Nahhh man. I think this is a WONDERFUL idea.



So, that U-air way awesome. You're nailing the style of his moves and you're nailing the animation concepts and you're hitting the frame data pretty close to something that really looks like it feels right.



So, I'm at work right now. We're super slow and I'm going to edit/add to this as I have time. But I really wanna break down his moveset here move by move, and compare/contrast each move on a 1:1 basis to the original moveset, but also analyzing it as a whole and ensuring that this character is still Ganondorf and contains generally the same strengths and weaknesses. I think the variation the sword should bring to Ganondorf's character should be small things. Not knocking on the PMBR (they obviously do an incredible job and we wouldn't be here if it weren't for them, I'm not talking that down), but one thing that at least in earlier versions seemed to have eluded the design team is that small changes are all that are needed to make these bad characters from Melee good. (Ex: Mewtwo looks hella cool, but I'm concerned he's gonna be way too ridiculous with his new Teleport functionality, DESPITE HOW BADASS IT IS.)



Anyways... I'm excited to contribute to this. I would love to main Ganon again and play with the sword. I've ALWAYS wanted him to fight with his sword because he was actually supposed to have it in Melee, that's why he had the victory animation with it; but the development team ran out of time so they made him a C.Falcon clone instead to get him in and save on time. So this is actually super exciting to me, even if the PMBR didn't pick this idea up and make it canon.



The following addresses v0.2

Jab

Sword jab is way too strong at the moment. I wish I wasn't at work, I'd totally break damage output down and make some charts and ****. Anyway, default jab starts at 7%. Sword jab currently starts at 12%. You might wanna drop that. This move seems to have speed, range AND damage. Now, I think having all 3 of these fits Ganon's character but at least one of these needs tamed, or all 3 need tamed by a meager amount. Which do we keep? Which do we change?



Ask yourself these questions now that you have a general moveset fleshed out. What is the design of this moveset? How does it differ from his original moveset and what edge does it offer him as a character besides the sword itself? How is he drawn back?



The range seems pretty set because of the length of the sword. I think it's a good idea to keep that true because the visual cues will match up naturally with the moves. So if that seems like a fair general rule for his new sword moveset? Where do we go from here? Ganon already has pretty decent range with some of his moves (U-air, F-air, F-tilt, D-tilt), but he sure would like some more. What do we take away? Damage? Speed?



I think taking away speed makes sense, he's wielding a sword now. Before he was faster because he had just his bare hands he was working with. So, I think increased cooldown on his sword attacks in general is good, but allowing them to link together with other sword strikes is also cool. I LOVE what you've done with his D-smash and F-smash. This is a step in the right direction. I might even like to see a 2-string jab with his sword. Maybe the current sword jab strings into him stepping far forward and poking downward, sword of like his sword D-tilt v0.2, also sword of like Roy's 4th DED angled down. The first hit hits down and away, if they miss the tech, fast fallers like Fox get can get popped up by the second hit. Second hit should be able to be delayed to account for techs in place. I like the idea of his sword attacks sending the opponent down or up. Tech chasing could be really strong with the sword. Like a really oppressive and evil, controlling playstyle that stays all up on your **** with a long ranged sword.



Maybe the most important thing I have to say at the moment:

His sword attacks should all be disjointed now too. THAT is cool. In fact, that alone makes this moveset appealing. Increased range and priority, traded at the cost of cooldown. Leaving him overall a little more wide open at times. His moves still mostly come out at about the same speed, so reacting to him is very similar but punishing him is easier in regards to time, but not in regards to distance.



I'll be back later. I didn't even get through his Jab yet lol.



Ramble

Oh, I also love the new U-air and I love the thought behind U-tilt. I like that he's still wide open above him while grounded (only good OOS option is Up+B). We'll have to discuss whether or not he should have a better defensive option with this sword moveset or not. His new U-air OOS might be super good in a different way than his default U-air OOS for defense. Perhaps an U-smash which could function as a defensive option OOS would be really cool. Definitely lots to explore here. I wanna playtest him so bad.



Things that jump out at me are U-tilt and U-smash. Those are definitely going to be key areas to give attention to. U-tilt currently seems to be niche utility, but that may be a very good thing for the design of this moveset. Consider U-tilts that would hit above him or behind him as well.



Also, I've considered designs for Ganon which give him super armor and while they're really cool ideas and fit him super well, I don't think they belong on a moveset of his where he fights with a sword unless he had some sort of parry attack. A parry would actually make sense too, in Wind Waker, he would parry Link's attacks with his dual-sword fighting style. I'm not sure whether or not changing his specials is a good idea or not. We may want to leave them exactly as they are.