Scary butt fun:~ Granfaloon

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Granfaloon

a group of people who outwardly choose or claim to have a shared identity or purpose,
but whose mutual association is actually meaningless

The almighty Granfaloon (also referred to as “Legion”, if you’re a weirdo) is an iconic boss of the Castlevania series. It is exactly as it looks; a gigantic ball made entirely out of screaming human corpses. In every game it appears in, our hero had to cut away at these lifeless husks, to get at the controlling parasite hidden deep inside. How very morbid. And now it’s terrorising Brawl!

Stats:

Now, practicality before imagination, the Granfaloon is an enormous character in Super Smash Bros Brawl. The scale should be obvious at a glance, but just in case you don’t see it, those are PEOPLE in there, each one the size of Captain Falcon. On many stages, you won’t even be able to see all of it, it really is that impossibly huge and heavy.
Obviously, this kind of character would be impossible as a 3D model, not just because of technical limitations, but because a 3D model would be constantly clipping with every wall, floor and platform onstage at once. Instead, the Granfaloon takes to battle as-is, a large sprite that appears  in front of all of the 3D imagery comprising the stage and the other players .

You may be forgiven for assuming that the Granfaloon is a boss, or perhaps a boss “character” (whatever that is). Well, it isn’t, but it kind of is. You can play as Granfaloon as a regular moveset. But you also have the choice of a “co-op mode” in which either 2 or 3 players get to symultaneously control the Granfaloon. More on the 2-3 player mode later, first let’s see how Granfaloon works as a normal set.

Granfaloon weighs an absolute ton. He weighs literally 1000 Captain Falcons, so he won’t be budging much. And even if he was, Granfaloon does not flinch from attacks, he can just hit you right back. In addition, Granfaloon flies, constantly. Just tilt the analogue stick in the direction you want it to move, and it will (slowly) drift that way.  Because of his constant flying status, his A attacks are; Jab, Side Tilt, Side Smash, Up Tilt, Up Smash, Down Tilt, Down Smash, Diagonal Tilt and Diagonal Smash

Granfaloon itself counts as solid ground, so it can do mean things like KO foes by squashing them under its bulk, or physically block the foe from recovering. Conversely, those same foes can stand atop of Granfaloon, and whittle away at him from there.

Exposing the Parasite;

Ok, so how does the Granfaloon lose if it has almost infinite weight, flinch armor and free flight? The key is to kill the innumerable corpses that provide Granfaloon with its weight and armor, thus exposing its weak parasite form underneath
Even though Granfaloon looks like a single mass, it is actually divided into 7  individual quadrants (six outer quads, and one center section which covers the parasite itself), each with its own damage meter. If any part of Granfaloon takes on a total of 100% damage, it drops away, leaving Granfaloon 142.75 Captain Falcons lighter than before. Take away all 7 sections, and it’ll finally be down to a mere 1.75 Captain Falcons, which is certainly KOable.

The parasite lurking underneath, while still big, is light and very much KOable

The Parasite itself has its own damage meter, separate to all the damage you inflict on the corpses. So the first thing the foe should do, is cut a directly path to the parasite, so they can rack damage on it while dealing with the remaining sections. If the parasite takes on more than 200% damage, it will automatically consume any remaining corpses still attached to it (if there are any), recovering all its damage in the process.

Corpses

As we’ve already established, the shell of corpses that protects the parasite is vital for keeping Granfaloon in the game, but the player can also drop individual corpses to the ground, acting as summons to attack the opponent. Dropping corpses is achieved via Granfaloon’s A attacks, though be mindful that you ARE dropping parts of your shell in order to do so. Each corpse dropped deals 0.5% damage to the quad it was dropped from, so if you spam excessively you may end up killing a whole section of your shell

Now, the corpses themselves, once they land on the ground, arise and shamble forth. They choose one direction to head in when they land, and will shamble that way until they die, fall off the stage, or hit a wall (which causes them to turn around).On contact with the foe, a corpse will automatically knock them back slightly, with a little hitstun and 5% damage. Individually, this is not terribly dangerous, but if the foe lands in a whole gang of corpses, they could end up dragging the foe right off the stage entirely.

Each corpse has 14% stamina, so they aren’t too hard to dispatch. However, be aware that corpses cannot be felled in a single hit, it will always take at least two hits, no matter how strong, to kill one. Corpses can be grabbed and throw, inflicted with status effects, and  used in any other hairbrained scheme the foe may try. In fact, if the foe attempts to grab Granfaloon himself, they will snatch one of the corpses right off of his shell.

