u/Swibblestein

I wanted to make a moveset for Ecco the dolphin primarily because the idea of Ecco being a fighter is absolutely deranged. I think there's actually moveset potential here for him. It's just... non-moveset details that cause problems.

But anyway! Here we go.

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Uncategorizable:

Jab: A quick snoot boop. Fast, and can combo or confirm into other moves, but short range and low damage on its own.

Dash attack: Ecco's standard lunge, as seen in their game. Knocks the opponent at a diagonal angle. Can combo at low percents and begins killing at reasonable percents. One of his best normals.

Final Smash: The two large dishes of the Atlanean time machine spawn in, and an echolocation pulse goes between the two rapidly. Opponents caught by the pulse are sent back in time to get wrecked by dunklocestus and nautiluses and such.

Tilts:

Forward Tilt: A tail-swat forward, hitting the opponent mostly forward. Not much vertical range, but good horizontal range.

Up Tilt: An arcing tail-swat above Ecco. Not very disjointed, so more of a combo tool than a dedicated anti-air. Can hit in front and behind.

Down-tilt: A slide near the ground. Repeating the input causes Ecco to do a jumping lunge, similar to the Belmonts.

Smash attacks:

Forward Smash: A spider crab appears in front of Ecco, and he smacks it with his nose, causing its' legs to splay out, before disappearing. The charge-frame is Ecco about to boop the crab, of course. Significantly disjointed.

Up Smash: Ecco does a backflip into the air. Partway through, he gets surrounded by the invincibility sparklies, a-la echolocating an Atlantean statue or certain glyphs. The move is invincible at the peak. Excellent anti-air, and surprisingly fast, which compensates for up-tilt being not so good at that, but in return, has little application against grounded opponents.

Down Smash: Ecco raises up, and the Asterite appears around Ecco before they crash down and the orbs hit on either side of him simultaneously. On the slower side, but kills very early off the sides.

Aerials:

Neutral Air: Does a somersaulting spin, accompanied by spinning urchins, hitting all around him. One of his few disjoints, and just generally a solid move.

Forward Air: Does a barrel-roll style spin, with a multi-hitting hitbox, mostly for combos.

Back Air: A strong tail-swipe behind, covering a lot of area. A bit laggy, so you can get punished for whiffing, to compensate for the moves' other advantages.

Up Air: A single somersault, attacking with flippers and dorsal fin. Not as much range as you would expect, but a multihit that deals good damage and can be combo's into and out of.

Down Air: In the ballpark of a stall-and-fall, with Ecco lunging downward, but faster than most, and not going on for nearly as long as many stall and falls. The move does not spike, but hits up and away.

Specials:

Neutral Special: Has to be his sonar pulse. Couldn't be anything else. A fast projectile that deals minor damage but no knockback. Can be angled. Has a little bit of endlag, so not obnoxiously spammable.

Side-Special: When grounded, a tail slap that creates a column of water. The slap deals damage, but the water itself is a strong vertical push. In the air, the move is weaker and has an arcing splash of water, pushing out rather than up.

Up Special: A pteranodon comes to pick up Ecco and give him a brief time of fast aerial movement in any direction, with no hitbox. Ecco can act out of this state. There is a window before Ecco is grabbed that the Pteranodon can be echolocated at, which cancels the recovery and instead has the Pteranodon do a swoop attack. This is slow and very rarely practical, but if it does hit it deals very strong knockback. Can be used as a reversal tool, but as it cancels your recovery, Ecco will likely also be K.O'd.

Down Special: Summon a Glyph that acts as a reflector. The Glyph remains on the field for a number of seconds. Non-projectile hits cause the Glyph to be knocked forward or back, dealing damage in its arc. Any player can do this, and the Glyph can damage Ecco if hit by an opponent. Notably though, Ecco's sonar does not get reflected, and acts like a physical hit on the Glyph. There is a period of time after it disappears that the Glyph can't be used.

Throws:

Pummel: Quick snoot-boops, because of course.

Forward Throw: Ecco pokes the opponent into the air, then swats them forward with their tail.

Back Throw: Ecco somersaults backwards with the opponent, moving them both physically backwards before throwing the opponent. The best at direct killing of the bunch.

Up Throw: Ecco's combo throw, a straight launch into the air that can be combo'd into up air at low to moderate percents. Poor knockback scaling meals that it eventually stops comboing and basically never kills.

Down Throw: Ecco's most unusual throw. He and the opponent go into the air, and a vortex (like the one that took his pod at the beginning of the game) spins around, dealing damage. Notably, the knockback occurs from this higher-up location, and it sends at a nasty, somewhat downward angle.

Bonus:

Stage entrance: the spiral that accompanies time-travel in the game, before Ecco spins in.

Taunt 1: Ecco tailwalks a bit happily

Taunt 2: Ecco floats into the air in a golden bubble

Taunt 3: Ecco bonks a jellyfish, and plays the damage sound effect from the original game. You know the one.

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General design philosophy: Ecco likes meeting opponents in the air. He's got good damage potential for any opponent above him, though landing his most damaging moves requires some setup or a good read. His Glyph is a somewhat interesting trap that presents a danger, because of how Ecco can trigger it at a distance, but can, of course, be jumped over. Which then forces the aerial interaction that Ecco is hoping for.

They have above-average mobility, especially their air mobility, and are a fast-faller. They are relatively light, and have a big body, so they can get combo'd easily.

But uh, that leads to the... dealbreakers, of the character. I'm not crazy, I do see them.

First... how exactly does a regular dolphin... exist, on most smash stages? You could give him like, a wave that he rides around the stage, perhaps. Or make him just kind of float, but I like that much less.

But the bigger dealbreaker... His shape. Smash is a game that assumes your opponent is like... mostly vertical? Even more low-lying characters tend to be at worst as wide as they are tall. But Ecco... there's just no way to make him have even passably normal proportions. He's a tube! A tube that would low-profile everything, and with a tail hurtbox that would make Mewtwo blush.

But, I don't care. It was fun making a moveset anyway.

Edit: Oh, also, the music. I would love so much to play Smash with Ecco music as an option.