CommanderVideo

CommanderVideo's character portrait

**CommanderVideo** is a character owned by Choice Provisions and is an unlockable fighter. He appears in the *BIT.TRIP* games, however, he is primarily associated with its *Runner* subseries.

## Character Origin

CommanderVideo is a character with complex backstory. He is the character with the most games to join Indie Pogo, with 8 games in total. How CommaderVideo's strength and effects self-afflicted on CommanderVideo is typically determined by his "Modes" (Modes so far through out the entire BIT.TRIP Series, including the Runner games includes *Nether, Hyper, Mega, Super, Ultra, Extra, Giga, and Meta* with each *Mode Up* raising CommanderVideo's Strength and each *Mode Down* lowers CommanderVideo's strength until re-Moding Up, CommanderVideo typically starts his adventures in *Hyper* Mode which is usually his base level.*)* In the Runner games, CommanderVideo will gain a multicolor trail by reaching Extra mode. In Indie Pogo, he gains this trail, as well as a damage buff, by chaining a Pogo combo of 3 or more.

## Trophy Quote

> "*The always imperturbable CommanderVideo is known far and wide for his rhythmic athleticism. His interdimensional exploits in chase of the maniacal Timbletot have brought him to many a strange land. He is often seen with a rainbow trailing behind him.*"
> ― CommanderVideo's Trophy Description
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> "*Everything comes from something. We were before we became. From life comes rhythm, and from rhythm comes life. We communicate in bits and bytes. And we will return to being something once we become nothing. After our BIT.TRIP is complete.*"
> ― Retro CommanderVideo's Trophy Description
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## Summary

CommanderVideo is an all-around character that can thrive in both offensive and defensive play. He is a particularly mobile character, and can use this to his advantage to both chase down opponents and escape danger.

### Moveset

**Passive | Extra Multiplier**: Upon gaining a Pogo chain of 3 or more, CommanderVideo will go into Extra mode, giving him his signature rainbow trail and slightly buffing the damage of his specials and melees by 1-2 damage. This effect wears off when CommanderVideo takes damage or dies.

**Side Melee**: CommanderVideo performs a traditional kick move that deals **6 damage**. With Extra it deals **7 damage**.

**Up Melee**: CommanderVideo shitfs his protective paddle upwards, dealing **2 damage**. The hitbox of the move is quite wide. With Extra it deals **3 damage**.

**Down Melee**: CommanderVideo puts his strong running muscles to good use and performs a stomp that deals **5 damage** and launches opponents downward. With Extra it deals **6 damage.**

**Grounded Charge | Slide Strike**: CommanderVideo slides along the ground and deals **4-8 damage depending on the charge of the move**. This move can be aimed left or right, and CommanderVideo can jump while sliding on the ground. In Extra mode, this move deals **5-9 damage**.

**Neutral Special | Eggplant Plane**: CommanderVideo rides the Eggplant Plane from Runner3. Its flight path can be aimed and CommanderVideo can jump off of it before it crashes on walls or opponents, dealing **5 damage**. If CommanderVideo is caught in the explosion, he receives **4 damage**. Has a cool down of about 10 seconds. In Extra mode the plane deals **7 damage**

**Side Special | Flying Kick** : CommanderVideo halts his vertical momentum and kicks in a straight line dealing **6 damage**. This move can be aimed left or right. In Extra mode, this move deals **7 damage**. It also extends the reach of the ability.

**Up Special | Beat Paddle**: CommanderVideo reflects a green Beat. The green Beat deals **5 damage** and travels upward. In Extra mode, this move deals **7 damage** and the Beat changes color every second. Additionally, holding up spawns the paddle for as long as the player holds it, deflecting any projectiles it comes into contact with.

**Down special | Spring Flipkick**: CommanderVideo summons a trampoline from the floor directly below him. This doesn't deal damage, but it pushes knocked down enemies back up, where they can be pogo'd again. If CommanderVideo jumps on the trampoline, he will spin around, dealing **6 damage** when hitting an enemy. CommanderVideo can also cancel this Flipkick into special without directly canceling the move, but he must directly cancel it to use a melee. This move can be used to recover. In Extra mode, this move deals **7 damage**. CommanderVideo cannot spawn two Springs at once.

**SUPER | Void**: CommanderVideo goes back to his former Void form and increases in size exponentially, dealing **8 damage** and very high knockback any opponents in its radius.

## Alternate Skins

Besides the base skin, every CommanderVideo alternate skins are colored like his rainbow trail : Yellow, Orange, Cyan, Pink and Purple.

