Shade's Custom Spirit Modifications

Personally, I like the Spirits mode from *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*. It served as a satisfactory-at-worst replacement for Trophies and Event Mode, and it complemented the new story mode quite elegantly. However, some mistakes were made, and even a rare *World of Light* fan such as myself must acknowledge that. Additionally, thanks to the benefits of hindsight and fresh creativity, I have ideas for some changes and additions to the Spirits mode. Note that some sections may be more boring than others.

## Balancing

This one is simple. In my opinion, some Support Spirits are just too powerful. Lava Floor Immunity taking up two slots completely eliminates the challenge of Lava Floor Spirits, especially since you still get extra power from your Primary Spirit and your remaining Spirit. For some Support Spirits, namely the Hazard Immunity ones, I'd just make most of them three-slot Spirits. Legend Support Spirits with Hazard Immunity can remain as two-slot because it's a genuine challenge obtaining them.

## (Replacing) Franchise Favoritism

Little known fact: If you play as a character from *Super Mario* and then equip a *Super Mario* Spirit, you get a bonus to your strength and defense. This is a good idea! At least, if we assume that every franchise is like *Super Mario*. Though that series has plenty of fighters and Spirits, others don't have that luxury. For instance, besides the one unusable Figher Spirit, there are no *Duck Hunt* Spirits (unless you count *Hogan's Alley* Spirits, but I'm not sure if the game does). So how is Duck Hunt supposed to get a franchise bonus from their Spirits?

Instead of Spirits giving a bonus based on franchise, perhaps each Spirit has up to five fighters that it can give a bonus to. Let's call this "Spirit Teamwork". Each fighter that is a part of a Spirit's Teamwork makes sense to be there. For instance:

* The Goomba Spirit would give a bonus to Bowser, Bowser Jr. and Piranha Plant. They're all Mario villains.
* The Bullet Bill Spirit would give a bonus to Snake, Bowser Jr., Bayonetta, King K. Rool and Joker. They all use bullets, missiles or cannons.
* The Ender Dragon Spirit would give a bonus to Charizard, Corrin, Ridley and Steve. All dragons except Steve, who can become an Enderman via his alts.
* The Bubbles Spirit (from *Clu Clu Land*) would give a bonus to the Ice Climbers, R.O.B. and Duck Hunt, one-hit wonders from the NES era, and PAC-MAN, another circular arcade protagonist from that era.
* The Rick Sanchez Spirit (from *Rick and Morty*) would give a bonus to Dr. Mario and King K. Rool, both scientists, and Zelda, Mewtwo and Palutena, who can all teleport. There is no Rich Sanchez Spirit in the base game, but who cares?

Oh, and it should be explained that this happens, as *SSBU* doesn't tell you when franchise favoritism happens.

## New Spirit Effects

I like the Spirit Effects we already have, I just think some new ideas would be cool as well. Unless otherwise stated, assume each effect is exclusive to Support Spirits. Not every Spirit here is from *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* and there are fourth-party characters used as examples.

