The elements are truly against this character’s inclusion into the Super Smash Bros series. First of all she is a Fire Emblem character and we already have six of them. Sakurai himself expressed concern over adding any more. This character is also from a spin-off title which often means that it will be considered after the main games are accounted for. The character is relevant now as her game only recently released but it undersold and by the time of the next Super Smash Bros we will have new Fire Emblem titles outshining hers. The character is made by Atlus and I am unsure whether the game’s copyright would put her in a similar position to Geno rather than Wonder Red. Lastly some might argue she could come off as too sexual for Smash with her design. The character I am of course talking about is the up-and-coming 18-year-old idol: Tsubasa Oribe.
Despite all of these concerns I decided to cover Tsubasa for a Dream Smashers article because after playing Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE I believe that she could be a very unique character to the roster who does wonders for character representation and can prove to doubters that not every Fire Emblem character is the same. So read on and find how this cute but klutzy character could really prove her might in the next Super Smash Bros title.
Who is Tsubasa?
Tsubasa Oribe, 18-years old, is the deuteragonist of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE and the master to the Fire Emblem mirage: Caeda. When she was 13, she was involved in an incident where an opera house full of people disappeared, including her older sister and young idol, Ayaha. Tsubasa’s sister was her inspiration and so she dreamt of becoming an idol just like her, also hoping it would one day reunite the two of them. She is supported by her best friend and not-so-secret crush Itsuki Aoi (the protagonist) and during a junior idol contest the two of them are thrust into the idolasphere thanks to their high performa. This event causes the two of them to meet their mirage partners and sends Tsubasa on a new path of singing by day and fighting monsters by night.
Importance to franchise/Nintendo?
As a totally brand new character she is certainly very relevant. In one sense, she is one of the latest Fire Emblem protagonists. However whether she truly counts or not is up for debate due to the status of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE as a spin-off. However, above I mentioned how well she could represent various aspects of gaming and so I wanted to elaborate on them here. While being from a spin-off her character and mirage is based off of Fire Emblem’s first ever deuteragonist: Caeda. Caeda debuted in the first Fire Emblem game alongside Marth and eventually became his wife and the ancestor to Chrom and Lucina. Caeda is also the original Pegasus Knight, a staple in the Fire Emblem series. While Caeda isn’t very relevant today, Tsubasa is and could be Caeda’s way of getting into Super Smash Bros in some form. Tsubasa also represents Intelligent Systems’s longrunning wish to make a Fire Emblem in the modern era. Finally, Tsubasa is also a good excuse to get an Atlus representative in the game. The Shin Megami Tensei series is a major RPG series, especially in Japan, and many of Tsubasa’s magic abilities are taken from those games. While many would like prefer a true Shin Megami Tensei character in Smash, Tsubasa still allows for this and copyright might not be an issue with her.
How will she play?
In Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE the player has the ability to swap between various costumes that the characters can wear. This is because of the nature of the heroes’ work as entertainers and it also allows for some fan-service. Thanks to this I felt that Tsubasa should have two distinct outfits like Cloud and Wario. Her carnage form would be the default, where she dresses like a Pegasus Knight, and the colours of this outfit would be based on Caeda: the standard Pink, a blue based on her Falcon Knight, a gold based on her Draco Knight form and a white based on some beta-artwork and the colour of Pegasi.
Her next set of outfits would be based on Tsubasa’s school life outfit. I chose this outfit as they are her starting clothes and the ones used in all of her official outfits. The colours for these are based on various other outfits in the game: the default is brown and red, a pink and white outfit based on her casual clothes, a cream and azure costume based on her other casual outfit and lastly a black outfit based on her Feel idol outfit. The spear she uses is based on the default weapon: the Iron Feather.
