MW Top 10s — First Movesets

As if it wasn’t obvious enough from the stupid quantity of MYM 3 movesets on the list, this list is judging movesets very much so based off their time. No, the lower sets on this list are not better than the decent first sets posted today – they are simply better for their time when the standards were much lower and they had little to no example to follow. Either way, I’ll warn you now, this is primarily a nostalgia trip for MYM 3 veterans and will make little sense to anyone else. Of course, there -are- a couple of exceptions in the list. . .

10 – Magikoopa by KingK.Rool – MYM 3

 

Rather creepy that this set and my first (Mediocre) moveset were posted back to back. The destinies of Rooligan and I have been interwined since the very beginning. This moveset is actually surprisingly identifiable to be one of Rool’s despite being so far back, what with the organization being the main thing that sets it head and shoulders above most of the MYM 3 crowd with the colors and images. That and, y’know, the whole starting with Magikoopa, ending with Kamek thing? It was enough for Rooligan to end his movesetting over to make his list of movesets nice and pretty, so yeah, it deserves mention.

The moveset even has a MECHANIC of all things, an actual sliver of playstyle, god forbid. . .Granted, it’s just a glorified move interaction that makes one move entirely useless outside of the interaction, but it’s a first set in early MYM 3, dammit. Granted, I don’t know if Rooligan went back to improve this one to what it currently is now in MYM 3 – I KNOW he improved Pidgeot significantly to be one of his better sets of the contest (Not that anybody bothered to go back and look at it), but blah. I think Rooligan did indeed go back to do so, but  most of the improvements were rather minor. Either way, the fact that somebody would actually go back to improve their old crappy sets speaks volumes for somebody in the newcomer phase.

9 – Fierce Diety Link by Kholdstare – MYM 3

 

This moveset is slightly less detailed then Magikoopa, but who gives a damn? Magikoopa’s extra detail is mostly just fat comparing his moves to Brawl moves, while FDL gives us actual quips of humor, unheard of in serious movesetting in this day and age. What made this truly humorous however was that this moveset was made to mock a horrendously terrible moveset made for Fierce Diety Link which contained 4 word Specials and nothing else. It was a running gag for quite some time, being praised as the best moveset ever as reverse psychology. Bad movesets were even considered to be the “next potential FDL” for quite some time, such as Roomba and what not. HOW CAN I IMPROOVE ROOMBA?!? Good times, good times. . .

Getting back to the actual moveset at hand rather then being nostalgic, this moveset in general has more creativity/less tackiness then Magikoopa. Most obvious is Fierce Diety Link’s Side Special, which gives him a duplicate to fight with. This is one of the few movesets on the list that –wasn’t- overlooked at the time outside the obvious Donna/Gray Fox primairily due to the meme it tied into. The comments weren’t just “ololololol” though, Kholdstare was actually highly regarded and expected to go on to do great things. . .Of course that was put on hold for a while in MYM 5, though he then proceeded to give us Sandslash and more than redeem himself.

8 – Vivi by SmashDaddy – MYM 3

 

Vivi’s main attacks are MYM 2 esque in detail and genericness, though they at least have damage percentages tacked on to make them not –painfully- underdetailed. Still, that’s hardly enough to save a mediocre newcomer set, right? Those are the standards – all of the standards of most newcomer movesets suck anyway. The only reason I singled this set out was because it actually had a concept in it that didn’t suck donkey balls – the Down Special enables him to cast multiple spells at once, more spells based off the higher his percentage is. Indeed, we already have both a precursor to Von Kaiser and company here, as well as a half decent concept for comboing that’s not rushdown. A set made off of this concept today could be interesting. The actually detailed stage doesn’t hurt either. . .But anyway, the Down Special. I won’t force you to go look it up because you won’t anyway, and there’s nothing else there worth going back for. I’ll just copypasta it here for you:

“Vivi goes into trance. The amount of double cast spells that can be cast in trance depends on how much damage percentage has been dealt to Vivi on his current life. If no damage has been dealt, he will simply be invincible for a second as he flashes, but doesn’t transform. With 10-20%, he’ll transform and be able to use two double casts. 20-40%, he’ll be able to use three. 40-70%, four. 70%<, five. After the allowed amount of double casts are dealt, Vivi will regress, leaving himself vulnerable for half a second. After trance ends, Vivi can use it again, with all percentage gained before and during the trance not counting. Double cast allows Vivi to use two of his specials in quick succession. The quintessential usage of such would be that his Up-B becomes a mega-recovery. Lightning is twice as powerful, as two bolts collide at the bottom of a stage, diagonally. Fira is twice as intense and can be cast twice in a row. A downside of trance is that Vivi becomes laggier in his ground moves.”

Yes, yes, the potential comboing is limited by the fact that his ground moves become laggier, but god forbid somebody’s first moveset actually tries to PAY ATTENTION TO BALANCE. Can’t have that.

7 – Gray Fox by Chief Mendez – MYM 3

 

Actually looking back at Mendez’s first set again, he actually didn’t immediately leap to the god-like levels of Dracula and Naota – he had a learning curve too. This moveset is pretty painfully generic, being a bunch of fast attacks called a rushdown character. He has one interesting special that enables him to approach campers easier with his Down Special, but that’s about it. If nothing else the character is aware of what it is. Why this moveset was so praised over Mendez’s other works is beyond me considering how much better Naota was, but bah humbug. Hard to expect voters to be remotely competent, much less in MYM 3. Voldo, another set remembered fondly for his time, also ultimately amounted to a generic pressure character, though at least he had his back attacks. . .This moveset should very much be mentioned in the same vein as Voldo though – this moveset had perfectly fine detail despite being super early MYM 3, and like Voldo helped set the groundwork for the detail movement. Voldo, however, just leeched off of Mendez’s movesets to learn about detail. Mendez’s movesets were the true source of it coming about.