Regular Attacks

Jab:- One corpse falls off from a random point on Granfaloon’s shell, falling straight to the ground. This attack is very quick, useful when you just need some corpses right away

Side Tilt:- A corpse springs to life and lobs itself off the far side of Granfaloon. This acts as a projectile, dealing 7% damage and medium knockback if it hits the foe before it hits the ground.

Side Smash:- Between one and three corpses (depending on charge) are blasted out of the far side of Granfaloon, travelling along a heavy arc to the ground. The initial shotgun blast of corpses deals between 14% and 28% damage to the foe along with knockback that KOs from 70%. As the corpses fly through the air, they deal noticeably less damage 8%, and much tamer, downward, knockback. If a corpse hits a foe as it crashes into the ground, it deals 12% damage and vertical knockback that KOs from 100%. If the corpse smacks into a group of corpses that are on the ground, it knocks them all away, in a veritable explosion of corpses. If the foe is caught in this, they take the same 12% damage and vertical knockback as if the flying corpse had landed on them directly. This also deals 10% damage to every corpse involved in the ‘explosion’, so you could end up wiping out a good deal of your forces in the process.

Up Tilt:- One corpse on the very top of Granfaloon drags itself to its feet, and starts walking on top of Granfaloon’s solid shell. This attack can be done to help stop foes from standing on top of you.

Up Smash:- One corpse is blasted upwards from a random point on top ot Granfaloon, dealing between 18% and 34% damage on contact with the foe, along with nasty vertical knockback that could KO from 60%. Since you cannot control where the corpse is shot out of (unless there’s less shell around for it to come out of) it’s impossible to ensure it will hit anyone, though the threat of this attack will certainly keep foes from standing around on top of Granfaloon for long. However, what comes up must come down, and the corpse you blasted out will soon come crashing back down into your shell. This deals 15% damage to the shell whilst also ejecting 6 corpses outwards, propelling them in a similar ‘explosion’ to that which may occur from Granfaloon’s Side Smash. You could try to prevent this from happening, by firing another Up Smash, and hoping the two corpses collide in midair… though the odds are usually not in your favour.

Down Tilt:– One corpse drops out of the very bottom of the Granfaloon. It drops out of the very centermost point if it can, so it is a reliable way to summon corpses to a specific point. Incidentally, if one corpse is dropped onto another, one will stand on the shoulders of the other. The corpse on top is kind enough to not just walk off the shoulders of its partner, so you can go ahead and stack corpses together to make crazy walls of corpses if you wish.

Down Smash:- Granfaloon jerks his monstrous bulk downwards, smashing foes below him with between 34% and 50% (!) damage, and horrific floor bouncing knockback that could KO anytime, if it wasn’t for Granfaloon’s solid mass blocking their path. Worse than that, if Granfaloon is close enough to the ground, it will slam right into it, OHKO the foe off the face of the planet. If you do hit the ground though, your shell takes 40% damage, potentially breaking it off right then and there. If instead of ground, Granfaloon hits some of his corpses, they will be reintegrated back into the shell, reinforcing the weakest section.

Diagonal Tilt:- identical to Side tilt, only the corpse is flung out from the corner of Granfaloon, rather than the side (up diagonal lobs the corpse farther, while down diagonal has less lag).

Diagonal Smash:- identical to Side Smash, only the corpses are blasted out from the corner of Granfaloon, rather than the side (up diagonal results in wider spread of corpses, while down diagonal results in greater damage/knockback).

Special(s)

Granfaloon is somewhat unique in that you won’t be using your specials until you’re at your most vulnerable; when you’re completely exposed.

Directional Special:- Laser!

Depending upon which direction you’re holding, one of Granfaloon’s eight gangly tentacles opens up to reveal a green core. Then, it FIRES ITS INFINITE RANGE GROUND PIERCING LAZOR BWAAARRG! Beyond the lag of the tentacle opening up, the firing is instantaneous, and the laser lasts for 2 entire seconds. It deals 20% damage and can KO from 60%, so you’d better believe this is strong. In fact, it’s so strong that the laser actually propels Granfaloon in the opposite direction, operating as a kick ass means of getting around.

