UPDATE: added in the missing Down Smash. All the moves are there now.
This guest article was written by smashkirby who can be found both on Smash Boards and DeviantArt so go ahead and check him out if you enjoyed this article or wanted to contact him for any reason. For more information on how to submit a guest Dream Smasher article, click here.
Pilotwings is a classic series of flight simulators that dates back to the Super Nintendo console in 1990. In these games, you earn pilot licenses through lessons in light plane flight, sky diving, hang gliding, and the use of a rocket belt. Each event offers unique controls and gameplay mechanics to simulate that feel of true aerial flight. The developers extensively utilized the SNES’s Mode 7 capability to make the experience more real, which mimics 3D graphics by rotating and scaling flat objects. Later it spawned a sequel, Pilotwings 64 for the Nintendo 64. This game focused more on a Western perspective and cast of cartoony characters due to the direction of the new developers.The most recent game in the series is Pilotwings Resort which was a launch title for the Nintendo 3DS that focused on the Miis of Wuhu Island completing tasks for their pilot licenses. The series lacks a playable representative in Smash only for it to be acknowledged in the form of the Pilotwings stage in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U with references to the original SNES classic and Pilotwings Resort. The Pilotwings series lacks a recurring playable character and this makes a fighter hard to decide on. This became even more difficult when the franchise decided to focus on Mii’s instead of making a unique character however that does not mean one does not exist. Pilotwings 64 had a group of unique characters that would work well in the Super Smash Bros franchise and out of this group the one with the most focus who feels most like a protagonist is Lark.
Who is Lark?
Lark is the one in the middle, if it was not obvious.
Lark is a master of the air that focuses on grace and precision for his aerial techniques as a fighter pilot. His experience as a pilot allows him to take use of every vehicle or tool from the Pilotwings series when he battles and allow him to stay safe in the air when engaging in combat. He is a young man among the many pilots on Holiday Island that partake in a series of test to earn the right to become a high class pilot. Being the smallest and lightest character in Pilotwings 64, he is usually seen as the easiest character to begin with for most players of the game. Not much is known about his personality, though he was intentionally modeled after Nester (the mascot of Nintendo Power) to appeal to an American audience. Kiwi is another young pilot-in training like Lark who’s the smallest and lightest playable female character of the game. While there might not be much to her, she is also seen as a commonly played character next to Lark. In-game, due to her relative height being quite similar to Lark, and as an attempt to save on any “over-representation”, she would serve as an alternate skin of Lark, in the same manner as how Alph and the Koopalings are alternate skins of Captain Olimar and Bowser Jr., respectively.
Importance to Nintendo/Series:
Lark was chosen over other protagonists from the other Pilotwings titles because he would be seen as the perfect character to introduce a new audience to Pilotwings. He’s already got a recognizable design (partial due to his inspiration), has that colorful appearance to suit the environment of Smash, and fits the archetype of a character that could appeal to a western audience. Pilotwings is a go to IP for any new platform’s launch title and utilizes the console’s capabilities to its fullest each time (SNES, Nintendo 64, and 3DS respectively). The first game is easily the best selling game in the series and always get an honorable mention on the Virtual Console. It deserves to be in Smash simply because it’s rather iconic for a C-tier series and one many fans would have fond memories of when they first buy a new Nintendo console at the time. Other than the breathtaking Pilotwings stage, music and Rocket Belt item, a character would provide more quality content in Smash. Pilotwings 64 could also get representation with Lark’s inclusion, adding more jazzy tracks to the collection or have trophies based on the other wacky pilots from the same game. Therefore, it is a franchise that is truly worthy of the best representation and Lark would be the best way to fill the gaping holes of this great flight simulator in Smash.
