Takamaru (Character)

Side Special
 Up Special
 Down Special
 Final Smash
 Extra Skill
 Franchise
 Game of Origin
 Release Date of Origin
 Other Appearances
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## **Character Info**

The Hawk Samurai himself, Takamaru, flies into the fray! When Murasame Castle is attacked by aliens and its titular demon statue comes alive, Takamaru is tasked by the shogun with saving Japan from these powerful forces. He dared to venture through four castles, dispatching four possessed daimyo and saving their daughters before finally taking out Murasama itself. He takes one last journey to the alien’s home world before finally freeing Japan from their clutches for good.

## **General Information**

### **Entrance**

Takamaru will decloak from his invisibility scroll and draw his katana as a puff of smoke and sakura petals accompany him.

### **Kirby Hat**

Kirby will have Takamaru’s ponytail hair on his head as well as wear a miniature version of Takamaru’s jacket.

### **Taunts**

**Up Taunt:** A Jealous Spirit will appear and fly around Takamaru’s head. Takamaru will aim his blade carefully and slash the Jealous Spirit in two as he disappears.

**Down Taunt:** Takamaru will glance downward as a small shadow appears in front of him. Suddenly, a tanuki pops out! The two will acknowledge each other with a quick smile and nod before the tanuki leaps backwards and disappears.

**Side Taunt:** Takamaru will draw his katana and practice swinging it a couple times as lightning sparks from the blade.

### **Victory Poses**

1. A cardboard ninja straight from Nintendo Land’s “Takamaru’s Ninja Castle” minigame will appear in the results screen before several shurikens are thrown at it from the foreground. The cardboard ninja will fall over as the camera pans back to reveal Takamaru looking at the cardboard ninja with disdain.
2. Takamaru will be sitting on the ground as he studiously sorts through his shogi pieces as one might sort through a deck of cards.
3. Takamaru will land down from above and perform a spinning slash around himself before standing in a pose matching his pose from the boxart of The Mysterious Murasame Castle as wind flows through his garments and hair. When Takamaru strikes this pose he will say, “Another enemy falls to my blade!”

## **Moveset**

### **Standard Special**

**Kunai / Deflect:** Takamaru will take out a small kunai and throw it forwards in a straight line. These kunai fly fast and for a medium distance, but by repeatedly tapping the special button Takamaru is capable of throwing out two kunai in rapid succession. As a tradeoff, these kunai aren’t particularly strong and are best used to interrupt your opponent’s moves.

If an opposing projectile is in front of Takamaru when he activates this special move, it will change from “Kunai” to “Deflect”. For Deflect, Takamaru will quickly angle his katana to intercept the projectile and deflect it away from him. With perfect timing Takamaru is capable of reflecting the projectile back in the same direction it came from with enhanced speed. However if Takamaru deflects the projectile too early, he will end up taking 50% of the intended damage and deflect the projectile away in a random direction in front of him.

### **Side Special**

**Fireball:** Takamaru will summon forth the power of the Tanuki and throw out a medium-sized fireball in front of him. Compared to his kunai, these fireballs are more powerful but fly for a shorter range. They’ll explode with a small aoe to knock opponents away as well, but they cannot be thrown in rapid succession like the kunai.

### **Up Special**

**Hawk in Flight:** Takamaru will center his katana before spiraling upwards into the air as he’s surrounded by the blue-and-red ethereal spirit of a large hawk. The hawk will loom over his back and give Takamaru the appearance of having wings as he takes flight. Takamaru’s trajectory can be influenced to a degree by tilting the control stick. This move allows Takamaru to leap about as high as Marth’s Dolphin Slash does and will deal similar piercing damage when hitting opponents with his sword. As an added aesthetic, if Takamaru hits an opponent directly as the move starts the hawk spirit will let out a loud screech as an intimidation tactic.

### **Down Special**

**Windmill Sword:** Takamaru will hold out one of his double-sided windmill swords and toss it forwards in either an upwards or downwards diagonal angle depending on if Takamaru is on the ground or in the air. When on the ground, he throws them upwards, and when in the air he throws them downwards. These windmill swords are a decently sized projectile and fly somewhere between the kunai and fireball in terms of speed and power.

