Penelope

Penelope's character portrait

**Penelope** is a character owned by Aurelien Regard and is one of the 7 characters unlocked from the start. She comes from a game called *The Next Penelope*.

## Character Origin

Penelope is an extraordinary pilot, cruising through space with her spaceship despite missing an arm. In The Next Penelope, she's looking for her spouse, Odysseus, who mysteriously vanished.

## Trophy Quote

> "*After her hometown of Ithica is savagely attacked, Penelope is sent on a quest by her conqueror, Poseidon, as a bargain to keep her people safe. With nothing but her race ship in tow, she must search the galaxies for her husband Odysseus after his 10 year absence.*"
> ― Penelope's Trophy Description.
>
>

> "*Penelope was forced to flee Ithica in one of Odysseus's old ships. To her dismay, it's defense systems were offline , which forced her to reequip it while evading pursuit. It is now tricked out with Vampire Mines, blasters, a harpoon, and a teleportation mechanism.*"
> ― Penelope's Ship's Trophy Description.
>
>

## Summary

Penelope is a mobile rushdown character that excels at rushing opponents with constant close-range pressure. Her Vampire Mines allow her to lock down areas of a stage with ease, in addition to offering self-sustain and an escape option. With her rapid mobility in the form of Smashboost Engine and Static Teleport, she can be a tough target to pin down.

### Moveset

**Side Melee** : Penelope performs a graceful kick in front of her, dealing **4 damage**.

**Up Melee** : Penelope performs an upward stomp with her legs, dealing **5 damage**.

**Down Melee** : Penelope performs a hatchet kick downward, dealing **4 damage**.

**Grounded Charge | Bullet Spray** : Penelope charges her left arm and then shoots a volley of laser bullets. Each bullets deals **2 damage**, and the number of bullets increase with charge. Bullets can ricochet off walls. The bullets also have the property of increasing the size of any Vampire Mine when shot at it.

**Neutral Special | Vampire Mine** : Penelope shoots a Vampiric Mine and moves to the opposite direction. The move can be angled in all directions and correspond to the direction where Penelope will go. The Mine will explode on contact and deals **4 damage**, or **6 damage** when charged. It also restores **2 HP** to Penelope. It is a defensive as well as a stage control tool.

**Side Special | Smashboost Engine** : Just like her ship's Smashboost ability in *The Next Penelope*, Penelope boosts forward at high speed. This move doesn't do damage on its own, but is useful for covering long distances as well as extending combos. However, if Penelope uses this move to dash into an active Vampire Mine, she can absorb it, turning her boost effects into a blazing fireball that deals  **5 damage**  on hit.

**Up Special | Static Teleport** : Penelope aims an electric arrow and then teleports to its location. The teleportation is quick and invulnerable and does **7 damage**. While aiming, Penelope will stay in the air for a while, but she is vulnerable. The teleportation causes a wave that sends any nearby Mine to a direction. The wave also pushes opponents away.

**Down Special | Harpoon**: Penelope shoots a grappling hook. The attack does **8 damage** and sends the enemy above you. It can be used to get down on the ground quickly, as well as killing the enemy early near the top blastzone. It can be aimed at a Vampire Mine to bring it closer to Penelope.

**SUPER | Ship Assault** : Penelope sends out her spaceship on the battlefield. The spaceship deals **10 damage** and drops a lot of Vampiric Mines on the stage, which will soon fall on the ground and explode.

## Competitive Play

### Attributes

* **Mobility:** Side Special is infinite sideways mobility, and Up Special is a teleport that can be aim and is extremely safe.
* **Defensive Options:** Up Special grants I-Frames upon use, and has a reversal super that is really good when used on the left side of a stage.
* **SUPER:** Is much easier to avoid when done near the right edge of the screen.
* **DI:** Down Special has DI on hit, which makes Penelope have to guess where the opponent will go in order to extend a combo.
* **Vampire Mines** are vulnerable to reflectors, as they take 1 hp from Penelope upon use.

### Techs and Strategies

* **Mine Jumps:** You can use Vampire Mine's momentum as a makeshift Triple Jump. This is used best when keeping a combo going.
* **Static Teleport:** Allows you to teleport through terrain. This can be used best on stages like Retro Zone or Space Junction, where you can mix-up your teleport to recover or approach.

## Update History

**Patch 1.0.0.6**

* Fixed a bug that allowed Penelope to teleport past blast zones.

**Patch 1.1.1.0**

* Static Teleport damage decreased from 8 to 7.
* Harpoon damage decreased from 9 to 8.
* Players can now DI after being launched by Harpoon.

**Patch 1.1.3.0**

* Static Teleport damage increased from 7 to 8.
* Harpoon damage increased from 8 to 9.

**Patch 2.0.0.0**

* **Grounded Charge | Bullet Spray**
	+ Bullet travel distance slightly increased.
* **Neutral Special | Vampire Mines**
	+ Penelope can now drift in all directions, or choose not to drift.
	+ Healing increased from 2 to 3.
	+ Damage now scales from 4 to 6 depending on mine size.
	+ Deploying a mine now deals 1 damage to Penelope.
* **Side Special | Smashboost Engine**
	+ Just like her ship's Smashboost ability in *The Next Penelope*, Penelope boosts forward at high speed. This move doesn't do damage but is useful for covering long distances as well as extending combos.
* **Up Special | Static Teleport**
	+ Hitbox size increased the longer the attack is charged.
	+ Damage reduced from 8 to 7.
* **Down Special | Harpoon**
	+ Damage reduced from 9 to 8.

**Patch 3.0.0.0**

* **Grounded Charge | Bullet Spray**
	+ Penelope's aim now correctly adjusts to where the player is aiming when she starts shooting.
* **Down Special | Harpoon**
	+ Fixed a visual bug that caused Penelope's hook to draw a Blockman sprite at the tip if used on Crow.

**Patch 3.0.1.0**

* **Up Melee**
	+ Hitbox size increased to hit more reliably.

**Patch 3.0.4.0**

* **Neutral Special | Vampire Mine**
	+ Fixed a bug relating to instances where Penelope would use Harpoon on a Vampire Mine next to a wall.

**Patch 3.0.5.0**

* **Side Special | Smashboost Engine**
	+ Penelope can now use this move to absorb active Vampire Mines, allowing its hitbox to deal damage.

## Trivia

* Penelope was the 5th character added to the game, but was the first character recruited for Indie Pogo.
* Penelope was also the first female character revealed.
* Penelope is the only character with a skin that can only be earned from completing a Challenge.
* Her "bubbled" pose and campfire sit make homage to the promotional art for *The Next Penelope*.
* Penelope is currently the youngest indie character in Indie Pogo that’s playable, making her debut on January 3, 2018.

## Gallery

Penelope's character box, on the Kickstarter pagePenelope's trophy page, as seen in Indie PogoPenelope's Ship's trophy page, as seen in Indie PogoOriginal artwork from *The Next Penelope: Race to Odysseus*The five ships Penelope's standard skins are based on.
## References

1. ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/app/332250/The\_Next\_Penelope/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/LoweBros/status/1017850024011751424