#move set

Quote is a zoner with Curly Brace as an echo. The two characters being echo fighters rather than alternate costumes is more of a Peach/Daisy type of thing rather than any difference between the two play styles. Quote is a stoic, silent, protagonist, while Curly is far more outgoing and expressive. This would be reflected in their animations, idle poses, and one different move. Curly is playable in Cave Story, and plays identically to Quote after all. Any time Curly Brace has a different quality, I’ll be sure to say so.

Along with Cave Story, both Quote and Curly Brace appear in the fighting game Blade Strangers. While I will be using some moves from that game, Cave Story will be the primary source for the move set.

I’ll try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, but some things are unavoidable due to the nature of the set. Quote’s name isn’t revealed until late in the game, so that is a bit of a spoiler but, going from his guest appearances, I doubt they care much anymore.

I couldn’t come up with anything else for the logo. I considered the island, but it would look too much like Castlevania, and a star would just be KoF.

Stats:

Height - Below Average (most crossover media portrays them as on the shorter side) Weight - Average (Can’t be a lightweight, being a robot and all) Walk Speed - Average Run Speed - Average Jump Height - High Fall Speed - Slow Air Speed - High Jumps - 2 (Normal) No additional movement options Takes damage while in water.

The Gimmick -

In Cave Story, each weapon in the player’s inventory has EXP. Leveling up your weapon will change its effect slightly, making it more effective (there are exceptions, but that’s not too important here). Enemies drop EXP, and gathering it levels up the weapon the player is currently holding. Conversely, taking damage will decrease the EXP of the weapon the player is holding.

Things will be simplified a little here. In Smash, Quote will have one EXP meter which applies to his entire move set.

Quote’s EXP will be displayed above his portrait.

Quote will start each stock at Level 1 with 0 EXP.

Every time a fighter takes 10% of damage from Quote (cumulative), they will drop a bit of EXP, which is a yellow triangle.

If a fighter takes 20% of damage or more in a single hit, they will instead drop a larger EXP triangle.

The triangles will disappear after 5 seconds, and no fighters other than the Quote player whose damage spawned them can interact with them.

If Quote touches the EXP, it will be collected.

If Quote is damaged, he will lose some EXP, if he has any. (being at 0 EXP is punishment enough)

Gathering enough EXP will level Quote up to Level 2, then Level 3. Gathering more EXP at Level 3, will give Quote Level MAX. Just like in Cave Story, this is a small buffer that lets you take some damage without dropping to Level 2.

Level 1 - Level 2 - About 10 EXP

Level 2 - Level 3 - About 20 additional EXP

Level 3 - MAX - About 5 additional EXP

(these numbers can easily be adjusted)

Leveling up will make Quote’s moves deal more knockback, but no additional %. They will also alter Quote’s special moves.

TL:DR - Quote is playing Coin Smash.

Quote’s moves in general are long range without much knockback or KO power. He will need to level up if he wants to reliably take stocks, meaning he has no choice but to get close to enemies and become more vulnerable when EXP is on the stage.

A Moves-

Quote’s Jab is a 3 hit combo taken from Curly’s Blade Strangers move set. Since Quote doing this little butt bounce would be ridiculous, his Jab 3 is a simple punch, taken from his own Blade Strangers move set.

The knockback angle on each Jab 3 would be slightly different, with Quote sending at more of an upwards angle than Curly.

Dash Attack is taken from Blade Strangers, having them both perform Curly’s elbow dash.

Tilts are pretty simple. Drew little pictures for them. F tilt is the only one that has any real reference to the game, being a down angled version of Quote’s most basic attack.

Conversely, F Smash is his most powerful attack; The Spur. It’s a beam that has a bit of startup, and travels further the more the attack is charged.

Down Smash is a spin from the Whimsical Star. It’s a multihit that hits on both sides then launches.

Up Smash is a Missile Launcher shot upwards, which falls to the ground. You know, like Snake’s.

Neutral Air is a two hit kick.

Forward air is a downward angles shot. It’s more powerful than the forward tilt.

Up Air is two shots fired upwards. Drifting during it means the shots will land in different spots.

Back air drags the for up with it and launches them. I considered it going down, but that would be kinda OP.

Down Air is your standard delayed spike with the Missile Launcher.

Grabs-

Grab and Pummel

Forward Throw

Up Throw (has the highest knockback of them, so it would be a kill throw earliest.)

Down Throw

Back Throw

Specials... oh boy, this is where things get complicated.