6 – Donna by Junahu – MYM 3

 

This one is pretty obligatory – Junahu actually, god forbid, didn’t just come into MYM and immediately spew some shit out all over the floor. He actually lurked and familiarized himself with the standards of Dracula and Cervantes and what-not and pumped out a moveset with more then adequate detail, though also with his precious home-made images which have since become a staple. Granted, her double moveset more just serves to make the moveset a tl;dr then anything else when coupled with the extras, her not doing much she couldn’t if she didn’t just take out the camera for a few attacks. Keep in mind this is an actual tl;dr today – nobody but NOBODY read it back then. They just assumed it was good and SV’d it. Of course, there’s still some actual content here to warrant this set’s placing (Though it’s basically tied with Gray Fox) – the aerial focused/gimping game is the set’s main way it actually succeeds gameplay wise.

5 – Bard by Meadow – MYM 3

 

Bard is quite possibly more identifiable as it’s maker then any other moveset on the list, with Meadow’s writing style of apologizing for apologizing showing as much as ever. In a way, this moveset is actually better then her later ones. . .Yes, Meadow has boobs. Would you reveal you have them in a heavyweight male antagonistic sausage fest like MYM? Junahu has boobs too. This moveset is actually better in some ways then Meadow’s more recent ones seeing she never got into playstyle in particular anyway, and this moveset is much easier to read through. Of course, it’s still a Meadow moveset – all of the detail necessary and more is present – a rare feat in MYM 3, much less when combined with some actual creativity that spreads out to more inputs then just the specials.

4 – Marina Lightyears by Shake – MYM 4

 

It’s easy to label Shake as a random chat leech nowadays – I too forgot this moveset existed before looking up potential entrants. However; he’s very rarely present, and he actually made half-decent movesets back in the day, most notably his strong entrance. The organization is the most obvious way this moveset stands above its’ peers what with all of the prettyful pictures in every move that make Katapultar wet himself. More importantly, though, the moveset actually has some playstyle in it, which is equally rare in MYM 4. . .She’s a grab whore (Literally) and actually conscious of the fact she is unlike Joker and such. She only has one non Z-button move with a grab hitbox, yes, but her throws are beastly and she has an –aerial- grab, a concept that’s seldom seen today. . .

3 – Shaman by Vaul – MYM 3

 

This is the definitive “one hit wonder”, as Vaul never returned back to MYM, which is truly a shame. He had a far more interesting future then the amateurs who posted Magikoopa, Vultoron, and K. Rool, what have you. So what’d Vaul have going for him? The specials show the creativity the most, particularly the brilliant Up Special which is still a fairly cool move today, and of course the moveset had competent detail. The moveset was primairily tied together by a generic ammo bank mechanic. . .No. Not –a- generic ammo bank mechanic. –THE- generic ammo bank mechanic. Please direct me to a moveset before this that had one. Shaman invented the ammo bank which is now taken for granted, and it’s the main thing that allows Shaman to have some level of playstyle.

2 – Heat Man by Plorf and SirKibble – MYM 5

 

Obviously this isn’t Kibble’s first set, but it is Plorf’s. While it’s arguable that this shouldn’t count as a first set due to Kibble helping it along, the entire reason this joint was made was so Plorf could get out a moveset due to him having been a chat leech until this point. This moveset really helped Plorf test the waters and get more comfortable MYMing – what any good first moveset should do. So what does Heat Man have going for him? It’s essentially a good MYM 4 set for the majority of the moveset, nothing special in mid MYM 5, yes? However; the moveset suddenly comes together as all of Heat Man’s many moves that leave behind lingering fire hitboxes suddenly become relevant. . .The Down Special single handedly accomplishes this by allowing Heat Man to absorb them to heal himself, and the fact he passively creates them as he attacks means he’s not a set-up character.

It’s essentially a defensive Houndoom 2 MYMs earlier and provides a unique take on trap characters before Lemmy even came along. Again, not to downplay Houndoom. This is an obscure set and UserShadow copying it is an absolutely laughable assumption. More importantly, Houndoom takes advantage of the fact he doesn’t set-up the fiery hitboxes while attacking by going with an offensive playstyle – Heat Man just being a defensive trapperish character doesn’t separate him nearly as much as the hellhound. . .Back on Heat Man, no he isn’t just some one trick pony with a mechanic like Shaman, even though that’s far more interesting then most one trick ponies by itself – Heat Man has actual move interactions outside of it. Indeed, Heat Man has surprising amounts of depth.

1 – Big Daddy and Little Sister by Koj – MYM 3

 

Big Daddy and Little Sister have just enough detail to get by for a moveset placed so highly, and not that much creativity. . .What could possibly warrant it? The fact that the moveset has a very legitimate playstyle and is very much aware of it. It’s essentially a precursor to Cortiny and the mediocre Warlordian tag-teams after that, but more condensed and focused into one nice little package during the pre-historic times of super early MYM 3 – AKA MYM 2, when Blitzkrieg’s steaming piles of ass were what was supposed to be emulated. Big Daddy has to go out of his way to avoid getting separated from Little Sister and defend her, then when separated Little Sister has to make her way back to Big Daddy. Cortiny expanded on it, but the concept of Cortiny could hardly be considered original when Big Daddy and Little Sister had to come up with this concept with something worse then no examples – the “examples” that were currently available were encouraging movesets that make even Jason, The Apprentice, and Kingdra cringe in horror. It really is a shame we lost Koj – considering how bad we all were back in MYM 3, he’d without doubt be on par with the greats had he continued to live on.