@Bat Tom
Give me your ideas before throwing them out the window LOL
It's... a little big, maybe...
Basically, throw out ALL of the characters statistics except mandatories like weight and size, and re-build their stats (animation times, lag, attack speed, running and fall speed, etc) from the ground up. Not changing attacks, not adding or taking anything away. Just... re-writing the Bible. Basically.
Everyone else has tried to balance the game/make it more competitive by changing what's already there. Why not throw all that out and just start over?
We'd divide the characters into their respective weight classes, and do some major tweaking. The idea is, we shouldn't just try to change the characters based on literally everyone else. It has to go deeper than that. Characters should be balanced against others in their class, and the entire class balanced against the other classes...
FOR EXAMPLE:
Balance
Ganondorf against
Bowser (heavyweights)
Ganondorf is an defense-based heavyweight. His major offensive skill comes from his ability to dodge and punish the enemy. Plus nearly all of his attacks have major knockback and decent range, keeping threats at arms' length and more.
Bowser is an offense-based heavyweight. With his weight, his strength lies in tanking through an enemy attack and smashing them up-close and personal, with a few mid-range harassment moves (Bowser Bomb and Flame Breath).
Basically, one would balance these two by giving the
offense-based heavy faster with more combo-able attacks, and granting the
defense-based heavy better resistance to attacks and moves that more capably disable the opponent's offense.
THEN there's the matter of weight class against weight class, which is more straightforward...
FOR EXAMPLE
Balance
heavyweights against
lightweightsHeavyweights rely on their powerful attacks to destroy enemies at low percentages. They also rely on their weight and (in some cases) their attacks to tank through enemy offense.
Lightweights rely on their speed to dodge enemy attacks and counterattack. Or, in some cases, to blaze through and combo the hell out of an enemy before they can even attack in the first place.
The heavyweights would have the lightweights with their ability to take huge amounts of punishment before submitting, but the lightweights would check this with their ability to dish out damage at high speeds. The heavyweights would be highly resistant to damage, while the lightweights would have many more options for inflicting damage. The heavies could KO the lighties with low percentages, and it's up to the lighties to use their speed to dodge.Balance the characters not among every other character in the game, but amongst their familiars in some statistical aspect, and then familiars versus familiars. Repeat with speed, attack power, etc.
Maybe I shouldn't have color-coded. Upon reading this, the colors are starting to jump out of the screen at me o_o