How will he play:
The reason Lark does not wear his civilian clothes in battle is because they do not hold the gear and tools necessary for him to defend himself in battle. That being said, the various colors of his and Kiwi’s pilot suits reference other pilots in Pilotwings 64. Essentially, Lark would be a bit varied in the sense that in the air, his power and other strong points and talents would truly shine since he would be able to combo/juggle in mid-air like it was nobody’s business. At the same, he would be a bit weaker on the ground so his power would be a bit decreased, but his speed would be increased by a decent margin. He could do things like rack up damage and spin along the ground and the air with his “Birdman” wings. As a special note, Lark would also gain a triple jump thanks to his Birdman suit.
Stats:
- Can he Crawl: No
- Can he Wall Jump: Yes
- How many jumps do they have: 3
- Is there any exclusive abilities he has*: Yes
- Weight Class: D+
- Height Class: C+
- Speed Class: C
* With help from his Birdman suit, Lark will have the ability to jump two extra times after the initial jump off the ground.
To give an idea of how the birdsuit might look.
As said before, Lark’s ground speed isn’t anything too impressive. It’s about the same as Mario’s, if not a bit faster than him. The actual animation would something between the lines of Mario and Pit for that matter. His air game and speed on the other would nothing to take lightly. His attacks could easily chain into each other. Not to Street Fighter levels, but it can connect quite easily. Despite the small amount of jumps he has, he can jump high enough to get momentum to perform aerial attacks before landing. Also, although the gear he wears may appear heavy, Lark would also be quite light. Not glass canon proportions, but to reflect his pilot persona, he would be relatively easy to launch. By extension, I envision him to be relatively floaty. He would fall at quite a slow rate. His Birdman suit coupled with the ability to help him fly, would also help serve in a good amount of his attacks. Aside from this, he would use more and more pilot gear found in the Pilotwings series for his various attacks, such as the Jumble Hopper boots, a parachute, and even an an airplane! All these things, combined with his cartoony animations from Pilotwings 64 itself would help him stand out among the Smash cast.
| Move Name & Action | Description |
| Walking
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The animation is similar to Mario’s typical walking animation in the Smash games as of Melee.
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| Running
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His running animation would be a mix of Mario’s (as of Melee) and Pit’s animation.
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| Jumping
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Lark would jump high with his chest slightly outwards, not too unlike Little Mac. Afterwards, he would begin to flap the bird wings on his pilot suit, allowing to gain some lift for 2 more jumps.
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| Falling Animation/Damaged
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He would look down to the ground with his arms outstretched. If he is damaged, he will lean back roughly, with a very shocked expression plastered over his face. Kiwi would have the same expression if she is damaged, but with a blue shaded mark of nervousness over her nose area.
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| Jab Combo
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Lark begins with one large poke from the right wing of his Birdman suit. A swipe from the left wing, and a forced slam from both wings, Very similar to Palutena’s side smash. Only difference is that the windbox is not as large, and the knockback is nowhere near as great. This move can be infinitely held, with Lark rapidly “poking” his opponents with the tip of the wings, ending the wing slam.
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| Side Tilt
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A VERY large swipe with the left wing of his Birdman suit. Similar to Princess Zelda’s side tilt, but a wind box is produced, destroying weak projectiles, and not as much knockback.
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| Up Tilt
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Performs an upwards triple kick with the Jumble Hopper spring shoes in the style of Pit and Sonic’s U-Tilts. The final kick does a lot more knockback, but just enough so that Lark can follow up with a multitude of aerial attacks.
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| Down Tilt
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Lark sweeps the floor with his right wing. No knockback or wind box, but can be used rapidly and repeatedly to trip opponents.
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| Dash Attack
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Lark rushes in with a big headbutt to his opponents, courtesy of his helmet. Does decent knockback, and can cause opponents to trip if sweet-spotted.
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| Side Smash
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Lark performs a grounded dive, sliding into any opponents in his path. Similar to his dash attack, but doesn’t travel as far, and does more knockback. Can KO at high enough percentages.
