Dream Smasher – Susie

This week Kirby Star Allies launches worldwide for the Nintendo Switch and is the latest in a long-line of Kirby releases. To say Kirby has been feeling the love these past few years would be an understatement as nearly every year has seen a new Kirby title, if not multiple. With the pink puffball getting so much support many fans are fully anticipating a fourth Kirby character to appear in the next Super Smash Bros. game for Switch, and while the vast majority are looking towards Bandana Waddle Dee (who we covered in a previous edition) I wanted to throw a bit of a curveball. Those who watched our 1st party countdown video may remember her inclusion there, I am talking of course about the hard-working secretary for the Haltmann Corporation: Susie.

Who is Susie?

Susie is a main antagonist and frequent character from Kirby Planet Robobot. She is in charge of the affairs of the Haltmann Corporation and confronted Kirby before every boss, as well as fight herself sometimes. Just like Magalor and Daroach before her, Susie quickly gained a following and the game is fairly open-ended with her fate, opening the door for her and her Robobot to return. She kind of did already in Kirby Team Clash Deluxe where a Susie from an alternate universe was one of the game’s bosses.

Importance to Nintendo and her Series.

As a newcomer from the modern Kirby games, Susie doesn’t have that series history or significance that Bandana Waddle Dee does, however that doesn’t mean she was just some simple villain like Drawcia. Susie was used heavily in the promotion of Planet Robobot and throughout Kirby’s 25th-anniversary celebrations. She appeared on the boxart for Planet Robobot and took over their social media accounts to answer questions. She got her own 3DS theme and appeared in a lot of the group artwork shots produced last year. So while Susie’s future is unknown, she has been highly relevant over the last three years and can be argued as one of the faces of modern Kirby, in a similar way to Adeline and Gooey for classic Kirby.

Design and Colors

Sprites by theAnvil. Recolors by NantenJex

For Susie’s design, she utilises her own version of the Robobot, rather than Kirby’s iconic one (however Kirby takes a form resembling this as his Kirby hat for Susie), specifically her 1.0 design from the main campaign. She also doesn’t wear her helmet down. A little dangerous in my opinion, but this way players get to see her face and more emotion from her. She can put the visor on as a taunt.

As for Susie’s alts her second colour is based on her 2.0 model and her third colour is based on Parallel Susie, a doppelganger from the dark universe who appeared in Kirby Team Clash Deluxe. Her fourth alt is based on her boss and father Haltmann and his Robobot. The next three alts are based on different versions of Kirby’s Robobot with Susie getting colours matching other females in the series (Adeline, Drawcia and Sectonia respectively). Her final colour is based on Francisca from Kirby Star Allies, who replaced Susie on HAL’s social media accounts (which made her very jealous).

How Would She Play?

*the Susie boss fight gives a good indication of some of her standard moves

Susie’s main gimmick and the reason she would most likely make it in over other Kirby newcomers is her Robobot. Smash has some robot characters but does not have any character utilising a mech (a fighting game staple), although Bowser Jr. comes close. The Robobot itself was also a very popular gameplay feature implemented in Planet Robobot that dramatically changed how the game was played.

Although Susie uses her own Robobot, many of the abilities that Kirby’s could unlock will be utilised here. It’s designed in a similar way to Kirby in Smash, using a variety of his copy abilities for a unique moveset. Susie would be one of the heavier characters in the game due to her mech, although it would need to be shrunk down to better fit the rest of the cast.

Now before we get into the moveset, here are some stats.

• Can they crawl: Yes
• Can they wall jump: Yes
• How many jumps do they have: 2
• Is there any exclusive abilities they have*: Extended grab
• Weight Class: D+
• Height Class: B+
• Speed Class: B+
• Are they mirrored when they face left: No

Kirby’s Susie hat makes him look like his Robobot from Planet Robobot.