Now for some statistics:
- Can they crawl: No
- Can they wall jump: Yes
- How many jumps do they have: 2
- Is there any exclusive abilities they have*: No
- Weight Class: D+
- Height Class: C+
- Speed Class: B
- Are they mirrored when they faces left: No
*i.e. Peach’s float
(for a more detailed look at the stats check this link here)
In terms of height she is just a bit smaller than Marth, who I am assuming is the same size as Itsuki Aoi, the Marth stand-in for Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE. Tsubasa is a rather fast character with good aerial game. This is to reflect her role as a Pegasus Knight (though she only uses the pegasus for her Final Smash). In fact, speed is a major component for Tsubasa as it weaves into what makes her stand out from the other fighters on the roster. What I mean by this is her ‘Session Attacks’.
In Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Session Attacks are essentially a fancy way of saying chain attacks or combo attacks. When you perform a certain type of move that one of your party members has a connecting skill to, they will follow up your attack with one of their own, starting a chain that can go up to seven (or 13 when you have the right duo arts). Sessions are a big part of Tsubasa’s character and the game in general so it was the feature I wanted her to bring over for Smash. The way this works is by making Tsubasa a combo-heavy character.
Pulling off different, connecting, moves in succession will make each hit after it stronger. If you miss or spam the same move over and over again it won’t make any difference and the combo chain will reset, but say you decide to do her jabs into her up tilt into her neutral aerial and ending on her Up special. This is a four stage combo with each connecting move getting stronger. It caps at seven but it requires real precision, skill and speed to get that far as waiting too long between hits will reset the combo, like in normal fighting games.
Tsubasa can still stand on her own as a fighter without the combos and comes equipped with a good recovery and projectile attacks but it is pulling off the right moves in succession that will make the pro stand out from the novice. So what moves make sense for Tsubasa and this type of gameplay? Let’s have a look see:
| Move Name & Action | Description |
| Entrance | Tsubasa warps in like the other Fire Emblem characters except it has a green glow like the warp pads in ♯FE. |
| Idle | Tsubasa stands there bobbing back and forth with her lance in one hand. Just like her idle animation in battle. |
| Idle 2 | 
Tsubasa does the animation where she points forward and flicks her hand up as if she is shooting a finger gun. |
| Walking | Tsubasa walks forward with her lance in her right hand and her left arm swings like a Japanese school girl. |
| Running | Tsubasa leans forward while she runs. |
| Jump | Tsubasa does a standard jump, much like Marth’s jump. |
| Falling Animation/Damage | Her falling and damage animation are pretty standard. |
| Neutral/Jabs | Tsubasa does two swings and a stab forward. It has a long reach but little knock-back. |
| F-Tilt | Tsubasa swings from low to high in front of her. Can knock people into the air. |
| Up-Tilt | Tsubasa does a quick spin with her lance swinging above her. |
| D-Tilt | Tsubasa crouches down and stabs her lance in front of her. |
| Dash Attack | Tsubasa does a short hop and stabs in front of her. It is similar to the beginning of Corrin’s side-b. |
| Forward Smash | Tsubasa pulls back on her spear and lunges forward in a motion similar to Marth’s standard b. It propels her forward a bit and is good for ending combos. |
| Up Smash | Tsubasa stabs upwards three times to launch people skyward. |
| Down Smash | Tsubasa stabs in front of herself, spins the lance around and then stabs behind herself. |
| N-air | Tsubasa does a forward flip holding her lance in front of her. It has a long range and knocks people in the direction the lance is moving. This move is good for ending combos but also for knocking people into the direction of her D-air. |
| F-air | With one hand Tsubasa stabs in front of her. |
| B-air | Tsubasa stabs her lance behind her. |
| U-air | Tsubasa spins her lance in a circle above her head (she does not spin herself). This attack keeps people in place and is good to follow up with a N-air. |
| D-air | Tsubasa dives down at a diagonal angle, performing an assault dive. |
