September 2, 2013 by

Until now, Smash Bros. has lacked fury and chortles!

Author's Note: This blog is my submission for the MyIGN Smash Bros. collaboration project I created. You can check it out here, and be sure to submit your own to join in on the fun!

Challenger_Approaching - Copy

Hey, you want to hear a secret? Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is my favorite game of all time. Surprise! Not like you already knew that or anything.

But anyways, part of the reason why I love Superstar Saga (and the Mario & Luigi RPG series in general) is because the characters are hilarious. Seriously, AlphaDream did an amazing job capturing the light-heartedness of the Mario franchise into a very fun and serious RPG. Every character from Mario to Prince Peasely to Popple to the Hammer Brothers is unique in their own special way.

And then there is, of course, Fawful.

A bit of a background story on Fawful. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he was the secondary villain behind his master Cackletta. In Partners in Time, he retires to a little bean shop underground and sells badges to Baby Mario and Baby Luigi. But what was he really doing all that time? Planning for world domination, which he attempts in Bowser's Inside Story.

So yeah, he's the perfect Smash Bros. character. Let's see what moves I can come up with for him...

Standard Special Move: Plasma Gun – Fawful's projectile attacks are primarily from his Vacuum Helmet, but in Bowser's Inside Story, he also has a secondary projectile attack. What is it? A plasma gun. That shoots stars. What makes Fawful's plasma gun unique to say Fox's gun is that it shoots diagonally upward and does a little loop-de-loop before actually zipping across the screen. This can be both an advantage and a disadvantage, as the loop gives this attack some immediate vertical range, but it also gives opponents more time to avoid the attack. Thus, unlike most projectile attacks, Fawful's plasma gun is best used at close range.

Side Special Move: Fawfulcopter – Fawful has yet another projectile attack, though this one doesn't have nearly as much horizontal range as the plasma gun. In his side-B attack, Fawful throws a Fawfulcopter, which is a common enemy found in Bowser's Inside Story. The Fawfulcopter shoots out sideways, but then curves upwards into the sky. Because of this, aiming the Fawfulcopter may be a bit difficult, but once you get used to it, this projectile attack can be really useful in attacking enemies from afar, especially on stages that focus on verticality.

Down Special Move: Overheat – In Superstar Saga, Fawful fights within a giant mecha that resembles his head. Once in a while, the mecha overheats, causing a slight explosion. This is the basis for Fawful's down-B attack, Overheat. In this attack, he calls our for his mecha, which falls down from the sky. Any opponent who comes in contact with the mecha will receive damage. Upon hitting the ground, the mecha explodes, causing burn damage. This is especially useful when trying to clear out a group of opponents while falling from the sky. However, like Pikachu's down special move, if there is a platform between Fawful and the mecha, the mecha will land on the platform instead of Fawful.

Up Special Move: Vacuum Helmet – Fawful is often seen with his vacuum helmet on his head. In his up-B attack, Fawful uses his helmet to recover, much like Snake's recovery move. Any contact with the helmet will incur damage to the opponent. When the recovery move ends, the vacuum helmet will continue to fly up until it reaches the edge of the screen. During this phase, the helmet acts as yet another projectile, which can be useful when attempting to star KO an opponent.

Final Smash: Final Fury – Fawful transforms into Dark Fawful and is able to shoot a chain of energy spheres and stars at opponents. Players control Fawful's fire for about five seconds before Fawful returns to normal. During this attack, Fawful is invincible, and thus cannot get hurt. The energy spheres and stars deal moderate damage to the opponent, but if you focus on aiming at just one player, it's easy to KO them if they had incurred some damage already. Alternatively, the player can spray the projectiles around to deal some damage to all opponents.

Tactics – Using Fawful takes some time and practice to get used to. He's not particularly strong at close range, and most of his projectile attacks are relatively useless at long-range. Thus, Fawful is best used in mid-range combat. His quick speed allows Fawful to move around the map quickly, and the unorthodox nature of his projectile attacks can make him a dangerous opponent to trifle with at mid-range. Though not very powerful, Fawful is a very tactical character that can be very dangerous if you know how to use him.

Taunts – And how can we have Fawful without his amazing dialogue? There's no better taunt than a huge text bubble that allows Fawful to scream his random little quotes. And yes, everything he says is from a game in the Mario & Luigi series. Here's a taste:

  • "I HAVE FURY!"
  • "I HAVE CHORTLES!"
  • "OUCH, HOTNESS! IT IS THE OVERHEAT!"
  • "BEEF? I AM LACKING IN BEEF. FAWFUL IS BEEFLESS."
  • "I HAVE VICTORY!"
  • "FAWFUL IS ON THE COZY COUCH, SIPPING TEA THAT LAUGHS AT YOU!"
  • "OH, I AM FEELING THE POWER! IT HIGH-FIVES FAWFUL'S FACE!"
  • "YOUR PLAN THAT I LAUGH AT NOW MAKES FOR MORE LAUGHING!"

Oh Fawful. You're amazing. And the perfect Smash Bros. character.

Hey, listen! Be sure to submit your own Smash Bros. character here!

Submit Blog
Love this blog? Send it to submissions@ign.com to help us recognize and promote great bloggers on IGN.