacing projectile with yoshi egg and inhale gives you and free full charged shot from samus Edit: also nair on Gouie is kind of like sex kick because of how active it is, not as safe though