Onimaru move set brainstorming

yeah, oboetazo was really fun. Basically after “learning” a move you got a free counter move from normal blocking it.

Given the much smaller number of moves in this game, I could see that working with, say, only the most recently parried move, but that could be pretty cool

I think of Oni’s theme as “brilliant strategist who strikes decisively in exactly the right spot”. In fighting game terms, I think the design goals to shoot for are:

  • Oni should be able to win a round in fewer button presses than any other character. He’s not just throwing moves out and seeing what happens.
  • Oni should have some way to put his opponents into a no-win situation if he outguesses them (the brilliant strategist part)

Based on that, here’s a sketch:

A: Sword Slash. medium speed, medium range vertical slash. Primary anti-air
B: Divide and Conquer. Horizontal slash. Slower than the A attack, but if it hits or is blocked it automatically follows up with a second slash for another damage (or another chip)
nC: Clockwork shield. If you catch an attack with it: damage is prevented and a Clockwork soldier appears in front of Oni. The next attack that would hit Oni is blocked by the soldier instead, which then breaks. The soldier also breaks the next time Oni attempts a special move. If the initial parry whiffs it’s highly punishable
f/bC: Final Authority. Slow slash that does 2 unblockable damage (similar speed as Grave’s C). Unthrowable, but can be interrupted by faster attacks.
S: Rising Sword. 1 damage DP

jS: Clockwork soldiers. Summons 3 Clockwork soldiers. Every time Oni attacks, a soldier attacks as well for 1 damage. Soldiers do no chip though, so a blocked or whiffed attack wastes a soldier for nothing
Other jumping attacks: IDK. Probably utility to help him deal with projectiles, but otherwise not great. Maybe…
jC: Spirit fire. Oni hangs in the air and fires a slow moving spirit projectile at a sharp downward angle

The idea is that if you guess right with Clockwork shield, you can set up a soul crushing unavoidable 2 damage with Final Authority. Final Authority is also brutal on knockdown, but he should have limited access to those (his throws should be very bad, and maybe the only other KD he can get is on counterhits with certain specials or something?)

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I like it.

The ground Super is kind of mediocre though, and I’m not too sure about having 2 specials on his C on the ground.

I belive it would work better is the Final Authority is his ground Super as, even though slow, it is 2 unblockable damage after all. Also as you said it synergizes very well with Clockwork Shield.

Besides that, I think he would work very well.

I was thiunking the same. But it’s easy enough to put Divide and Conquer on Final Authority on B.

My thought with ground super was two-fold:

  1. he probably needs some kind of “get out of jail free card” since he is pretty slow overall and could end up in pretty unfavorable situations if he doesn’t make the right guesses.
  2. I wanted it to force him to lose access to Clockwork Soldiers. That puts the emphasis on avoiding the unfavorable situation in the first place.

So having a DP as ground super helps keep him from getting in too unfavorable a situation, but he can’t rely on it without gimping his own offense.

Agree that 2 specials on one button isn’t ideal. Maybe Final Authority can be one of the jumping specials? That would certainly keep it appropriately slow. If so, his air attacks could be:

jA: Sword slash. Holding a direction moves him a little bit in that direction (helps with air mobility to avoid projectiles). Does not combo if used as a jump-in
jB: Spirit fire. Oni hangs in the air and fires a slow moving spirit projectile at a sharp downward angle
jC: Final Authority. Animated as an overhead slash with a big windup, and a big ol hurtbox so that any character in the game can anti-air him on reaction (unless of course he’s got a shield soldier prepared)

Why would he need a reversal in his Super when he has Clockwork Shield in his C? I thought it was a parry?

Onimaru doesn’t do chip damage. Instead chip accumulates over multiple blocks of HP.

Clockwork Soldiers is a fullscreen attack that helps you maintain the chip on a defensive opponent. Also helps keep them in place as they block.

Final Authority turns all chip into damage, giving you that OHKO.

Balancing options:

  • Each block of enemy HP takes either 1 or 2 chip
  • CS can have a separate cooldown
  • FA could be unblockable, giving an even stronger “Checkmate” feeling

I have a MUCH better idea, just have him visibly charge up the move while you hold the button, and make it SUPER obvious.

With each stage of charge the screen should shake more, his battle-cry should increase in volume and more mist should form around him, going from 2 to 3 to 4 and finally to 5 at the highest level, the attack also hits a bigger area and maybe it does more chip damage with each charge. Getting hit at any point cancels the move.

If the move is blocked or whiffs he kneels over in exhaustion for a period of time, making high risk high reward, people will almost never land the highest level. The move would not only be unsafe on block, but the highest levels have the most obvious and lengthy telegraph in the game.

Edit:also the move does not gain armor OR unblockable at any point, he should land it because the enemy fails to block or inturrupt him.

Actually having to hold buttons would be kinda superfluous, you could just have an automatically charging meter… unless…

Maybe ALL (or at least some) of his moves charge, so which button you are holding is actually important. But then, I feel like “have to hold button while playing” is a pretty uncomfortable requirement.

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Ooh, maybe he has a meter that charges over time and empties whenever he swings his sword. If the meter is fully charged, all his attacks are powered up somehow. That would really fit his flavor of “striking decisively at the right moment”, and would organically enforce the no combo aspect.

Here’s a v3 of my sketch incorporating that

A: Sword Slash. medium speed, medium range vertical slash. Primary anti-air.
When charged: Faster speed

B: Divide and Conquer. Horizontal slash. Slower than the A attack, but with longer range.
When charged: if it hits or is blocked it automatically follows up with a second slash for another damage (or another chip)

C: Clockwork Shield. If you catch an attack with it: damage is prevented and a Clockwork soldier appears in front of Oni. The next attack that would hit Oni is blocked by the soldier instead, which then breaks. The soldier also breaks the next time Oni attempts a special move. If the initial parry whiffs it’s highly punishable
When charged: N/A

S: Final Authority. Slow slash that does 2 damage (similar speed as Grave’s C). Unthrowable, but can be interrupted by faster attacks.
When charged: Unblockable

jA: Sword slash. Holding a direction moves him a little bit in that direction (helps with air mobility to avoid projectiles). Does not combo if used as a jump-in
When charged: Longer range and higher priority

jB: Spirit Fire. Oni hangs in the air and fires a slow moving spirit projectile at a sharp downward angle
When charged: Projectile knocks down

jC: General’s Hammer. Slow overhead slash that hits almost 180 degrees in front. Knocks down
When charged: 1 HP of armor

jS: Clockwork Formation. Summons 3 Clockwork soldiers. Every time Oni attacks, a soldier attacks as well for 1 damage. Soldiers do no chip though, so a blocked or whiffed attack wastes a soldier for nothing
When charged: N/A

Other things:
7 HP
Roughly Midori’s walking and jumping speed
Poor throws (short range, no KD)
Sword meter charges at about the same rate as DeGrey’s ghost

I dunno if you can charge an S

I also feel like oni shouldn’t have a projectile. He’s a big sword weilder so his range is already going to be better than most

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Charge is the wrong word. It’s more like Geiger’s gear meter, which refills automatically.

Spirit fire was inspired by his yomi K art. It’s mostly there to give him a way to mix up the timing on a jump in / float over projectiles, and maybe catch someone getting too aggressive. The angle should be down enough that it doesn’t reach more than mid screen, and it will be telegraphed enough that you would lose any projectile battles