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| Up Smash
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With the help of his Jumble Hopper spring boots, Lark hops upwards with so much force, that his helmet sends opponents flying straight upwards, allowing him to follow up with many aerial attacks. KO at roughly 100% but would need testing.
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| Down Special | Lark rapidly spins along the ground, similar to Princess Peach, but attacking with his right foot and left wing. Does a lot of damage, but the knockback will leave a bit to be desired. The most damaging of all his Smash Attacks, but has the least knockback. |
| Grab
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Lark grabs with one hand.
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| Pummel
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Lark head-bangs the opponent with his helmet.
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| Forward
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Lark performs a Judo Throw, sending opponents flying headfirst. Has a very small windbox for nearby opponents.
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| Backward
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Lark tosses the opponent over his head and behind him, backhand-punching the opponent away.
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| Up
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Lark tosses the opponent upwards, headbutting to send them further upward.
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| Down
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Lark tosses his opponent downwards, jumping high into the air, and then landing, performing a big body slam onto them. His pose while diving onto the opponent supposed to reference the Skydiving mini-game from Pilotwings 64.
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| N-Air
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Lark performs a seriously rapid spin in the air, similar to Falco, but more damaging, and the knockback is almost non-existent, meaning he could follow up with some more aerials.
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| F-Air
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Lark spreads the wings of his Birdman suit extending them forward, rapidly jabbing at his opponents.
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| B-Air
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Basically performs a “winged” version of Fox’s F-Air, but instead the wings are directly behind him, rather than directing them diagonally like Fox’s feet when he performs his F-Air.
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| U-Air
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Lark rapidly flaps the wings of his Birdman suit above him, doing multiple hits in a similar manner to R.O.B.’s U-Air. Has a windbox that goes a distance. Think of Mr. Game and Watch’s U-Air in Smash 4, but the windbox isn’t as strong.
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| D-Air
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Lark sends himself downwards, head-first. Can meteor smash at any frame, but only if the opponent is hit by the top of his head. The opponent will NOT be meteor smashed if they are hit by the side of Lark’s head or any other part of his body. (Think of the Mii Brawler’s Headache Maker D-Special.).
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| Neutral Special 1 – Parachute
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This move would work like Mr. Game and Watch’s N-Air in Melee, and would also grant you super slow falling speed like Princess Peach ‘s U-Special. However, the move itself does NOT give Lark extra altitude, but it is great for covering long horizontal distances while falling. (Only damages the second it opens. Afterwards, if you’re not careful, Lark can be gimped from recovering if the opponent were to hit him. If they end up hitting the parachute, the opponent takes damage.
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| Neutral Special 2 – Giant Parachute
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This time around, the Parachute would take longer to pop out from Lark’s backpack. However, as a benefit, the knockback against opponents is much greater if you are being swarmed, and as an added benefit, the parachute would just barely give Lark some added lift to the move, allowing him to gain some altitude with the attack, just before floating to the ground.
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| Neutral Special 3 – Instant Parachute
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With this variation, Lark’s parachute would pop out much faster and once again, send swarms of opponents flying off of him. Unfortunately, it will NOT give him the added benefit of an extra recovery option, as the parachute would instantly be stuffed back into his backpack shortly after being used.
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| Side Special 1 – Toy Plane
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This move would be the only “true” projectile in Lark’s moveset. He would quickly whip out a remote, and from above him, a toy plane would whiz around. This plane would be useful for gimping characters with recoveries that do not necessarily involve flight of some kind. The toy plane can drop small projectiles that resembles pellet gun bullets that deal 2%. You must also press the standard attack button to have the toy plane drop its projectiles while the toy plane is in use. Press the special move button to cancel the move. Remember, that as long as the toy plane is still in activation, Lark will be left wide open for attack, and will have no way to defend himself.
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| Side Special 2 – Kamikaze Toy Plane
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With this move, the toy plane would not be able to shoot BB gun pellets. However, it would explode on impact with opponents, doing damage. Essentially, the toy plane would act as a free-flying version of the Villager’s Lloid Rocket.