### **Final Smash**

**Inazuma no Ikari:** Takamaru will hold his katana aloft in the air as a powerful bolt of lightning strikes it from above. This causes Takamaru’s sword to become charged with electricity as an electric orb surrounds Takamaru. Naturally, making contact with the electric orb will damage Takamaru’s opponents, however there’s more going on here. While Takamaru stands immobile, large bolts of lightning will spark off of his katana and fire off in a seemingly random pattern. These bolts don’t specifically target other fighters, but the speed that they fire and the random nature of their direction makes it difficult to avoid them regardless. These individual bolts don’t have enough KO power to make your average healthy fighter go past the blast zones, but its easy to get juggled by them and rack up the damage. As this Final Smash draws to a close, a second lightning bolt will strike Takamaru’s katana and cause the electric orb around him to quickly expand and burst, dealing one final attack against fighters who were too close to Takamaru with the capability of KOing them.

### **Extra Skill**

**Secret Shogi Technique:** Takamaru’s Extra Skill is a unique meter that is represented by five shogi pieces that appear next to his health percentage. These shogi pieces will fill up as Takamaru fights. They will fill up as Takamaru successfully lands his projectile attacks against other fighters and will fill up greatly when he is able to successfully use Deflect to perfectly deflect a projectile back towards an opponent, even if it doesn’t hit. This Extra Skill can be activated so long as at least one shogi piece has been filled out, however activating it will consume all shogi pieces.

Once activated, this Extra Skill will power-up his special moves for one use per shogi piece that was filled in. So if only two shogi pieces were filled in then these power-ups will only affect the next two Special Moves he uses. The power-up for each Special Move is as follows:

* **Kunai / Deflect** - Takamaru will throw three kunais at a time in a tightly packed grouped increasing their damage and knockback potential. Rapid tapping the Kunai special will cause two Shogi pieces to be consumed. Deflect will increase the damage of deflected projectiles and any projectiles that get deflected will be considered perfect deflects sending them right back in the direction they came from.
* **Fireball** - Takamaru’s fireballs will be tripled and thrown in a spread shot pattern which spread out the further they fly from Takamaru. The speed of the fireballs will also increase.
* **Hawk in Flight** - A wind effect will surround Takamaru as he flies up into the air. This will increase not only the damage of this special, but the speed and distance he covers will increase as well.
* **Windmill Sword** - Takamaru will grab four windmill swords and toss them all in a different diagonal direction around him. These windmill swords will also gain a piercing property allowing them to hit multiple opponents in a line instead of just the first opponent or obstacle in their path.

## **Unique Traits**

Takamaru can Wall Jump, Wall Cling, and Crawl.

Takamaru is also capable of throwing his projectiles while he is wall clinging, however he can only throw up to two projectiles before he has to leap off the wall.

## **Alternate Costumes**

1. **Default**
2. **NES Sprite** - Takamaru’s coat will be a brighter red while his shirt and pants are a deep blue. Takamaru’s hair will also be a brighter blue.
3. **NES Reverse** - Takamaru’s coat will be a dark blue, while his shirt and pants will be red. Takamaru’s hair will also be dark red.
4. **Ayame** - Takamaru’s coat will be green and white, his shirt will be pink, and his pants will be pink.
5. **Lord Ryokusame** - Takamaru’s coat will be pale green while his shirt will be a dark green, and his pants will be yellow. Takamaru’s hair will also become white.
6. **Lord Aosame** - Takamaru’s coat will be black while his shirt will be light blue, and his pants will be dark blue. Takamaru’s hair will also become pale blue.
7. **Lady Momosame** - Takamaru’s coat will be very light pink while his shirt will be purple, and his pants will be dark purple. Takamaru’s hair will also become pink.
8. **Lord Akasame** - Takamaru’s coat will be brown while his shirt will be red, and his pants will be dark brown.
9. **Murasame**- Takamaru’s coat will be pink while his shirt will be purple and his pants dark red.
10. **Captain Rainbow** - Takamaru’s shirt and pants will be cyan while his coat will be rainbow patterned.Alt 2Alt 3Alt 4Alt 5Alt 6Alt 7Alt 8Alt 9Alt 10

## **Associated Content**

Click Here to watch the episode of the Super Cast Bros podcast where Zantok and Jonno created this moveset!