Neutral Special: Hair-Snare Swing

In my moveset, Dixie grabs with her hands when you press the Grab Button, but she uses her hair when you press B. She doesn’t grab immediately though; the angle in which she catches someone is up to you.

Once you press B, Dixie takes a stance. A mode has been activated for her, in which she stands still and ready to react in various ways. The stance is easy to assume and thus has no startup or ending lag; you can’t walk around while in this stance, but you can easily get out of it by pressing B or A, jumping, dodging or by getting attacked. You can also shield while you’re in the stance, and unlike the other options above, you’ll automatically return to this position. Retaliating won’t be a problem for you.

So, you know how to cancel this, but what is this used for? This Special is Input-Sensitive on the ground, and the inputs are strictly directional. One thing to note is that if someone comes up opposite from where Dixie’s facing, you can press back on the Control Stick for her to reverse her stance at any time. Now, Dixie has 3 real options when in this stance: Forward, Diagonal and Upward. If you press the Control Stick in any of these directions, she’ll grab with her ponytail.

Here’s the Forward Swing. She extends her hair in hopes of catching a foe. This is the critical moment; it’s fast, far-reaching and can grab those right behind her at the start of the swing, but if Dixie misses she’ll return to the “Ready Stance” above with negligible ending lag preceding it. There’ll be nothing stopping her from trying again, so enemies should break her out of that stance ASAP.



If she does catch you with this move, you’ll be grabbed, swung and likely slammed opposite of where she caught you. In this case it’ll be behind her initial stance. The strength of the Neutral Forward is the weakest of the 3; a nice trade off for not punishing Dixie for missing her target. The ending lag of all the successful swings are the same. In the Forward’s case that means it’s worse than when you miss, but only slightly. Those caught are snared and swung in one swift motion, making the attack-throw quite quick. Where Dixie slams her hair into is important, because the force of the impact will hurt whoever stands there. Those who didn’t get grabbed should keep that in mind. This move works on projectiles and items in a limited sense as well; if you use this on a crate or barrel she’ll pick it up with her hair like in DKC 2 and knock away smaller items, but she doesn’t reflect projectiles, especially not things like Link’s arrows or Fox’s lasers. At best, she can deflect–not reflect–grabbable projectiles, but it’s not a reliable move for that. She only grabs crates/barrels with the Forward Input or picking them up normally; the Diagonal and Up will knock them away or slam them into the ground.



Let’s escalate things with the Diagonal Input. This Swing catches combatants coming from the air, at an angle. Say for instance, Dixie assumes this stance as someone runs toward her; the opponent anticipates a Forward Swing and so jumps to avoid it, but instead Dixie swings her hair diagonally. Or, an airborne assailant approaches at an angle, allowing an appropriate application of this move. What’s likely to happen? She’s sure to swing the Hair Snare into the ground at a diagonal angle, slamming snatched smashers at an angle opposite of the grab. Since this is a grounded throw, the trajectory is a reverse of the swing itself, but what’s interesting here is that regardless of whether you catch someone, Dixie will slam her hair like this and won’t return to the Ready Stance. She’s swinging at an angle and in a way that makes her unable to ignore the impact; missing means she’ll have more ending lag than when she succeeds. She’ll shrug off a failed swing and take no damage, but if she catches someone she’ll rebound quickly to her idle pose–not her Ready Stance–free to do whatever. Like the Forward Swing, where her hair hits the ground is important. Non-grabbed victims are at risk of being hit by this, and there’s more force and damage in the Diagonal than the Forward swing. The stakes are higher here, so Dixie’s throwing more might into this.

Now we’re raising the stakes even higher for her Upward Swing. Dixie swings her hair to catch those directly above. It’s strictly vertical, and like the other 2 swings is performed quickly. The launch trajectory is vertical as well. Dixie slams her hair and victim into the ground and bounces them up with sheer might. The raw power behind this is on par with her Forward Smash fully charged, enough to startle heavyweights. IT IS THE STRONGEST OF ALL HER THROWS, and when using this one it is absolutely necessary that this move connects, otherwise Dixie’s gonna be in trouble. As you can see, she’ll rebound quickly if she succeeds and send her opponent flying, but if she misses she’ll crash into the ground, toppling over as if laid out by a terrible punch. A far cry from a graceful fall–one that leaves a valuable window of opportunity for vulnerability. She doesn’t take damage from failing, but the amount of pain a fighter can unleash–like a Falcon Punch–makes that a cold comfort. She’s putting everything she’s got into this swing, and this move is one she wants–no NEEDS–to succeed. Good luck with it.

The Up Swing is high-risk, high-reward. Of her 3 Up throws, this one is the only with vertical trajectory. Her traditional Up Throw is diagonally oriented while her Cargo Up has her throw at a highly curved arc.



On the ground, her Neutral Special is tactical, simple but strategic and meant to accommodate a shifting situation. It can be used in the air too, but it’s much simpler off the ground.



She does one spin, tossing whoever she touches in front of her an alright distance away, regardless if they were in front already. It is quick, not spectacular and the antithesis of the ground version. Simplicity in the air, versatile on the ground. This is her 2nd aerial grab, but her Down Air is better.



Her Neutral Special, Down Air and Forward Throw all highlight her possibilities as a Grapple-oriented fighter–allowing Dixie to have 12 throws in her moveset–9 added to her 3 regular throws. Those standing directly behind her when she performs either swing will get swept into the entire sequence, and if you’re swung with more force based on where you get caught in the swing. I hope everyone gets the gist of how this concept is meant to work. We’ve covered all the throws she has in her arsenal.