But, here’s the rub; it destroys any corpses it hits. Not bad enough? Well, if you fire using a tentacle that’s currently under your shell, you will accidentally blast off that entire section in the process of firing, so if you just spam laser from the get go, you’ll fast lose your entire corpse army. But this can actually prove useful in some respects, as its impossible for the foe to tell when you’re about to fire a laser right through your shell until it’s too late to avoid it. Weigh up the reward before taking the risk.

Because you can only fire at eight 45 degree angles, many foes will quickly learn to stay in your blind spots. By spacing yourself, and taking advantage of your corpse army, you can force the foe into a more laserable position.

Neutral Special:- Fire Fire!

Flames jet out every which way from the core of Granfaloon, pushing foes outwards with numerous 4% hits. You can hold this special out for up to 2 seconds, allowing you to even push out the foes who think they can shield it all. While not very laggy to use, it has a 8 second cooldown (during which time if you try to use it again, it will only reach 1/4th as far as it usually can)

I hope you can see the logical problem with using this right from the start of the match; you’ll end up torching your entire shell! Dealing 20% damage per second to all 7 sections of your shell is a pretty stupid thing to do, though it does have a couple of benefits. For every second you torch a section of corpses, that section will be scalding to the touch for 5 seconds. If the foe touches you now, they’ll take 10% damage and repellant knockback (along with a little hitstun for good measure). Corpses you drop from your shell during this time will be on fire, which doubles the damage they deal and increases their knockback by 1.5x. However, they will also take 0.75% damage per second due to their being-on-fire-ness, and they also lose their immunity to single hit KOs.

Final Smash:- Generic regenerate

Hurrr durrr, the Granfaloon gets its shell back because magic and lame.

Actually the Granfaloon begins exerting a massive black hole force on everything in the match, anything that is dragged into it is KO’d and used to repair part of the shell. Corpses are very quickly sucked back up, as are items and projectiles, but foes can counteract the pull by running away.

But that’s not all that happens; extra corpses begin hurling themselves out from the various blastzones and into the fray. The Granfaloon’s black hole pull will quickly slurp these up, but the foes can destroy any loose corpse with a single hit, denying Granfaloon its sustenance. This could end badly for the foe though, if a corpse hits a foe, it will begin dragging them quickly towards Granfaloon. Yummy!

While the Granfaloon cannot move during the final smash, it can still attack…

2-3 Player Mode:-

Ok, now you know more or less how Granfaloon gets around, attacks and so on. How can multiple players play as Granfaloon all at once? Just pile your player tokens onto that Granfaloon on the character select screen. It’s not like you can have two or more entire Granfaloons in a match at once (It’d break your Wii), so everyone selecting Granfaloon is automatically set to controlling the same Granfaloon.

Movement

Every player playing as Granfaloon can move it around, though slightly slower than normal. Since every player has some control, they could end up inputting contradictory directions, thus impeding the Granfaloon’s movement.

An apt analogy would be to imagine it like two dogs trying to pull a length of rope in opposite directions. If they’re of equal strength and determination, they’ll get nowhere, but if one is the stronger, there will be movement. And if both dogs pull in the same direction, then they’ll move even faster.
Now, each dog in this case, is a player, and the direction you move the analogue stick, is you “tugging” your end of the rope. If you tug in opposite directions, you won’t go anywhere, but if there’s any concensous, Granfaloon will start to move. If every player cooperates, moving Granfaloon in the same direction, Granfaloon will move even faster than it normally would be able to in 1-player mode.

Attacks

Every player can attack independant of the others, though doing so will cut its movement speed down a bit(if someone is still trying to move it around). If 2 players are playing, and they each try to perform a different attack, then both attacks will play out symultaneously, but the attacks will be almost twice as slow as usual. If on the other hand, both players use the same attack at the same time, Granfaloon will perform the attack even faster than it normally would in 1-player mode. If only one player attacks, then the attack will be unchanged from its 1-player version.

The same applies to 3-player mode. As you’d expect, three players giving different attacks makes each attack even slower, now at a third its usual speed. With all three players cooperating on the same attack, it’ll come out almost lightning fast. If two players focus on one attack and the third on another, the first attack will come out at normal speed, but the other will be at a third of the usual speed.

The main thing to take from this is, don’t give the Granfaloon different attack inputs to perform symultaneously. If you have to use different attacks, then consider cycling; have the first player use the first attack, then the second player use the next attack a little later.

With proper cooperation, 2-3 player Granfaloon can be nigh unstoppable. But that’s only if the players are effective with their teamwork. With bad teamwork, 2-3 player Granfaloon is many times worse off than its 1 player counterpart.