| Grab | With her free hand Tsubasa grabs forward. Not much of a reach. |
| Pummel | Tsubasa hits the opponent with the side of her Lance |
| F-throw | Tsubasa shoves any opponents in front of her. It can cause them to trip. |
| B-throw | Tsubasa spins and throws opponents behind her. |
| U-throw | Tsubasa uses Zan to launch an opponent into the air. Good for following up with combos. |
| D-throw | Tsubasa throws the opponent to the floor and shoots Zan at them to keep them in place. |
| Neutral Special 1: Zan | Tsubasa can shoot out lots of consecutive, small, wind blasts in a row. |
| Neutral Special 2: Zanma | Tsubasa shoots out one massive wind blast around her that has an AoE on opponents near her. |
| Neutral Special 3: Excalibur | Tsubasa fires one really large wind slash that’s not very fast but is very strong if it hits. |
| Side Special 1: Javelin | Tsubasa throws her javelin a set-distance in front of her. This can be charged to increase the distance. |
| Side Special 2: Javelin Rain | Tsubasa can charge up her attack. The longer it is charged the more Javelin she throws. Throws it up to 3. |
| Side Special 3: Piercing Javelin | Tsubasa charging up her lance throw will add spin to the lance. This makes the lance do more damage rather than try to change the distance or the amount of lances. |
| Up Special 1: Pegasus Spin | Similar to Wario’s spin. Tsubasa points her Lance up as she spins while the illusion of wings forms around her. |
| Up Special 2: Angled Spin | Tsubasa goes in a curved reverse-L shape. The attack lasts longer but because of it’s movement the player needs to be aware of their surroundings as to not get stuck. |
| Up Special 3: Pegasus Jump | Tsubasa doesn’t spin and instead jumps up. It’s kind of like Pit’s Up-B. |
| Down Special 1: Sukukaja | Tsubasa stands and charges on the spot. If pulled off successfully she gets a speed boost which makes pulling off combos easier. |
| Down Special 2: Tarukaja | Tsubasa stands and charges on the spot. If pulled off successfully she gets an attack boost which makes all of her attacks stronger. |
| Down Special 3: Rakukaja | Tsubasa stands and charges on the spot. If pulled off successfully she gets a defense boost which means she takes less damage and gets more super armour. She is made slower in exchange though. |
| Final Smash: Grand Finale | 
Caeda appears alongside Tsubasa as she hops onto Caeda’s motorbike Pegasus. Then the two fly of screen and fly back in at various angles, attacking opponents. It is similar to the Latias & Latios Pokeball. |
| Up Taunt | 
Tsubasa pulls the same pose she does after receiving a Radiant Unity and says a quote from the game. |
| Side Taunt | 
Tsubasa does a part of her dance from Dream☆Catcher. |
| Down Taunt | 
Tsubasa does the beginning of her FEEL performance although she does not sing. |
| Victory animation 1 | 
Tsubasa’s does the same animation when she wins a battle in ♯FE. |
| Victory animation 2 | 
Caeda appears alongside Tsubasa as they pull the same pose as after performing a Radiant Unity. They even say the same lines. |
| Victory animation 3 | Tsubasa makes a courteous bow and says “I’m Tsubasa Oribe, 18-years-old! It was a pleasure to meet you.” but in Japanese. |
The victory theme for Tsubasa is unique, being the victory theme from ♯FE rather than the standard Fire Emblem theme.
I hope that this moveset has interested some of you out there. I know another Fire Emblem character in Super Smash Bros is a bit of an iffy subject for some but I truly feel like Tsubasa would be different and a unique character for the current Super Smash Bros roster. But let me know what you think in the comments below and I hope you look forward to the next edition of Dream Smashers.
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Titties. That is all.
Just to talk about a “Typo” I think It should be ♯FE.. You’ve been using the “hash” Sign # where the name said in Japanese Trailers as “Sharp FE” as shown in this at 4:48 https://youtu.be/sdlCRDqvPDk?t=4m48s
Don’t worry too much.. NOA uses the Sharp Sign while NOE uses the Hash Sign.
NOA: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/tokyo-mirage-sessions-fe-wii-u
NOE: http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Wii-U/Tokyo-Mirage-Sessions-FE-1025740.html
Sorry for being a bit Picky.. At least I provide Sources to back up my Claims..