## Competitive Play

### Attributes

* **Off-stage Play:** Spring and Down Melee allow for off-stage kills, and plane also gives a 50/50 mix-up.
* **Flipkick:** Gives insane pressure, has follow-up potential and high knockback.
* **Slide:** Infamous Frame 1 move that starts strings, has high knockback, and can be safe if dodge-cancelled.
* **SUPER's Knockback** can be pretty inconsistant from time to time.
* **Attack Duration:** Most of CommanderVideo's attacks can be punishable on whiff.

### Techs and Strategies

* **Springslide**: If CommanderVideo slides towards Spring, Flipkick's damage, as well as hitbox, gets replaced with Slide's.

> "*If you can get multiple Pogo strings and save up 5-10+ gems, You can potentially abuse the knock back of CV's SUPER to score easy KOs as you can use CV's SUPER almost immediately if you have more than 5 gems when the initial SUPER ends and jump to the opponent to reuse if the opponent has not been knocked out.*"
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## Update History

**Patch 2.0.0.0**

* **Grounded Charge | Slide Strike**
	+ Kick range has been drastically increased.
* **Neutral Special | Eggplant Plane**
	+ CommanderVideo rides the Eggplant Plane from Runner3. Its flight path can be aimed and CommanderVideo can jump off of it before it crashes on walls or opponents, dealing **5 damage**. If CommanderVideo is caught in the explosion, he receives **4 damage**.
* **Side Special | Flying Kick**
	+ CommanderVideo's old Neutral Special has been moved to his Side Special.
* **Up Special | Beat Paddle**
	+ CommanderVideo's momentum no longer halts when this move is used, making it less awkward to use while moving.
* **Down Special | Spring Flipkick**
	+ Can now be cancelled by any move.
	+ CommanderVideo can no longer spawn a new spring if one is already active. This prevents frequent spam.
	+ Startup time increased when used above a surface.
	+ Spring width now shrinks slowly.
	+ A transparent indicator briefly alerts players where it will spawn when used above ground.
* **SUPER | Void**
	+ Knockback has been slightly decreased.
	+ Damage reduced from 10 to 8.

**Patch 3.0.0.0**

* **Passive | Extra Multiplier**
	+ Damage buff now affects Melee attacks.
* **Up Melee**
	+ Can now only be used once per jump.
* **Grounded Charge | Slide Strike**
	+ Damage now scales depending on how long the move is charged.
* **SUPER | Void**
	+ Changed the shape of the hitbox to more accurately match the sprite.

## Trivia

* CommanderVideo was the 8th character added in the game.
* Just like in the *Runner* saga, the deflector appears by holding a direction on the control stick.
	+ The deflector is a reference to *BIT.TRIP BEAT* and *BIT.TRIP FLUX*, as it resembles the paddle used in both. This deflector was already referenced that way in *BIT.TRIP RUNNER* (and its sequel) but in those games, it was referred to as *The Shield*.
* His super is a reference to the game *BIT.TRIP VOID*.
* Throughout the BIT.TRIP Saga, CommanderVideo is represented as a human person as the games are very metaphorical apon further inspection of the games in detail.
* CommanderVideo's dodge is actually a dance move from *Runner2*.
* CommanderVideo is the only character in the base roster to have gone completely unchanged since launch until the release of the Heavy Metal Update.
* CommanderVideo, along with Shovel Knight, is one of the two characters to appear in both *Indie Pogo* and the *Super Smash Bros franchise*, in the form of a trophy in the latter.
* Despite *Runner3* being released in the same year, Indie Pogo was not updated to include a skin or change in CommanderVideo's base skin to reflect his latest appearance, most likely due to his appearance not differing greatly from Runner2.
* CommanderVideo was implemented into the game in March 2017.
* CommanderVideo is currently the oldest Indie character in Indie Pogo, making his debut on April 28, 2009.

## Gallery

CommanderVideo's character box, on the Kickstarter pageOfficial artwork by @JamesTheReggieUnlocking CommanderVideoCommanderVideo as he appeared in the first game where he could be directly controlled: *BIT.TRIP RUNNER*, it is also how he first appeared in the BIT.TRIP gamesCommanderVideo's trophy page, as seen in Indie PogoCommanderVideo's hard mode trophy, showing Retro CommanderVideo
## References

1. ↑ https://totallychoice.com/games/bittrip
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/LoweBros/status/1017862725379219457
3. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2rZxtQAb5w
4. ↑ https://www.ssbwiki.com/List\_of\_SSB4\_trophies\_(Others)#CommanderVideo