Neutral Special - Fireball

Quote fires a shot from the Fireball gun. It could have some start up lag, but that would be up to balance. Its a basic projectile that can just be thrown out to take space, like Mario’s Fireball. It will bounce on the ground at a similar arc to Ridley’s fire. At level 1, the ball will move at a moderate speed, and there can only be one active at a time.

At Level 2, the fireball increases in speed, and there can be two active at a time.

Same for Level 3, except the fireballs are now blue and slightly larger. They travel faster, and there can be 3 active at once.

The speed increase isn’t that much, but Level 3 fireballs can be tricky to avoid. Also, this is less fireballs than you’re allowed in the actual game (2/3/4 opposed to 3/4/5), but balance.

Side Special - Blade

Spoiler territory here.

Quote throws King’s sword, goes spinning a good distance in front of him. Quote has plenty of Blade Strangers moves that use the sword which could work very well for his moves, but I wanted to capture the main game more. In the main game, he just chucks the dang thing. It also seemingly comes back to him once its done doing what it does.

The blade flies about 2 character lengths in the direction Quote throws it, then disappears. It doesn’t go very fast, but it has good launching power and not much start lag. There can only be 1 active Blade at a time, regardless of its level.

At Level 2, the Blade moves faster, but not as far, about half of the Level 1.

At Level 3, the attack becomes truly dangerous. Instead of throwing the sword, the spirit of King himself will emerge and fly forwards. If he comes into contact with anyone, he will stop, and become a multihit cutting attack.

The Blade is a powerful projectile, but is fairly easy to read, and can’t be spammed since it sticks around for a bit. It can always be reflected, even as King’s spirit.

Down Special - Bubbline

There were some choices here, but I went with the Bubbline, mainly because it changes the most between levels (and the Nemesis gets weaker with levels, defeating the purpose of this gimmick).

At Level 1, holding down special will have Quote fire a pathetic stream of bubbles forwards. They deal damage, but don’t flinch. Quote can move and jump around as long as he holds the special button, but the attack will end if any other attacks are used. This is a pretty bad move, but it comes out very fast, and the bubbles linger, so it might be good to throw out from time to time.

At Level 2, more bubbles are fired at once, making the attack deal flinching damage directly in front of Quote. The attack still deals poor shield damage, and can’t hold foes in place.

At Level 3, the bubbles will now circle around Quote for as long as the special button is held. They can block weak attacks, and damage opponents who touch them. When the special button is released, the bubbles will fly off in whichever direction is being held at the time.

The Bubbline is a useful tool for defense, but it’s sub-par damage and shield pressure mean it isn’t a get out of jail free card.

Up Special - Booster v2.0

Holding Up special lets Quote use his upgraded jetpack. It has a fuel meter, and will continue to go until the special button is released, or the fuel runs out. Quote can have a second meter by his portrait, displaying his fuel.

Using the move does not put Quote into special fall.

While holding the special button, Quote can change directions by holding up, left, right, and even straight down.

The jetpack is great for mobility, but isn’t too fast at Level 1. Each level increases the jetpack’s speed and improves its fuel consumption.

Fuel works just like R.O.B., refiling when on the ground.

Final Smash - Super Missile Launcher

Both Quote and Curly have cinematic Final Smashes which trigger in different ways. For Quote, Balrog drops down from slightly above Quote. His hitbox starts in front of, and above Quote, and falls to his level. Anyone who Balrog hits is dragged in. Kind of the opposite of how Banjo and Kazzoie’s Final Smash works. Quote rides on Balrogs head, and barrages the caught foes with the Super Missile Launcher, with Balrog’s signature HUZZAH! text box displayed at the bottom of the screen.

For Curly, her four Migima friends, the Colons, pop up in front of her, and anyone hit by them are dragged in. Their hitbox is on the shorter side, but it goes a fair bit in front of her.

The cinematic has the Migima beat the caught foes with sticks in a cartoonish manner, they then leave as Curly readies her own Super Missile Launcher and blasts the foes.

I didn’t have many ideas for the Final Smash. Sure, the Spur is the most powerful weapon in the game, but I figured the Super Missile Launcher has more oomph. Curly’s take is inspired by her super in Blade Strangers. Also, I just like Balrog.

And colors for both of them.

And that’s all, hope you enjoyed it. I don’t see Quote getting in realistically, which was why I was comfortable making this move set. Honestly, I’d be ecstatic if he got a Mii Gunner costume with the level of love Sans got.