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| Side Special 3 – Blitzkrieg Toy Plane
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This version of the Toy Plane would fire the BB pellets with NO flinching added, meaning that Lark can fire to his heart’s content. However, due to it having no knockback properties, it cannot be used for gimping.
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| Up Special 1 – Rocket Belt
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This move works as a recovery (similar to R.O.B.’s Up-Special), but the thrusters burn opponents behind or below you. Unlike the item, this Rocket Belt cannot be used “infinitely” and instead bursts upwards with blazing speed, having greater knockback at takeoff. It is similar to Palutena’s Rocket Jump, but travels much higher vertically. Sadly, this move has little to no horizontal recovery. if Lark were to damage anyone on the way up, he would score multiple hits, similar to Little Mac’s Rising Star recovery move.
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| Up Special 2 – Rocket Burst
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This variation would involve the the Rocket Belt being chargeable, however it would have the drawback of exploding if the device has been charged for too long, due it overheating. Otherwise, this variation of the move would send Lark flying much higher than the normal variation. Lark would not deal damage with this version.
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| Up Special 3 – Rocket Shot
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This time around, Lark would be able to control his flight pattern much easier, but the rocket belt would lack good vertical recovery. Its horizontal recovery would be improved however. Overall, it is very similar to Diddy Kong’s Rocketbarrel Boost. Lark would also be able to strike opponents only once rather than score multiple hits with the normal variation.
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| Down Special 1 – Boost Ring
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Although not used in the same manner as in the games, this move utilizes the floating rings/orbs that are a staple of the Pilotwings games. When used, Lark places a floating ring in front of him which can be passed through to give him an instant momentum boost to dash into opponents, sending them flying from the collision. However, opponents can also go through this ring as well, which can be used to their advantage, rushing into other opponents (including Lark!). As a matter of fact, if the opponent uses the ring to crash into Lark, he actually takes more knockback, similar to if Duck Hunt’s Trick Shot is sent flying back at them. Depending on the character’s weight, the move could cause less knockback or more. For example: if Kirby goes through a ring, his knockback is very small, so you don’t need to worry about lightweights. If Mario or any middleweights walk through, the knockback is decent, to say the least. If any heavyweights, such as Bowser were to go through, then watch out! Get out of the way as soon as possible or you’ll be sent flying! Don’t worry though, because if you happen to place the ring just right, it could be used as a trap to rush an opponent offstage.
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| Down Special 2 – Stunning Ring
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The same ring is used by Lark, only this time around, the rings set by him will stun an opponent in the event that they walk through them, and the more damage they have, the longer they stay stunned. Be careful, as Lark himself will be subject to this effect as well.
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| Down Special 3 – Slingshot Ring
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With this variation, The ring left by Lark will cause him and his opponents to be propelled at high speed through the ring, but in the opposite direction! He must first run into the ring, which will then shoot him in the opposite direction, doing more knockback and damage compared to the default version of this move.
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| Final Smash – Light Plane
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The iconic plane from Pilotwings is used by Lark in a manner almost identical to that of the Dragoon item in Brawl and Smash 4, albeit with a MUCH bigger hitbox and the knockback and damage dealt is doubled that of the Dragoon . A plane flies in from the background, similar in function to Zero Suit Samus FS in Smash 4. Excitedly, Lark hops inside preparing to fire himself at his opponents from the foreground. Be very careful though, as Lark has quite a small window of time to fire himself at his opponents. He has a span of 15 seconds. If he does not fire himself in that window of time, the FS will abruptly cancel itself, and Lark will return to the stage as if nothing had just happened. If he does fire himself however, Lark will deal massive damage and knockback to whoever he manages to hit, to the point where it is almost always going to be a OHKO. It should be noted that the FS one-use only, so Lark must time the attack right, and position himself carefully. NOTE: The color scheme of the plane is based on the silver plane used late into Pilotwings for the SNES.