Nice article and I really should get back to trying to beat the game..
“Fire Emblem”
no.
“Idol”
NO.
Great argument/reasoning buddy. Jokes aside I do kind of get where you’re coming from, but I’ve always been of the mind that, if a series is big enough it’s okay for it to have more characters so long as they’re done well. And the idea presented is done pretty well, at least imo, that being said she’s more than likely not gonna happen. As the author of this article already mentioned, by the time we get a new Smash very few people will remember this game exists. Even now, it flew under most people’s radars, or just didn’t interest those that knew, including a lot of FE fans.
Thank you, this is a character I’m hopeing will be in the next smash
Great job with this one Nantendo. Like you mentioned in the article though, she’s a pretty unlikely choice due to the game’s poor performance and poor overall recognition, especially so since it’s a spin-off and a pretty divisive one at that. In addition to that, wouldn’t Itsuki be the more likely FE# candidate if a character from this game was to be considered at all? He’s the main character from my understanding no? I’ve yet to pick the game up, but hopefully I will soon. I’d kind of like him to get in now actually. Then Chrom would finally get his chance…sort of.
Itsuki is the main protagonist much like Chrom however Tsubasa is the second protagonist and has a large chunk of the early game dedicated to her specifically. She was also used in most of the games promotion to the point where some people are not even aware of Itsuki. Also Itsuki suffers Chrom’s issue that he is very similar to Marth seeing as Marth is who he is based on (like Lucina).
Tsubasa is more like Robin being the other main character with a moveset that is much more unique and so more to Sakurai’s liking. That is why I feel she is a more likely choice than Itsuki.
Sakurai: YAS QUEEN!
Tsubasa is similar to the case with whether they should bring Geno to the Mario roster and Lana or Linkle to the Zelda roster. Not just Tsubasa is from the spinoff game of FE, but also owned by Atlus. It depends whether to call her a third party character or not, but as her copyright license also belongs to Atlus, they need contract permission in order to bring her to Smash. On the other hand, if Atlus did join Smash, they’d bring someone else from their games, such as a main protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei or Persona, or their main mascot Jack Frost instead.
However, although it may be impossible to bring her to Smash, this is actually an interesting choice. Although she may be part of the FE character, she can be really different from the main FE characters, which FE is mainly takes place in the medieval world with fantasy magics, while she’s from the modern era of Japan with digital powers. Plus, she can be the first idol character to join Smash too. I had an imagination of having an idol character in Smash, such as the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, somebody from Idol Master series, or the main protagonist from Aikatsu or Pripara (the anime is popular but their games were released first). Sure idol characters being in Smash may be impossible in many reasons, but as we already have characters from a fitness trainer to a normal peasant who has a role of being a village mayor, I think that won’t be the case anymore. And for the part that her over sexual appearance, since we’ve already have Zero Suits Samus and Bayonetta in the game, I think that won’t be the case too, unless they don’t go overdoing it though. She can be another replacement of the actual Caeda from the main FE series, while her #FE version can still appear to aid her on battle.
Still, her entry can be impossible due to her location. But since Sakurai did suggested to have Geno in Smash before, then that possibility can happen sometime. Sure, Smash is only focused on characters from popular games, but obviously we had so many unexpected characters who might not have been part of the ballot or request in Smash, so anything can happen if possible. But to be honest, as in interest, I would like to see her in Smash too.
I need to check through the copyright regarding Tsubasa but i’m not sure if it is the same situation as Geno in Mario RPG or not. Same goes for Linkle and Lana. It is not always everytime that a 3rd party company makes a game for Nintendo that they own the characters.
Otherwise Vaati would be owned by Capcom, Anthony Higgs would be owned by Tecmo and Panther from Star Fox would be owned by Namco seeing as those developers all made the games where these characters were introduced. It all comes down to the contract and that is something I need to research more.
Read this reminds me that I need to write my own article… eventually, I need more free time xD