Grapple
What is it?
Something I’ve noticed so far is that while there are technically “grabs” in the game, there aren’t any actual grab moves available(yet). What I mean by this is that there aren’t any moves where you’re actually grappling with your opponent, grabbing them and trying to bring them down.
So, that’s what I’m proposing here. Now, obviously, there’s a few Fighting Styles that just outright can’t use something like this(I’m looking at Cannon Fist and Boxing). Though, I suppose to make it fair to those few styles, it could be made that their Grapples function or look a bit different, but I’ll get to that in a bit.
Now, time to get down to business, and really lay out what I’m talking about, here.
The basics:
So to start with, this move is, of course, a grab. You dash towards your enemy, and if you make contact with them, they’re locked into the grab. Now, for the fun part; what happens next.
Like with animations changing knockback direction with some of the other moves, the animations for a Grapple will change what it does. There isn’t a hit number slider like with Rushdown, there’s only a change to animation, the move you’re going to use. In addition, Grapples will be significantly slower than Rushdowns, mostly to help with balancing, but also because cool Zangief build possibilities.
I’ve got a few examples of things that can be done, to start with:
Suplex: The Suplex will have the attacking player wrap their arms around their enemy, bend backwards and slam the poor bastard on his head/neck. If landed while both are midair, this attack can deal bonus damage, as the enemy is being slammed into the ground from a greater height and with greater force.
Tackle: The Tackle will have the greatest forward distance travelled out of any of these, due to its nature. If this lands, the attacking player will lock their arms around their enemy and charge forwards for a time. If they don’t hit any obstacles, then the charge will end with the attacking player slamming their opponent to the ground. If they hit any obstruction in their path, then the enemy will be slammed into it, and will be dealt more damage than if they hadn’t run into anything. If it hits in the air, it will deal bonus damage if it hits an obstacle, but will deal normal damage if it doesn’t and simply falls to the ground.
Throw: Does what it says on the tin. Upon making contact with the enemy, the player will grab them by the legs and spin, before releasing them at high speeds in any direction. The sheer whiplash from the spin and from being thrown will deal damage on their own, but if the enemy hits an obstacle after being thrown, they’ll take much more severe damage.
Why would we need or want this?
What, you need a reason to use cool wrestling moves to beat the shit out of people?
Nah, just kidding. Basically, these are meant to be setups for other moves. You can, with good timing, chain the ending of one of these moves into another attack, such as firing off a Shot after Throwing an enemy into a wall, or following up a Suplex/Tackle with a Crash or Smash/Shockwave. This gives some more combo potential to FS movesets, which is something(to me at least) they kinda lack.
Addressing Boxing and Cannon Fist:
Sooo… Yeah, big glaring issue here: Boxing DOESN’T USE GRAPPLING AT ALL. It is solely a striking fighting style. Cannon Fist could make an exception here, and honestly I probably could, but suddenly giving Boxing proper grab moves would rub me and probably plenty of other people the wrong way.
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Solution for Boxing:
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Make it all punches. Basically, they’d use punches to achieve the same effects as when other fighting styles use the same moves. A big crushing downward haymaker would work for Suplex. Tackle could be emulated with a big gut punch and then the Boxer just carries their enemy with their fist still lodged in their Solar Plexus. And Throw could just be another big haymaker that launches an enemy away.
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Problem: Now it’s not really grappling anymore. Duh, I know, but still.
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Solution for Cannon Fist:
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Literally make it just like Boxing. It wouldn’t feel right making Cannon Fist use straight-up grapples, either, so it’s all emulated by punching someone with a cannon ball, with the exception being Throw, because it’d be funny for you to throw someone with a cannon ball embedded in their gut.
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Same problem as with Boxing, it’s not really grappling, but what can ya do?
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Final Thoughts
Obviously, the descriptions for how the moves are carried out are just examples. There are many different ways to Suplex, Tackle or Throw somebody, my descriptions of how they’re carried out are just the outline for how the moves would work.
I imagine there’s probably some coding and balancing issues that weigh the scales of fate out of my favor, but I figured it’s better to try rather than just not suggest this at all.
TL;DR: CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKING?