* **Assist Trophy Allyship** (Legend) - Any Assist Trophy enemies that spawn are allied with you, but go away sooner. Examples: Abe from *Oddworld*, Cappy from *Super Mario Odyssey*
* **Aura** (Ace) - Equipping this Spirit gives you Lucario's aura effect; the more damage you take, the stronger your attacks become. Examples: Gladiator from *X-Men*, Riolu from *Pokemon*
* **Backstab Attack +** (Advanced, primary) - You deal extra damage to opponents you hit from the back. Examples: Patrick Bateman from *American Psycho*, Rogue from *Dungeons & Dragons*
* **Chaos Magic** (Legend) - Each attack has a 1/16 chance of causing a random effect. The effects include: Slowness, shrinking, poison, mushroom, freezing, burying, weakening and stunning. Examples: Giygas from *EarthBound*, Ditto from *Pokemon*
* **Conductor** (Novice) - Every time you touch a body of water or are hit with a water attack, there is an explosion of electricity from your body that damages enemies near you. Examples: Livewire from *Supergirl*, Zapfish from *Splatoon*
* **Counterproof** (Advanced) - You have a 75% chance of ignoring counters if you attack a countering enemy. Examples: Dark Link from *The Legend of Zelda*, Bomber from *Kirby*
* **Fire Heal** (Ace) - Instead of taking damage from fire attacks, you heal half of what you were supposed to be damaged by. This effect does not work with Lava Floors. Examples: Dry Bowser from *Super Mario*, Fire Elemental from *Spider-Man: Far From Home*.
* **Fire Spread** (Ace) - Any fire attack deals continuous damage to your enemies, much like Joker's Side Special. Examples: Fiery Blowhog from *Pikmin*, Imp from *Terraria*
* **Food Poisoning** (Ace) - Every enemy is poisoned by food instead of healed. Examples: I dunno, the villain from *Coco*? I don't get paid for this.
* **Ice Heal** (Advanced) - Instead of taking damage from ice attacks, you heal half of what you were supposed to be damaged by. This effect does not work with Ice Floors. Examples: Baron Brrr from *Super Mario*, Mr. Freeze from *Batman*
* **Miniaturize** (Ace) - Any enemy who is Giant becomes normal-sized. There is a 15% chance that a normal-sized enemy becomes Tiny. Examples: Ezlo from *The Legend of Zelda*, Ant-Man from *Ant-Man*
* **Spike Body** (Advanced) - Any enemy that deals physical damage to you takes a quarter of that damage and no knockback. Examples: Gordo from *Kirby*, Thwomp from *Super Mario*
* **Stagger +** (Ace) - Enemies hit by your Smash Attacks are slowed briefly. Examples: Whomp from *Super Mario*, Turtle from *The Flash*
* **Start with Assist Trophy** (Legend) - You spawn with a certain Assist Trophy. Some Assists may not be summonable by Spirits due to balancing issues. Examples: Krystal from *Star Fox*, Takamaru from *The Mysterious Murasame Castle*
* **Stunning Parry** (Ace) - Your first successful parry against an enemy's melee attack will leave them stunned. Examples: ReDead from *The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time*, any *Rivals of Aether* character
* **Telekinesis** (Ace) - Your grab range is doubled and can pick up items, though it prioritizes grabbing enemies. Examples: Alakazam from *Pokemon*, Galaxy Man from *Mega Man*
* **Thievery** (Advanced) - If you grab an enemy, you will steal any item they are holding. Examples: Like Like from *The Legend of Zelda*, Thief from *Thief*
* **X-Ray Vision** (Legend) - You can see invisible opponents, and neither darkness nor fog affects your sight (but poison fog still hurts you). Examples: Daredevil from *Daredevil*, Dr. Mid-Nite from *DC Comics*
* **Zap Heal** (Advanced) - Instead of taking damage from electric attacks, you heal half of what you were supposed to be damaged by. This effect does not work with Zap Floors. Examples: Joltik from *Pokemon*, Electro from *Spider-Man*

## New Battle Conditions

Similarly to the Spirit Effects, I like the current Battle Conditions. More conditions would just make things more fleshed out and unique. Note that some Spirit Effects, such as Food Poisoning and Spike Body, could also double as Battle Conditions.

* **Slippery Fingers** - When starting to move, there is a 25% chance that you will drop an item you are carrying.
* **Stage Morph** - Every thirty seconds, the stage transforms to another stage. Example: Ruto from *The Legend of Zelda* will morph between Great Bay and Kalos Pokemon League.
* **Transformation Lock** - You cannot gain beneficial transformations.

## Descriptions

Spirits are confirmed to be a replacement for Trophies. However, they're missing one critical element: The Trophy descriptions. It is heartbreaking to me that the descriptions were lost, as my child-self would never find out about the lore of obscure games like *Magical Starsign* or *Custom Robo* had it not been for their descriptions in *SSBB*. I'd essentially just copy/paste the format from previous games and put it here, with a few adjustments.

Each Spirit would have five aspects to its description:

* Name: The name of the Spirit.
* Series: The series that the Spirit is from.
* Origin: The video game that the Spirit first appeared in, followed by the date and console in small letters.
	+ In cases where the character debuted outside of a video game (such as Lucario, R.O.B. or Cloud's *Advent Children* alt), that media is used instead, with no console attributed.
	+ Characters who debuted on non-Nintendo systems (such as Snake, PAC-Man or Steve), their console is either listed as "Arcade", "PC" or not listed at all, depending on the character.
* Art: The video game that the Spirit's art is from or was made for. In cases where the Spirit uses a real-life photo (such as Ness or R.O.B.), it just says "Real Life?"
* Bio: A short synopsis of the character.

For instance:

* Name: Metal Mario
* Series: Super Mario Series
* Origin: Super Mario 64 (1996, N64)
* Art: Mario Kart 7 (2011, 3DS)
* Bio: Mia mamma, Mario sure looks strange wearing the Metal Cap. It was introduced as a power-up allowing him invulnerability to damage and water currents. In later games, it seems that Metal Mario has become his own person, and has faced off against Mario and co. in various races and tennis tournaments. How does that even work...?