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| Side Taunt
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Lark makes a funny face in whatever direction he’s facing, sticking his tongue out at his opposition, making a silly sound as he does so.
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| Up Taunt
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Lark takes off his helmet and blows on it, wiping the top and then straps it right back on.
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| Down Taunt
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Lark attempts to rapidly flap the wings of his Birdman suit, actually lifting himself off of the ground for about 3 seconds, he then gets tired and falls back down onto the ground, huffing and puffing from exhaustion.
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| Victory animation 1
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Lark jumps up high into the air happily shouting “Yahoo!!!” Kiwi will yell “I won! I won!” The kids will continue hopping even after the announcer has announced their names, and they yell out their exclamations.
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| Victory animation 2
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Lark plays with the remote-controlled toy plane, before it loses power, and crashes onto his head, causing him to wince and rub in slight annoyance.
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| Victory animation 3
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Lark basically performs his entrance animation from the start of a match, but this time, the parachute covers his whole body, and he can’t get out from under it. NOTE: The color of the kids’ parachute will match the color of the pilot suit they are currently using.
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| Entrance
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Lark uses a parachute to float safely down to the ground.
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His victory theme would essentially be a remix of the License Acquired theme from Pilotwings 64:
With this moveset, Lark could soar out of the forgotten mind of the public and back into the front lines with Nintendo’s more modern icons. By making his way into Smash, not only would the Pilotwings games be able to get more recognition for being some of the most critically acclaimed games Nintendo has ever made, but it would also help to give recognition to the series’ forgotten child, Pilotwings 64, which had virtually NO reference made to it in Smash 4. As an added bonus, some the most jazzy songs this side of Nintendo would finally make their way into Smash, such as the Birdman, Hang Glider, and Skydiving themes. Not to mention the much more urgent sounding Gyrocopter theme. All of this combined, you’d finally see what it means to take to the skies.
I hope I expanded your mind on the option of having Lark in the Super Smash Bros. series. Please, leave a comment below letting me know how you feel about my moveset, if you love it it, if you hate it and how you would feel about seeing Lark. in Super Smash Bros. 4 Wii U & 3DS or future Smash Bros. titles.
Thank you smashkirby for the wonderful character submission. If any readers have any questions then you can find smashkirby at both Smash Boards and DeviantArt.
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He’d be damn near the most obscure character ever chosen for a Smash Bros. game, but I can’t deny the appeal of an inverted Little Mac design. Well done!
Cool moveset! Nice to see another guest article 🙂
Speaking of, I sent one of my own in via email – to the guestpost@sourcegaming.info account – several days ago, and have not gotten a response. Just want to make sure y’all received the email; I can resend it if not.
Awesome to see an actual detailed moveset list. This character could actually happen.
Awesome moveset SmashKirby, you did a great job! 🙂
Thanks everyone! I owe it all to Push and Nantendo themselves, as well as the Pilotwings for Smash supporters! Thank you all so much! I couldn’t have gotten this finished without you all!
NOTE: Lark’s D-Smash is NOT listed on the moveset table, so I’ll post it here:
“Lark rapidly spins along the ground, similar to Princess Peach, but attacking with his right foot and left wing. Does a lot of damage, but the knockback will leave a bit to be desired. The most damaging of all his Smash Attacks, but has the least knockback.”
Weird, I wonder why that got cut out? I will add it to the article shortly 🙂
Oh, thank very much. BTW, I’d like to show you something: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CfSfFW0WIAA4WTf.jpg:large
Uh, Nantendo, I should mention you accidentally labeled it under Down Special. Also, if it’s not too much trouble, could you add the Kirby hat? It’s simply Kirby wearing Lark’s helmet, with his longest strands of hair sticking out of the helmet. Also, with Kiwi being Lark’s alt. skin, Kirby will still gain Lark’s helmet if he inhales her. Could you please add all of this information to the table?