Move Name & Action	Description
Entrance	Susie flys down in her Robobot.
Idle 1	Susie’s idle is her standard idle from Robobot
Idle 2	Susie looks into her cockpit and presses a few buttons before looking up again.
Idle 3	The Robobot goes into a type of sleep mode as Susie presses buttons in the cockpit.
Walking	Susie’s Robobot hovers slowly forward.
Running	Susie’s Robobot leans a little forward as it moves quicker.
Jump	Susie’s jump is her standard one from Robobot. With double jump, her arms go out a little wider.
Falling Animation/Damage	Susie remains stationary but her Robobot reacts to the damage. While falling the Robobots arms are in the air.
Shield	The Robobots arms form a cross shape in front of her.
Neutral/Jabs	Susie does a 1-2-jab but with her last punch, the arm/fist is spinning. A corkscrew punch.
F-Tilt	Susie’s performs an uppercut.
Up-Tilt	Susie spins her Robobot’s arms above her.
D-Tilt	Susie ducks down and spins her arms around her.
Dash Attack	Susie slides across the floor spinning her mech’s arms rapidly.
Up Smash	Gives the Robobot Armor a giant blade for an arm that slices above.
Down Smash	Gives the Robobot Armor a pair of large hands that allows Susie to create large energy spheres that she slams down on the ground.
Forward Smash	Susie gives the Robobot Armour a large saw-blade arm and attacks the foe in front.
N-air	Susie spins her mech’s arms around.
F-air	Susie punches forward with large fists.
B-air	Without turning around the Robobot’s fist punch behind her.
U-air	Susie backflips and hits opponents with the bottom of her Robobot
D-air	Susie comes crashing down while her lower half is spinning.
Grab:	Susie grabs the opponent with one big hand.
Pummel	Susie pummels the opponent with her free hand.
F-throw	Susie’s arms spin around her with their opponent before launching them forward. The Robobot’s main body doesn’t move.
B-throw	Susie’s arms spin around her with their opponent before launching them backwards. The Robobot’s main body doesn’t move.
U-throw	Susie throws the opponent above her and her two drones drill into the opponent knocking them upward.
D-throw	Susie grabs the opponent with both hands and slams them into the ground multiple times.
Neutral Special 1: Beam	Gives the Robobot Armor the ability to fire large, bouncing energy balls that can be charged to become larger.
Neutral Special 2: Plasma Shot	Gives the Robobot Armor coil-like arms that can charge up and fire a plasma shot. Like Samus’ charge beam.
Neutral Special 3: Ice shards	Gives the Robobot Armor fans that shoot chargeable ice shards.
Side Special 1: Homing Drone	Susie’s fires two drones from her mech that home in. She can only have two out at once but she doesn’t need to fire both at the same time.
Side Special 2: Rocket Punch	Susie charges up and fires off one of her arms that explodes on impact. One can only be done at a time and it goes in a straight line.
Side Special 3: Missile Drone	Susie fires off two spinning drones that go in a straight line and don’t home in. These drones are stronger and they start slow but speed up like Snake’s rocket launcher.
Up Special 1: Parasol	Gives the Robobot Armor parasol-like blades that can spin the Armor into the air and destroy enemies above it.
Up Special 2: Jet	Susie recovery is very similar to ROBs. It allows for a longer recovery but does no damage.
Up Special 3: Jet Blast	This recovery has Susie blast off before she comes crashing down. Similar to King Dedede’s up special.
Down Special 1: Bomb	Allows the Robobot Armor to send out a small bomb robot that can move forward and climb walls. Three of these robots can be sent out at one time.
Down Special 2: Plasma Ball	Functions the same as the bomb but is a plasma ball that shocks opponents it hits.
Down Special 3: Spinning Drone	Susie fires off two spinning drones that go along the ground and spin like Beyblades. They do more damage but are locked to the ground.
Final Smash: Robo Drill	Taken again from Kirby’s ultimate Robobot attack, Susie turns the big drill under her Robobot into a giant drill and fires it in the direction she’s facing. This move works similar to the drill item already in Smash but on a massive scale.
Up Taunt	Susie stands up tall and begins to recite ‘The Noble Haltmann’.
Side Taunt	Susie leans on the front of her Robobot and stares longingly into the distance.
Down Taunt	Susie plays around with her visor before deciding to leave it off.
Victory animation 1	Susie is outside of her Robobot singing the Noble Haltmann.
Victory animation 2	The Robobot descends from the sky and Susie jumps into it, similar to her battle start animation from Robobot.
Victory animation 3	Susie flies down with her Robobot and removes her visor. She then shows a happy face towards the camera.

Susie’s victory theme could be a special one, a remix of the opening to ‘The Noble Haltmann.’

And that does it for Susie. Kirby is a series that could go either way with a newcomer but its increased presence over the last few years definitely helps and while many are pushing for Bandana Waddle Dee I would not rule out a chance for Susie to appear instead. We will just have to wait and see.

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Joshua 'NantenJex' Goldie

A historian and avid gamer, NantenJex is the Editor-in-Chief for Source Gaming, overseeing videos and reviews for the site. He has a passion for obscure gaming so any article you see on uncommon titles like Nazo no Murusame Jo, Yuyuki and Marvelous, to name a few, are most likely from him. He also likes game design leading to the creation of Dream Smashers, a series on potential newcomers for Super Smash Bros. He wants you all to know that Yoshi is objectively the best Nintendo character.

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